I traveled an hour west of Washington, DC for a Loudoun Wine Adventure back in 2012. In the time since then, beverage tourism has only increased in this Northern Virginia county. Now visitors can select from about 50 vineyards, 35 breweries, and a smattering of distilleries, cideries, and meaderies within this single jurisdiction. I’m beginning to think that if it can possibly be fermented, it’s happening somewhere out in Loudoun.
Veterans Day fell on a Thursday this year. So I figured I could ditch work on Friday and make a 4-day weekend out of it. The weather seemed absolutely perfect too; sunny and unusually warm. Yes, why not head out to Loudoun and focus on some of the farm breweries along the northern and western fringes of the county? The properties are massive and can attract hundreds of weekend day-trippers. Fortunately that wouldn’t be a problem on a mid-autumn weekday.
So I created a little loop to pad my brewery visit list and map. I could probably draw a hundred different loops with the many choices available. However, this is the one I selected, and it seemed to work just fine for me.
Can I just say how weird it feels to see Loudoun as such a hotbed for vineyards and breweries? None of this existed when I grew up here. These were all working farms and the kids who lived on them were my classmates. Future Farmers of America was a big deal at my High School. I’m sure they’re all rich now and probably live on a tropical beach somewhere. Land values soared in Loudoun recently and they probably walked away with millions when they sold those family farms. Now suburbanites can venture out into the country and imbibe in beautiful surroundings.
Flying Ace Farm
Flying Ace is really new, opening maybe a year-or-so ago. It’s both a brewery and a distillery, and it was our first stop. Well, actually our second. Initially we stopped at the old family homestead for lunch. Then we began the brewery loop, with a full stomach and entire afternoon ahead of us.
Brewery
Take a look at the ridge in the background of this photo. Now follow it all the way to the right (south), next to the red barn. That’s the hilltop I lived on before I left for college. Anyway, I should probably get back to the point. Such a lovely day, and we practically had the whole place to ourselves. We chose a spot on a second-floor balcony and gazed upon our surroundings.
Normally I’d purchase a flight or sampler of several beers in small pours, and try a bunch of different styles. Unfortunately Flying Ace doesn’t sell them. I get it. It hard to sell flights when a hundred people could line up at the bar. But this was a quiet day. Instead we got a pint each, which is a big commitment when playing “guess the best beer” while staying sober enough to drive to the next spot. The two beers we shared were fine but I didn’t really learn much about Flying Ace’s larger brewing skills or range.
Virginia has some really weird alcohol laws too, as do many other states. At Flying Ace, for example, the brewery and the distillery occupied distinctly different spaces. Visitors cannot carry a beer to the distillery side, and vice versa. The licensing won’t allow it, which of course lacks any kind of common sense. But the law is the law. We had to finish our beers before checking out the spirits.
Distillery
I couldn’t miss the half-sized model of a F4U Corsair above the distillery bar. That was impressive. I stared up as I ordered a 1-ounce pour of their Cask Strength Bourbon. Then I took my glass out to the patio in the sunshine and give it a sip. It felt smooth, maybe too smooth. I wondered how a brand-new distillery made a bourbon with some obvious aging. I said to my wife, “I bet this comes from Indiana.”
One of the little secrets of the small batch whiskey movement is that many distilleries outsource their alcohol production. This is particularly true for new distilleries because it takes several years before they can sell their own whiskey. Often they’ll focus on spirits that require minimal aging from their own distillery (e.g., gin), but for whiskey they’ll slap their label on products made elsewhere until their personal stock matures. Much of it comes from a massive distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana called Midwest Grain Products:
“…MGP is the source of beverage spirits sold under about 50 different brand names, although these are often sold misleadingly by their bottlers as distinctive products with minimal disclosure of the actual source of the spirits”
Back home I confirmed that Flying Ace’s bourbon was a blend of two MGP products. I’m not saying that’s necessarily good or bad. However, caveat emptor applies in general to the whiskey world. If someone wants to pay a premium to support a small business or to enjoy the view then of course that’s fine. I happily did both that afternoon. Just understand that one can get the same quality from the same Indiana distillery at lower prices under different labels. Hopefully I can come back in a few years and sample whiskey distilled onsite at the farm.
Harpers Ferry Brewing
Here’s a little something for the geo-geeks. The most efficient path between Flying Ace and Harpers Ferry Brewing involves a jaunt into the neighboring state of Maryland. Also, it’s really close to the MDVAWV Tripoint, not to mention the only portion of West Virginia unequivocally “Almost Heaven“. So you could easily combine some geographic adventures with the brewing scene. I mean you could but we didn’t because I’ve done those a bunch of times already.
Just look at that view. That was impressive. We could see upriver all the way to the town of Harpers Ferry (no apostrophe) in neighboring West Virginia from our perch. In the distant gap, the Shenandoah River came in from the left, and the Potomac on the right. The trees along the way displayed a perfect autumn glory. I can’t imagine what a property like this would cost closer to Washington, DC. Some tech billionaire would probably snap it up for $40 or $50 million.
So that’s what these farm breweries sell. An experience. Great views. Romantic afternoons away from the city. The beer itself actually rates lower in that equation. Sure, it has to be good enough to not offend anyone but we’re not pushing any boundaries out here either. Pleasant; middle of the road. Get people slightly tipsy and make them smile.
They follow something akin to the vineyard model where the vast majority of the product sells directly over the top of the tasting room counter. Generally speaking, it rarely appears in local taverns or supermarket shelves. That way the brewers exploit a loophole in the dreaded three-tier system; charge retail prices at a destination location and cut out the middleman. It’s not a bad model but it doesn’t necessarily reward creativity either. That said, Harpers Ferry probably had the best beers of the bunch that day.
Hillsborough Vineyards & Brewery
The last visit almost didn’t happen. In fact, it wasn’t even supposed to happen. But we were driving down Route 9 and a car stopped in front of us to turn left, waiting for cross-traffic to pass. It turned into a vineyard driveway, which of course is quite common out there. Then I noticed the sign said Vineyard and Brewery. Well I guess I looked pitiful enough because my wife said I could turn left too. We still had plenty of daylight left, and why not?
By chance we’d stumbled upon Hillsborough Vineyard and Brewery. The brewery portion was definitely an appendage and it kept reminding me of Puppet Show and Spinal Tap. Nonetheless it had several of its own beers even if it was a heavily wine-centric locale. There’s always that one beer guy tagging along with his oenophile buddies on vineyard trips, so I appreciated the gesture made by the owners. It didn’t have seltzer though (not that I would have ordered it). Even so, it definitely had more of a hard seltzer vibe than a hazy IPA vibe. I’ll bet it would sell great here.
I never did figure why they spelled it Hillsborough either. The nearby town is actually Hillsboro. Maybe that’s not fancy enough. Anyway, that gave me something to ponder on the drive back home.
I think I need to do some more of these little Loudoun loops and catch the rest.
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