Beers of Virginia

Every year, Eric and I take what we call our "leaves" weekend trip to enjoy the foliage, celebrate fall, and enjoy the season before the holidays come around. Last year we went back to Asheville, but this year, we decided to take advantage of the fact that Eric was working in Richmond, VA and planned our long weekend accordingly. 


Monsieur Pierre decided to cause a wee bit of trouble before I left, however. On Wednesday night as I was packing, Pierre managed to find a ziploc baggie of treats that I had for him previously in my purse. When I went over to take them, he locked his jaws, and....gulp. Swallowed. Baggie and all.  I called the emergency vet, and they weren't overly concerned about a blockage because of his size, and told me to just feed him lots of bread, etc. in hopes that it would pass. But being the nervous mama (who was about to leave her baby overnight for the first time), I took him into the vet to be checked out on Thursday morning anyway. $150 worth of x-rays later, we were cleared for an obstruction, and the vet said she felt comfortable with me leaving him at Camp Bow Wow for the weekend, and to just tell them to keep an eye on him. After a tearful conversation with my mother and conferring with a family friend vet from SC, I dropped Pierre off and realized I should have never been nervous...he paid me no attention whatsoever and was fighting to get back with his friends. I'm happy to report that he did just fine over the weekend (we kept up with him via webcam and called a few times to check on him), and he waited for me to get home to puke up the ziploc baggie on Tuesday morning before work. Lovely.

"In my defense, I am a dog."

With less than 2 hours to spare before takeoff, I headed to the airport and had a smooth flight to Richmond.  Thursday night, we had dinner with Eric's boss and one of his colleagues at a place called Pasture. Holy delicious.  It's a new place, so no menu up yet, but the food was outstanding, and the cocktails here even better.  I tried two different whiskey cocktails, one that just TASTED like fall, and the other with smoked ginger. They were both incredible. 

On Friday, Eric and I woke up, had breakfast, and did some work.  Well, he did some work, and I worked on ordering our Christmas cards and address labels.  Then, what was going to be lunch out and some sightseeing, turned into an afternoon of brewery hopping. We drove uptoward Charlottesville and Harrisonburg, because our plans for Saturday included hiking/driving in the Shenandoah Valley.  We started at Blue Mountain Brewery, and then realized that two others we wanted to try were nearby.  We both ordered flights at Blue Mountain, with the most amazing view, and got their brie, caramalized onion, apple sausage, and apple pizza. It was amazing, and we had leftovers. Perfect, considering our entire afternoon now consisted of drinking beer.  Blue Mountain had the best outdoor area by far and fantastic beer.

Next up, we headed to Wild Wolf Brewing Company a few miles down the road. Eric ordered another flight, and I ordered a Ginger Lager, which was delicious. No food here...although they were smoking meat out back which smelled incredible.  We may have left smelling a little smokey, but there's something about the smell of a fire that is very fall-like to me, so I didn't mind. 

I loved these square tasting glasses!

From there, we drove just a few more rural miles down the road until we hit Devil's Backbone Brewing Company.  This was by far the "nicest" brewery that we visited, but I think if we had to pick, Eric and I preferred the atmosphere at Blue Mountain.  You just really can't beat their view of the mountains. Devil's Backbone had a DELICIOUS pumpkin ale that wasn't too sweet, and we sampled a cup of their pumpkin soup and potato/leek soup. Both were amazing.  This place was also super dog-friendly - a winner in our book.  When we walked up, we had to step over the owner's dog rolling on his back in the sunshine and mums at the entrance. Living the dream.

 From there, we headed further into Harrisonburg where we were staying for the night. We were so full from our afternoon of heavy beers and comfort food that we skipped dinner altogether, opting instead for our leftover pizza from Blue Mountain (it was that good). 

Stay tuned for more leaves weekending :) I promise we did more than eat and drink...