On the Ale Trail

If you've read any of my recent blog posts or follow me on socials, you may have heard me talking about the Charlottesville Ale Trail. If you haven't, don't worry, I'm gonna tell you all about it! Essentially, it is a collection of breweries, cideries, and distilleries around town, and when you visit one, you record your visit in your virtual passport and earn rewards! It didn't take much convincing for me to start collecting stamps for my passport and once I looked into it more, I realized that there are trails in lots of different cities! I may need to make this more of a thing along my travels!

It is no secret which stop was my favorite, but I gotta say there were definitely some honorable mentions and spots I would absolutely go back to when I'm back in town. Oh yeah, that's the other thing, surprise, I finished my contract at UVA! I hit up the last spot and officially finished the Ale Trail on my last full day in town. I got to tell a random person at the bar about it which felt like such a full circle moment (and made me wonder if the ale trail was looking for ambassadors and if I could get some perks for teaching people about it??). Finishing the Ale Trail earns you a free hat which I am actually proudly wearing while typing this! Halfway through the ale trail, you get a bottle opener, and I think early on you get a discount from the ale trail store.

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The trail!

Now these are simply in the order that the website has them in (which I think is alphabetical), because that was easier than deciding my own order based on ranking or by the order I visited them or some other random method. In true ALexplorer fashion, I have pics of each spot and have included a little blurb about them based on what I can remember (because naturally I didn't type this after visiting each spot... that would've been too easy). I hope you enjoy!

1.Decipher Brewing- I hit this one up after a walk and while I wasn't in love with the beers, the fact that I could sit outside for a little and sip definitely had to count for something. I checked out the inside too and found a chalkboard which had a list of beers on a "dead drop" which is described as a "physical location where a beer is covertly placed for another person to collect without direct contact between the parties" and had a lot of random "parties" from first names to job titles to specific descriptors which was fun. I don't know how one gets a beer from the dead drop, but I imagine you just ask?

2. Devils Backbone Backyard- I've had their beers before in cans which probably makes up for the fact that we didn't stay long on account of they wouldn't play sound for the last playoff football game??? claiming that the manager would only let them play the music they had on??? needless to say they lost a decent amount of business as we almost immediately left and then later saw the other parties at a different bar... which had sound...

3. Eastwood Boar and Bear Brews- I think what is most fun about this trail is that I-- as an incredibly indecisive individual-- always had a list of places to check out when I had someone visiting in town. This spot was one that I enjoyed with none other than my momma. While it felt weird to have a winery on the ~ale~ trail, it was a fun spot and let us catch a tiny glimpse of a sunset.

4. Högwaller Brewing- this is a spot you can access right along the Rivanna Trail aka my favorite way to get some outdoor steps in Charlottesville. It also is right next to the launch spot for the Rivanna River Company which is a little nostalgic to my first visit to Charlottesville a few summers ago! While floating on the river in winter or even late spring is not on my bucket list, I could mayyyybe be talked into it if I had some beer in me first.

5. Mount Ida Reserve Tasting Room & Tap House- It is so cool looking back through all of these picture and remembering so many adventures with so many wonderful people. Mount Ida was another winery which I think also had some beer, but I remember being in a wine mood which paired quite nicely with the gorgeous views and even better with the sunnnnshine!

6. North American Sake Brewery- I have only had Sake a few times in my life, and while I definitely didn't hate it, it will definitely not become my first pick for booze anytime soon. This spot is conveniently located under my truest love, Three Notch'd, and it had some really cool artwork inside, so it was definitely still worth a visit!

7. Potter's Craft Cider- I remember a time when I wouldn't do more than a sip of an IPA. I was strictly a sours and ciders girly. BOY WAS I MISSING OUT! I still do love me a good cider though, and even more so love a flight, so this spot was definitely a winner. OH and it was a stop when my momma was in town aaaaand we got a visit from a pretty lil ladybug (or few, they were all over our window just basking in the sun). All around, excellent time had by all.

