Norfolk Breweries (with a little bit a culture)

Virginia Trip Day 4- Norfolk Breweries

We made it back from a light day North Carolina and had another day of beerventuring in store. Deciding to keep it local, we ventured to five Norfolk breweries to see what they had to offer.

Chrysler Museum of Art (Norfolk, VA)

The problem we constantly encounter during a beerventure is the hours of operation. We understand that most people don’t want to drink a beer at 9, or 10, or 11 am on a Wednesday but when we have a lot of places to cover, it really is 5 o’clock somewhere. O’Connor Brewing Co. was the first to open on the agenda today, but that wasn’t until noon. So we took in some art.

The Chrysler Museum of Art of Norfolk, VA has quite the showcase of art ranging from an exquisite and worldly glass collection to 15th century paintings to contemporary and modern art. Even Melissa and I, who aren’t art connoisseurs by any stretch of the imagination, enjoyed the experience. We were impressed by much of the older artwork and were left kind of “what the f*ck?” with the more modern stuff.

Did I mention the museums proximity to 4 breweries? Or that it was a completely free and certainly enjoyable experience? You should certainly consider Chrysler to be your morning killer while waiting for O’Connor to open. We did enjoy a nice hurricane/flood warning when we entered with a “don’t worry, we’ll let you know if it’s a real emergency”. And then Kyle called to remind us that tunnels sometimes get flooded so make it back to Portsmouth if it was really bad. Reassuring.

O’Connor Brewing Co. (Norfolk, VA)

The gated parking lot covered with barbed wire was already ¼ full by the time we arrived to the massive industrial complex that was O’Connor Brewing Co of Norfolk, VA. With a patio on the loading dock, and what seemed to be a beer garden at the rear of the lot, we knew this place must get packed during warm summer nights. We were further awed by the sheer amount of space the tap room had to offer; which was adjacent to active brewery.

After exchanging small pleasantries with the barmaid, we were both surprised, and not surprised to learn that O’Connor was currently not serving flights due to thievery of flight glasses. The unfortunate side effect of no flights, is that we have to be extremely picky in what we consume as our oz consumption is finite.

To our disappointment, there wasn’t a whole lot of unique drafts; most of the good stuff was bottled. So we grabbed four half-pints. From least to most enjoyed we had Great Dismal Black IPA, Heavy Footer DIPA, Zephyrweisse the Hefeweizen, and El Guapo Agave IPA. Great Dismal Black IPA is an award winning IPA, that didn’t win too many awards from us. It was an average black IPA. Heavy Footer is described as an outrageous hop profile and sitting at a solid 9% abv, Heavy Footer, was certainly heavy in the malt and spice category. The description on the board mentioned lots of citrus notes; but they were not to be found much to Melissa’s distaste.

Zephyrweisse was an extremely light body hefe, that didn’t taste too much like a hefe. The traditional banana flavor was almost non-existent. Instead we were greeted by a light, slightly sour and slightly sweet wheat flavor. It tasted more like a farmhouse saison than an actual hefe. Lastly, the El Guapo Agave IPA was certainly the highlight of our half-pint flight. I’m not sure what pure agave is supposed to taste like, but this IPA was an extremely sweet, citrus beer that smelled great and tasted even better. The bartender had mentioned that this was a fresh batch, so we knew it was in its prime; but also made us wonder what the flavor half-life was.

O’Connor Brewing offers a huge gathering place for private parties, and other groups. They host various community events, and fundraisers with a decent sized stage for live music. With the 24 drafts on tap, it’s really hard to not find something that you won’t want to consume. Unless of course you don’t drink beer; shame, shame, shame. O’Connor Brewing is one of those must hit breweries of Norfolk, VA and earns a 4.1 half-pints out of 5.

Stop! Thief!

O’Connor wasn’t the first brewery we’ve stopped at that no longer served flights due to thievery. So this is our solemn plea. Please stop taking flight glasses. If they’re engraved or vinyl, or screen printed, I guarantee they’re available for sale if you really want one. The same goes for flight paddles, glassware and bathroom art. Seriously, a brewery we visited had signs in the bathroom saying please don’t steal this poster.

