Top Wintergreen Breweries & Distilleries to Visit on Your Trip

Planning a trip to Wintergreen? You may not know this, but the area around Wintergreen Resort in Nelson County is famed for its craft beverages. It’s in the heart of Central Virginia‘s Blue Ridge Mountains wine country, with wineries like Veritas Vineyard providing famed vintages.

It’s not all about wineries, however. Route 151, also called Rockfish Valley Highway, is known as the Brew Ridge Trail due to its sheer number of quality breweries, cideries, and distilleries along its length. Learn about the best distilleries and breweries the locals love so you can plan your self-tour today!

Breweries

Virginia is a destination for craft beer lovers, with over 200 high-quality craft breweries across the state. Whether you love IPAs, imperial stouts, lagers, pilsners, Belgian dubbels, hefeweizens, fruited sours, or any other style, you’ll find something to love here.

Devils Backbone Brewing Company

Devils Backbone Brewing Company serves a full menu of bar bites, grilled entrees, and classic American staples alongside European comfort foods. This huge space can host groups of any size and is quite popular, offering valley views with mountain backdrops. The decor features exposed wood beams with a rustic appeal. Their highlight brew is the Buck Tradition IPA series. Outdoor seating with fire pits is also available, and you can order takeout food.

Blue Mountain Brewery

Blue Mountain Brewery is only about 30 minutes from Wintergreen Resort, just off Route 151 in Afton. This family-friendly brewpub features scenic patio seating with fire pits, indoor dining, and great views of the mountains. They host live music regularly, and cornhole games are scattered around the outdoor area. It’s also a dog-friendly establishment. They serve a selection of their own beers on tap as well as other local wines, ciders, and kombucha.

Their kitchen serves classic brewpub staples like craft pizza, burgers, sandwiches, salads, and delectable desserts. They take great pride in sourcing only the highest-quality ingredients. While you’re here, try their Dark Hollow Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout.

Outback Brewhouse

Outback Brewhouse is located off Thomas Nelson Highway in Lovingston. It’s among the newest microbreweries in the region and offers delicious fresh food in a great atmosphere with free peanuts and popcorn while you wait. Try their $1 wings — incredible! They have indoor and outdoor patio seating with picnic tables. A highlight of their beer menu is their refreshing prickly pear and passion fruit fruited sour, the Shark Bite Sour, at only 4% ABV.

Wild Man Dan Brewery

Wild Man Dan Brewery is one of Virginia’s smallest production breweries, producing only small-batch brews of 10 gallons at a time. Their centuries-old historic building is constructed of hand-formed clay bricks made from clay from the very property where it stands. They brew Monday through Wednesday and sell through the weekend on the lawn. You can also attend hands-on demonstrations to learn how Dan brews in his barn. It’s all just up the hill from the brewery’s famed LOVEwork. Try their Puppet Sock Cream Ale while you’re in town.

Wood Ridge Farm Brewery

With the motto “From dirt to glass,” Wood Ridge Farm Brewery brews with ingredients sourced from their own farm, from the fresh spring water they use to the hops they grow on-site. They host frequent events, including cornhole tournaments, karaoke, and poker tournaments. If you enjoy golf, they also have a driving range.

Their indoor bar is stunning, and they offer outdoor dining with firepits. Food is cooked from their curbside grill, offering bar food staples. They also host monthly stargazing nights so that you can sip a brew under the clear night sky. We love their Chocolate Cherry Bon Bon Stout.

Brewing Tree Beer

Brewing Tree is a small brew company located next to the North Fork River, a shallow, slow-moving river perfect for kids and pets to wade, splash, and play. The meadow park offers several field games and a soccer net near picnic tables with umbrellas, firepits, and Adirondack chairs for lounging. It’s a relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere. They feature six beers on tap at the river bar every weekend, and we recommend their Twice as Weiss beer.

Other outstanding breweries and cideries include Blue Toad Hard Cider and Barrel House. You can spend an entire week just touring the local breweries here.

Sleep it off in your own private Airbnb

If you’re looking for a comfortable, completely renovated space to stay on your Wintergreen vacation without the costs or crowds of staying in the resort itself, one of our two Airbnb rentals may fit the bill. Pick your rental and check in today!

Our newly-renovated three-bedroom Luxury Chalet offers heated bathroom floors, a full kitchen, a smart TV, WiFi, vaulted ceilings with lots of natural light, and a private patio overlooking the Devil’s Knob Golf Course. Our two-bedroom Kickback Condo offers a newly-renovated, pet-friendly space with a full kitchen, WiFi, smart TVs in every bedroom, a library of books and board games, and a private patio overlooking the golf course.

Distilleries

For something a bit different (and harder) than craft beers, this region also has a range of outstanding distilleries. These produce a variety of spirits handcrafted to exacting standards.

Silverback Distillery

The mother/daughter-owned Silverback Distillery is the nation’s only distillery of its kind. It’s a pet-friendly facility and is open seven days a week. The tasting room boasts straight pours and craft cocktails, and their selection includes rye, gin, vodka, whiskey, bourbon, and rum. We love their honey-infused Blackback Rye Honey Whiskey and highly recommend the Smoked Old-Fashioned, made with their signature Blackback Lucky 13 Rye Whiskey.

Devils Backbone Distillery

In addition to being a renowned brewery, Devils Backbone also has a distillery that produces whiskey, gin, rum, and bourbon. They sell a variety of canned cocktails made with their own spirits, including a range of unique seasonal offerings. They also have a cigar room. Their highlight house spirit is the Fox Field American Gin, with hints of cardamom and lemongrass. While you’re there, kick back and sip on their refreshingly tart Key Lime Smash canned cocktail.

Bold Rock Distillery

Bold Rock Distillery is owned by Bold Rock Hard Cider in Nellysford. The facility is located in the converted Barrel Barn, which now hosts a distillery and tasting room. They offer house-made spirits, craft cocktails, and canned cocktails. Spirits are available for purchase exclusively at the Nellysford Distillery, so buy while you’re visiting.

They feature indoor and outdoor patio seating and a pet-friendly space. Their highlight house cocktail is the Belle of the Barn, with honey habanero moonshine, vodka, lime juice, and fresh blackberries. We’re also partial to their Spiced Peach Whiskey.

Virginia Distillery Co.

Virginia Distillery Co. is an authentic Old World distillery founded by Irish immigrant Dr. George G. Moore. They offer tasting flights and guided tours and produce several varieties of American whiskey, including their signature Courage and Conviction whiskies. Tasting flights can be either straight pours or craft cocktails. One such flight even offers the option to try chocolates infused with Courage and Conviction.

Ragged Branch Distillery

Ragged Branch Distillery produces authentic American bourbon and straight rye whiskey using only grains sourced from the local area and milled daily to create the foundation mash. Every bottle is aged at least five years.

Their tasting room is located on a knoll overlooking the distillery and barrel barn and features a fireplace inside, an expansive covered porch, and an outdoor patio for sipping. Their offerings include straight pours and craft cocktails. Try their signature bourbon, which won a gold medal at the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits competition.

Get into the spirits at Wintergreen!

From Charlottesville to Lovingston, Roseland, Afton Mountain, and beyond, Nelson County is filled with cideries, breweries, and distilleries to thrill the senses. If you’re ready for a libation exploration of the Blue Mountain region, check in to one of our Airbnb rentals today.