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Eight Shires owner Bill Dodson drinks and dresses colonial style.
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Brass Cannon Brewing Company’s spacious tasting room on Mooretown Road offers bar seating, tables and an outdoor patio.
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Alewerks Brewing Company opened in 2006 and quickly established a reputation for fine brews with a commitment to classic standards.
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Rick Wasmund Owner, Master Distiller, Copper Fox Distillery
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Amber Ox Public House
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Billsburg Brewery: David Baum, Anthony Merendino, Conor Halfpenny,
Austin Shawinsky
Virginia is known for thrill rides, history and natural beauty. Increasingly, craft beverages are part of its allure, too.
Throughout the commonwealth, brewers, vintners and distillers are feeding a growing appreciation of well-made drinks. Local craft beverages reflect Virginia’s character and reputation, but there’s another theme unfolding amid this renaissance: opportunity. No matter onlookers’ outlook or experience with craft beverages, the industry is offering the chance to encounter the Old Dominion through its libations.
Carrie Stedman is a lifelong Williamsburg resident who welcomes the Historic Triangle’s burgeoning craft beverage scene. She favors local breweries, and said that the flavorful beers they produce clearly result from brewers’ expertise and long hours of thought.
Stedman especially appreciates craft breweries’ atmosphere, which is welcoming of all ages, an important attribute for the mother of three. Local breweries have diversions for young and old alike—board games, cornhole and live music, for instance.
“Craft breweries are not about how much you can drink,” she said. “Their emphasis is on appreciating what’s special about the beer you are drinking and the people around you.”
That fun and festive atmosphere is why so many local entrepreneurs are eager to become part of this thriving industry. Tony Artrip is a co-owner of Brass CannonBrewing Company, which, at seven years of age, is the region’s second-oldest craft brewery, behind Alewerks Brewing Company, both off of Mooretown Road.
Artrip is optimistic about the growth of the Historic Triangle’s craft beverage scene, which now includes four breweries, a brewpub, two distilleries, two meaderies and a winery. Local officials promote these establishments as stops on the Williamsburg Tasting Trail, an effort to provide information in print and online about where and how to enjoy them.
According to Artrip, greater Williamsburg can easily accommodate all these businesses and more, thanks to local devotees who appreciate what craft beverages bring to the table. But the throngs of tourists who descend on our area
are a key element, too, he said, because so many of them come seeking novel brands and experiences that aren’t available at home.
The craft beverage scene helps the community at large, Artrip said, which is why he and fellow Brass Cannon co-owners consider themselves friends of colleagues in similar businesses. “Hands down, this is the friendliest competitive industry out there,” he said.
The economic benefits pouring from local taps spill into other coffers. For instance, craft beverage fans looking to make a day of the experience have the option of a guided tour with Drink Williamsburg. Even the region’s well-established ride-sharing services like Uber, Lyft and taxis benefit from the patronage that responsible consumption generates.
That support has made marketing the region as a destination easy, according to Karen Riordan, president and CEO of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance. Local craft beverages have some connection to the region’s identity and prominent place in history, which is a huge draw for visitors. Local breweries have even collaborated with theColonial Williamsburg taverns to provide ‘liquid history.’
Eight Shires Coloniale Distillery off Merrimac Trail produces spirits using techniques and ingredients that create products closer to what Colonial Americans would have drunk. Copper Fox Distillery uses fruitwood to smoke barley malt onsite in the repurposed Lord Paget Motel. The Williamsburg Winery (see sidebar) crafts award-winning wines on land that had once been sowed with grapevines by an Englishman following Colonial law requiring that every farmer “yearly plante and maintaine ten vines.” The Virginia Beer Company’s offerings often have motifs from the College of William & Mary, the alma mater of owners Chris Smith and Robby Willey.
The craft beverage renaissance in the Historic Triangle mirrors a similar expansion statewide, said Rita McClenny, president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corporation.Statistics paint a rosy picture. In 2012, the General Assembly passed a law that allowed breweries to sell beer in tasting rooms. Virginia had 40 breweries then. Today, there are more than 200.
But statistics alone don’t account for the changing tastes of consumers who are eschewing the mass production and standardization of the latter half of the 20th century in favor of unique food and drink that are made locally. “Consumers want specialty and quality items for their family. Spirits, beer and wine are part of that,” she said.
Craft beverages especially resonate in a place like greater Williamsburg, according to McClenny. “The Historic Triangle is a crown jewel of Virginia,” she said, and the idea of a local experience they can have nowhere else is attractive. “Craft beverages are a natural fit with that.”
In this new age of food and drink, entrepreneurs who are taking the time to deliver that authentic experience are thriving. At Amber Ox Public House on Prince George Street, Williamsburg’s newest craft establishment, business has been exceeding expectations, according to co-owner Andrew Voss. Within a month of opening, the brewpub had expanded its hours and began offering lunch.
Amber Ox’s staff members pride themselves on local sourcing, novel dishes and small-batch beers. For the Belgian Dubbel called ‘My Shadow is a Person,’ brewmaster Greg Fleehart collaborated with his co-workers in Amber Ox’s kitchen, where they cooked a candy syrup for the beer, rather than using a supplier-sourced ingredient. This sort of hyper-local, experimental feel has remade the eating and drinking experience, meaning that fans can always find something new—a special release or a seasonal dish, for instance.
That’s what so many people find refreshing about the recent rise in craft beverage consciousness. It’s a natural and exciting addition to a region and state that have already earned a respectable place on many must-see lists.
Billsburg Brewery opened to wide acclaim last October at the James City County Marina. Adjacent to Jamestown Settlement, the brewery carries on the on the legacy of the earliest settlers, whose brew kettles were bubbling as soon as they landed.
Jenn Walker, who lives with her husband and two kids in Toano, is a fan of Billsburg. “The beers are great, and the staff are welcoming,” she said. To her, Billsburg feels like home.
“The location at the marina makes for a beautiful view and a relaxed vibe,” Walker said. “There are many good breweries in the area, but Billsburg is quintessential coastal living.”