Rip Rap Brewing Co. (Norfolk, VA)

Literally 3 minutes down the road from O’Connor, is Rip Rap Brewing Co. Rip Rap Brewing, also of Norfolk, is only a fraction in size of O’Connor but size doesn’t matter; or so Melissa tells me. Jokes aside, this nautical themed brewery was started by two Coast Guard veterans who took the love of home brewing to levels that most of us will never achieve.

We did pass by this place twice while looking for parking, as there is practically none out front. But we were fairly confident that we had the building location correct judging by the food truck out front. After parking a block away, in this less than desirable neighborhood, we finally made our way into the modest tap room and picked a flight of four.

In order from least to most enjoyed we had the Steamboat Jack Pilsner, New Moon Schwarzbier, Hoppy Holloway IPA and Deep Berth Belgian Strong ale. The pilsner and schwarzbier were both well balanced examples of their respective styles, but average never the less. Hoppy Holloway is a grapefruit IPA, and it had a huge juicy explosion. I don’t really enjoy grapefruit, and Melissa isn’t an IPA fan, but we both agreed that this was an extremely well made IPA. Deep Berth, the Belgian Strong, had an overwhelming banana (and toffee?) flavor. It was extremely sweet on the front end, and only minor booze on the back. Near perfect if we dare say.

Rip Rap Brewing is certainly modest in size, but makes up for it in character. There is a rack of board games, a charging station for cell phones, a food truck out front and eight drafts on tap. Rip Rap takes us 3.5 nautical miles out of 5.

Coelacanth Brewing Company (Norfolk, VA)

Also of Norfolk, VA and only 5 minutes down the road from O’Connor in the opposite direction of Rip Rap, sits Coelacanth Brewing Company. Ok, I will give you a few moments to figure out how to say this word. Figure it out yet? No?

Coelacanth, Kyle’s favorite local brewery, is pronounced “see luh canth.”I know right? A coelacanth is an ancient species of fish, once thought to be extinct but discoveries have proven it to be quite rare. Kyle gave us a few tries before laughing at us and filling us in on the pronunciation. Speaking of Kyle, he officially joined the party after punching out of work a little early to join us at this favorite brewery.

With Kyle now riding 3rd wheel, we took his advice and picked Fool’s Gold, Bramble Berliner Weiss, Passionfruit Gose and Naw’Meen. Fool’s Gold, was no fool in our opinion. This NEIPA wasn’t quite “juice bomb” but had a certain citrus element; and absolutely zero haze. Clarity is a rare trait in NEIPAs. Bramble Berliner Weiss is an extremely light, blackberry Berliner. So light in fact, that you hardly tasted the blackberry and probably wouldn’t know that was the fruit used to ferment it. Unfortunately, there was no woodruff syrup to spice up this Weisse.

The better sour in our opinion was the Passionfruit Gose. Listed as a VA Craft Brewers Cup gold medal winner, this sour was certainly more flavorful than the Berliner. The body was extremely light, and had the as described salted, wheat flavor with a bit of “tang.” It’s a rarity that Melissa and I agree on what makes a good sour beer, as we have two distinctly different opinions on sour; but we both enjoyed it immensely. Outshining the rest of the flight was Naw’Meen, a Baltic porter. It’s not often a porter makes top marks, but this coconut brew had the right amount of roast, acid and coconut that instantly reminded us of Devils Whisper from Barrage Brewing. I realize that I often discredit porters as average, but every now and again a brewery like Coelacanth or Barrage make me eat my own words.

It really is no wonder why Coelacanth is Kyle’s favorite local brewery. Coelacanth has gorgeous facility, a great space for medium-sized groups and boasts a large and flavorful tap lineup making this brewery an ideal happy hour spot. I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that food trucks park out front, but there wasn’t one today. Coelacanth is an ugly fish, but a beautiful beer and earns a 4.2 fish heads out of 5.