Craft Beer

Small batch craft beer has found a place in the New River Valley with energetic entrepreneurs rising to the challenge of brewing fun varieties of beer and ale. The small side of these micro-breweries assures attention to every detail and well-earned pride in every bottle, frosty mug or tall glass. Eastern Divide Brewing in Blacksburg, the new kid on the block so to speak, likes its employees to be that kind of “someone who believes that their next great adventure is just a beer away.” Visitors have some choices in the New River Valley with names like Traveler’s Pale Ale (The River Company and Brewery), Thunder Snow Stout (Rising Silo), Maroon Effect Ale (Bull & Bones), Flight of the Kiwis (Right Mind), Elvis on Velvet(SinklandFarms)andCopperhead(BuffaloMountain). Folk lore attributes “wet your whistle” to British pub owners having whistles baked into ceramic mugs, from which you only needed to whistle for a refill. More likely is the fact that it’s very hard to whistle from a dry mouth, so a drink can remedy that. Whistling aside, artisan beer appeals to our adventurous desire to taste and experience new brews, stouts, ales, lagers and all.

Whiskey’s too tough. Champagne costs too much. Vodka puts my mouth in gear. I hope this refrain will help me explain. As a matter of fact, I like beer. - Country singer-songwriter Tom T. Hall

• Buffalo Mountain Brewery & McDaniels Tavern, Floyd • Bull & Bones Brewhaus, Blacksburg • Iron Tree Brewing, Christiansburg • Rising Silo, Blacksburg • The River Company and Brewery, Pulaski County • Eastern Divide Brewing Company, Blacksburg • Long Way Brewing, Radford • Right Mind Brewing, Blacksburg • Off the Mall Brewing, Blacksburg • Moon Hollow, Prices Fork

Moonshine

Theoncetouted“MoonshineCapitaloftheWorld” is just a whisker over the Floyd County line. Legend has it, however, that Floyd was a much larger producer, back in the day. Old timers from these parts tell stories of hills so covered in moonshiner’s fires that they resembled fireflies rising out of the meadows on a summer night. It is on the Floyd side that Five Mile Mountain Distillery set up shop – legally, in 2014. It’s the first distillery in Floyd since Prohibition, and they’re using the same ol’ recipes in copper stills on open flames. Tasting room, porch chairs and gift shop.

 Five Mile Mountain Distillery, Floyd  JH Bard, Fairlawn