8. Random Row Brewing Co- the first time I tried to go to Random Row (which I often accidentally called Rainbow Row.. probably thanks to my time spent in Charleston??), it was shut down to outside visitors because they were rented out for what seemed like a frat party?? idk man, but when I finally made it back, I was plenty pleased.

9. Rockfish Brewing Co on the Downtown Mall & on Preston Ave- Rockfish has two locations and while I was pulling together all the photos, I realized I started and (almost) ended the trail with the two different locations! I also think I ended up getting the same beer at both locations? What can I say, I love me a hazy juicy IPA!

10. Selvedge Brewing- someone please help me with the foammm on this beer, my GOODNESS, and I had it poured this way by two different bartenders?! What am I not getting here? At least they had TVs so I could watch the superbowl after I got off my shift.

11. South Street Brewery- turns out you can't just be part of the mug club by smiling and asking nicely... but you can get some tasty beers!

12. Starr Hill Brewery Downtown & Crozet- this is another spot that has two locations, one along the same strip as a few other breweries (which now that I think of it, could lend nicely to a little bar tour) and one just BEAUTIFUL short drive out of town. The Crozet location gets bonus points because when I visited, there was both a baby AND a dog!!! I unsurprisingly got the same beer at both locations for this brewery too, and actually think I've had it in cans too during my time in c'ville.

13. SuperFly Brewing- as the newest spot on the ale trail, I was a little nervous I was even gonna get to check this one off.. it wasn't even open when I first got to town!! There are only a few beers on tap, but they all have quite a personality, as does the entire place in general. It is very fun and funky inside!

14. Three Notch'd Brewing Company- oh 3N, how I love you. I especially love your King of Clouds. At a beautiful 7.5%, this "regal hazy IPA delivers a tropical charge of juicy flavor" aka my absolute favorite.. but also a little dangerous. I'm pretty sure I've talked about this before, but I became quite a regular at 3N, and may or may not have picked my second rental in town based on proximity to 3N so that I could walk to the brewery on random days off. It got to a point where I would meet people and they would ask how I knew a few of the bartenders, if I was an old friend or something.. and I would have to respond by explaining that I was just a menace at the bar *insert shrug emoji. I could post up at the bar with my book, my laptop, or just myself and people watch, I always had a good time. I also gotta give another shoutout to the concrete butt in the parking lot hehehe.

15. Vitae Spirits- changing locations midway through my contract made this one a little bit of an adventure to find, but I'm always up for a good challenge. This was the final place I needed to complete the trail and it's probably good I didn't truly discover it until the end because it was a gin bar (aka my faaaaavorite spirit) and could have been ~very~ dangerous. While I don't really know what the first location looked like, this new spot was super cute inside!

16. Ragged Branch... was on the list but got replaced with Thistlerock Mead Co sometime between me starting the trail and me finishing it, but we're gonna stick with my OG list since I was still able to complete the trail with this on my passport. Maybe I'll venture to Thistlerock next time I'm in town. Ragged Branch had a distillery dog to which my sister said "you should go back there" immediately followed with "and take me" and when it was taken off the trail, I was worried it went belly up, but it appears to still very much be a functioning thing, so who knows!

The next time you're in Charlottesville, I hope you'll hit up a few spots on the Ale Trail, especially Three Notch'd (and maybe even the one out on 151 if you wanna throw some axes!). Be sure to tell my favorite bartenders that you know me, they'll either say sorry and give you a free beer for your troubles or miss me enough that they'll give you a free beer to feel like old times.. either way, it's worth a shot, right?!

Quite honestly, no matter where you travel, see if there's a trail of sorts. I learned that there is one for Raleigh (which is where I am for this next contract, woo hoo!) but it is 3x as long with almost 60 breweries.... turns out I might need to stick around her a little longer than the typical 13 weeks.. Although, I have already hit up 3 spots and I haven't even had my first day yet.. stay tuned!

Also stay tuned for my next post which will be about my wild wild west trip I took while funemplyed between contracts..... with the wildest part being my trek to get back to the east coast!

Until next time, cheers!