Brewery Tour continues at Blue Lab Brewery

Blue Lab Brewery’s tasting room is located on South Randolph Street in Lexington. We visited their tasting room on St Patty’s Day and sampled many of their beers on tap.
Winter Wheat
Pale Ale
I.P.A.
Irish Red Ale
Amber
Stout 
Chocolate Coffee Stout

Their Irish Red Ale was unleashed just in time for St Patty’s Day.  Irish Red has a moderate malt aroma, generally caramel-like but occasionally toasty in nature. A combination of base malts and roasted barley created the red color, and crystal malts give it a malty profile with caramel flavors. We gave it our “stamp of approval”!  

Blue Line IPA is their newest creation which will be unleashed soon.

Exciting news for Blue Lab is local establishments are now carrying their beer. The Southern Inn Restaurant is pouring the Winter Wheat, Irish Red is on tap at the Palm’s Restaurant, and several styles are available at the Red Hen in 1 liter bottles.

 

Stop by Blue Lab’s tasting room and see Bill and Tom for some great samples. Then take back your favorite brew to the cottage in their 1 or 2 liter refillable growler to enjoy later.   

Tasting Room Hours: Wed 4:30-7pm, Fri 4:30-7:30pm, Sat 2-5pm

Where did the Blue Lab name come from?
Blue is for the Blue Ridge Mountains where the Brewery is located.  Lab is in honor of their Labrador Retriever hence the name Blue Lab.     

Our final brewery stop this month will be at Blue Mountain Brewery. Stay tuned next week for an update on our tour.

Ray and Melissa

Local Brewery Tour starts in Lexington

1^st stop on the Beer Tour……………Devils Backbone Brewery

Established in 2008, Devils Backbone Brewing Company is a brewpub located in Roseland, Virginia, close to the Wintergreen Resort. The brewery has won several awards at both the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup. This past weekend the brewery opened its doors to their newest addition in Lexington:  Devils Backbone Brewery Outpost. The 15,000 sq ft custom built brewery is located on Route 11 South about 15 minutes from Alpine Hideaway Cottages. Currently the Outpost is brewing 2 of their flagship beers, Eight Point IPA and Vienna Lager. These 2 beers as well as 2 other beers, Gold Leaf Lager and Reilly’s Red Ale, are available for tastings.

Brittany, Tasting Room Manager, will be happy to pour you samples of the beers. In July, the Outpost may begin selling their beer by the glass. But for now you can enjoy the beer by taking home a Growler with your favorite brew. Growlers are $8 and beer fills are $10.

Hayes, Outpost Manager, guided us on a tour of the working brewery. We were able to experience the brewing process that uses 4 main ingredients to create the beer: water, yeast, hops, and malt. The tour ended in the bottling room where we watched the Eight Point IPA bottles fill, get labeled, and packed up for distribution. 

Tap Room Hours: Tue-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat & Sun 11am-5pm

Tours are conducted Tue-Fri at 5pm.

Where did the Devils Backbone name come from?
During the 1740s Thomas Jefferson’s father was given a very large piece of property in the Blue Ridge mountains and was told to explore it.  During their rough ride through the Blue Ridge Mountains, one of the mules slipped and fell into the canyon. The mules tied to the “mule train” also fell. Thomas Jefferson wrote in his journal: The mules fell into the “devils backbone”.  Since being a local VA brewery located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the owners related to this and hence the name Devils Backbone.     

Stay tuned for our brewery tour update on our next stop to Blue Lab Brewery. Looking forward to taste their Irish Red Ale for St Patrick's Day!

Ray and Melissa Alexander