Vanish

We came here on 7.8.2019. Very large farm house brewery not far from Dulles airport at highway 15. We came here on a Wednesday afternoon and was quite empty, but I know on weekend it can be packed. Liked the layout: long bar, visible brew house behind the bar, merchandising on the right and spacious outside place. Beers were not too bad.

Massive place - so big that when I pulled up I thought "it must be somewhere behind this county fare" on a Saturday. Very busy, with live music and tons of seating indoors and out. Lineups were pretty long and prices for flights pretty steep - downtown DC prices in the middle of nowhere. Beer was ok - their imperial stout was best. IPAs could use some work.

Wow what a sprawling place, very busy on a Saturday afternoon, great local, family-friendly vibe. Beers were mediocre to above average, 17 on tap. All that being said, we spent $70 to get 4oz sampler sizes for all 17 beers (in 1 12-beer sampler and 1 6-beer sampler). So that’s 72 ounces of beer, ~5 pints worth, for $70 (incl tax & tip), making this one of the worst values I’ve ever come across. It’d be one thing if this was RR or HF quality beer, but it wasn’t even in the neighborhood. Can’t see coming back here, even though the BBQ smelled great.

Spectacular site, well-built-out building, and not one but two outdoor patios, so you can probably find a place out of the sun. Unfortunately, after that it begins to fall apart. None of the four beers I had were drinkable. None resembled even the vaguest notions of the professed style. Lots of trend-following (oh! lets put fruit extract in an IPA!), lots of trying difficult things without having mastered basics. Befuddling.

Ten minute drive from Barnhouse. Huge place on interesting grounds with a mix of old buildings, mostly crumbling, and buildings that look like government housing - I’d be curious to learn its history. Now growing hops, and looks to be set to grow more. On the grounds is a huge modern metal warehouse with a small brewhouse in the cavernous interior. This means bad acoustics - they had a guy playing an acoustic guitar with one very unnecessary speaker that made the sound deafening and conversation impossible. Ten beers on offer, available in a shockingly expensive $21 flight of six, or the full Monty - I didn’t ask the price. Beers were tasty and creative. They had food on offer, barbecue (no veggie options) - as pricey as the beer, but tasty. Very kid friendly, lots of little tykes playing football inside the brewery. Enthusiastic young servers; thankfully you can now sit at the bar and order, but it looks like the servers were required to ask me if I was doing OK every five minutes or so - really unnecessary. Interesting place.

Sunday afternoon. Big open inside area with a huge bar and many tables. Sat at the bar. Terrible service, though it was not due to bored or inattentive staff, but rather a by-product of their system of requiring anyone not at the bar (i.e. sitting at one of the very many tables) to come to the end of the bar to order food and beer. Waitstaff do not take table orders. So, the entire bar staff is consumed with the long line of table sitters, ignoring the 25 people actually sitting at the bar. Staff were friendly but exasperated. Work it out management, this is a stupid system. Beer was decent. Reasonably priced. Did not eat. Apparently it is great bbq. I love bbq. I knew they have bbq. I knew they have great bbq. But the service/ordering situation was so fucked that I chose to forego it. Go there, but pray they took a minute to re-evaluate their process. Second visit January 7, 2017: first stop on a Saturday afternoon Loudoun County breweries and wineries trip. Service was MUCH improved. 14 beers on tap, mostly decent with a couple nice ones. Had the BVQ brisket, awesome. A duo with a guitar singing standard bar songs, pretty good though accoustics make it quite loud. Place got packed. Had a great time frankly.

Visited with GenDV138 a few weeks ago. The drive back to this place is pretty cool - there’s a number of old (unfortunately crumbling) stone buildings along the way, as well as a pretty large hop farm (Black Hops Farm). There were 16 house beers on tap, with a few collaborations available. A mighty number of beers available for a place that has only been open for about 6 months. Almost all the beer was excellent, a few okay beers. Nothing bad. Food was pretty awesome, Bryan Voltaggio bbq. It’s good enough to just come for the food.

Visited with radagast83 on a wet Saturday. Spacious brewery owned and located by Black Hops Farm, by a gravel road just off of Route 15 in Lucketts. Quite a few picnic tables inside along with a fairly long bar. Service was friendly and attentive. Selection of 16 house beers with a couple collaborations, decent selection of styles. Beer was average to above average with a couple standouts. Food is pretty tasty BBQ put together by Bryan Voltaggio (cleverly titled BVQ), several different meats and sides to choose from. Beer and food prices are about average for the area. $2-4 for individual 4 oz pours. Nice stop for beer and BBQ, especially if paired with other breweries in the area. Worth keeping an eye on these guys.