The Virginia Beach Craft Beverage Trail: Breweries & Distilleries

How We Picked

Every stop on this trail brews beer or distills spirits on the premises — a working brewhouse or still, not just a bar with local beer on tap. We picked for range across the city's beer-and-spirits map rather than concentrating in one district, and drew each flagship pour or house specialty from the business's own site or menu. Taprooms rotate seasonal releases constantly and several run food-truck-only kitchens on a shifting schedule, so treat any specific beer or hours mentioned here as a snapshot and check the brewery's own page before a special trip.

The Picks

  1. Vibrant Shore Brewing Company

    ViBe District taproom with a hidden rooftop beer garden and flagships like Scarlet Future IPA and the Rising Bun rice lager.

  2. Aslin Beer Co.

    Northern Virginia hazy-IPA powerhouse's ground-up ViBe compound, with its own IZZI kitchen, café, and ice cream stand around the beer garden.

  3. Commonwealth Brewing Company

    Acclaimed Chic's Beach brewery inside a converted fire station, pouring 24-plus taps including Wapatoolie IPA alongside wood-fired pizza.

  4. New Realm Brewing Co.

    The city's biggest brewery campus, in the former Green Flash facility, with a 50-barrel brewhouse and a two-acre beer garden.

  5. Wasserhund Brewing Company

    German-inspired Hilltop brewery pairing Doggy Paddle IPA with bratwurst-topped Wasserhund pizza from its scratch kitchen.

  6. Reaver Beach Brewing Company

    Virginia Beach's oldest craft brewery, established 2010, home of the Hoptopus double IPA in a locals-first warehouse taproom.

  7. Three Notch'd Brewery & Craft Kitchen — Virginia Beach

    Town Center brewpub from Charlottesville's Three Notch'd, rotating Virginia-brewed beers like Minute Man IPA through a full craft kitchen.

  8. Thin Brew Line Brewing Company

    First-responder-founded taproom near Oceana pouring gold-medal beers that fund police and K-9 charities.

  9. Back Bay's Farmhouse Brewing Co.

    Back Bay Brewing's Kempsville sibling, brewing both beer and cider on a farmhouse property with an on-site coffee shop and market.

  10. Chesapeake Bay Distillery

    Virginia Beach's 2005-founded craft distillery, home of the 96-point Blue Ridge Vodka and free Saturday distillery tours.

  11. Beach Vodka

    Female-owned General Booth-corridor distillery making corn-based vodka on an iStill 500 system, with hands-on infusion workshops.

  12. Waterman Spirits

    Oceanfront distillery pouring what it calls the nation's first organic, coral-filtered vodka, a block off the boardwalk.

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