Starr Hill Brewery
Breweriana, Collectibles, Ephemera and Memories
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I have visited Starr Hill Brewery,
in Crozet, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA
and previously when it was a brewpub in the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
Brewery/Brewpub Location Map
- Follow this link for a map of all the breweries and brewpubs I have visited.
Reason for Visit: I've been in central Virginia many times, and this provided ample opportunities to visit Starr Hill first when it was a brewpub in Charlottesville, and later when it moved to Crozet and became a microbrewery. The old brewpub location (which closed circa 2007) had been in the storefront previously occupied by the defunct Blue Ridge Brewing Company.
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Sticker: This Starr Hill Brewery sticker features their logo, an encircled 5 point star on a solid background. I am certain that I picked this up at a beer festival rather than at the brewery but at this point I can't recall which one. |
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Awards Display: One section of wall space is devoted to all of the Great American Beer Festival awards won by Starr Hill brewery. If I'm counting correctly it looks like a dozen, with Dark Starr capturing the most. It reminded me of visiting a basketball arena and seeing all the championship banners hanging from the rafters. It was definitely an impressive display and a reflection of the seriousness of the craft perfected here. |
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Fermenters: Starr Hill has a great half-hour tour and visitors get a chance to check out all aspects of the brewing process. The brewery moved here in 2005 but the building had been around a lot earlier. It was previously some sort of chicken processing plant where hens were once convered into frozen dinners. That's very obviously not the case any longer though. This is a line of fermenters and apparently there are even more in another section of the brewery. Starr Hill expected to double its production over the coming year and was converting to a 24-hour brewing schedule to meet customer demand. |
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Bottling Line: This is the starting point in the bottling line. The contraption hanging down on the right that looks like a 24-teat milking machine is actually a device that picks up a case of empty bottles at a time and places them at the beginning of the line. This was done manually, which was actually a little surprising considering the size and ambitions of the brewery, but it seemed to be effective. You can just catch a view of the tasting bar right in front of the windows in the background. I really enjoyed how the bar was right there on the floor with the bottling line, tanks and kegs instead of being tucked away in some corner. The tastings were rather generous too, and everything was free. We returned the favor by purchasing all sorts of stuff to take home. |
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Kegs: Starr Hill uses the MicroStar keg management system, thus the labeling seen on the kegs in the foreground. Look a little bit further and you can see the tour in progress. The brewery now has a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch and hopes to expand throughout the mid-Atlantic region and up the eastern seaboard. These kegs and the bottling line are at the vanguard of that effort. |
Sample list of beers produced by Starr Hill Brewery
- Jomo Lager
- Amber Ale
- Pale Ale
- Dark Starr Stout
- ... plus seasonals
Items featured on these breweriana pages are personal souvenirs of my visits to these locations, and an expression of the events and travels leading to their collection. They are not for sale or for trade.
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