James River Brewery

ICYMI, C’ville is a hop, skip, and a jump away from D.C., Richmond, and Hampton Roads, so it was NBD when we got up early Saturday morning to drive down to the area. But, this trip was a little different than most, thanks to two littles words… WEDDING PLANNING. Yep, you heard that right, and if you’ve ever planned a wedding (or been in the wedding party), you can totally relate when we said, “I need a flippin’ beer.” Thank you, James River Brewery, for taking our minds off the planning and re-focusing our attention on more important things. Like beer.

First, I must tell you about our venue (don’t worry – this is relevant). We’re thrilled to be getting married at Avon Hill Lodge, which is located on the beautiful Rockfish River with the rolling hills of the Appalachian Mountains in the distance. We spent the morning exploring the property with Mark, the lodge keeper. We can’t thank him enough for being so accommodating, and answering the millions of questions we had. As we were about to head out, we got to talking about breweries. Mark mentioned that his son, Joey, is a brewer at James River Brewery – only 15 minutes away in Scottsville, VA. We couldn’t not stop by!

We said goodbye, and made our way over to the brewery. We had never heard of Scottsville, but it’s a cute historic town with local restaurants and shops. We easily found parallel parking across the street from the 19th century brick tobacco warehouse, and headed inside. Considering the tasting room wasn’t huge, they strategically arranged their seating to accommodate quite a few people. There was even room for a dart board over near the glass that separates the tasting room from the beer tanks. Since it was cold outside, we didn’t explore the outdoor beer garden, but we imagine that on a warm evening, it would be the perfect Saturday night spot for drinking cold beer and listening to live music.

As we bellied up to the bar, we were pretty sure everyone in there was a reg, except us. But that didn’t matter, we were greeted with a friendly “Hello!”, not just from the taproom manager, Liam, but also from the guests. They asked what brought us to the area, and we shared the events of our morning. Turns out, Liam knows the venue well because he did some killer aerial footage of Avon Hill Lodge with his drone. It was reassuring to hear that everyone in the brewery thought our plan of a small, laid back wedding was awesome.

There were ten beers to choose from, so we sampled a few to narrow down the decision. We opted for the Queen of Tarts and James Bean Vanilla Oatmeal Porter as our first pours – two polar opposite beers. The Queen of Tarts (a tart Dunkelweizen) was created by mistake, but in this case, the mishap was delicious. This was a malty, sour beer with a hint of Märzen sweetness. If you enjoy sours like we do, you would’ve enjoyed the experience that came with this beer. We saw some folks cringe when they sampled it; don’t worry, we won’t judge you too hard. The first sip of the James Bean Vanilla Oatmeal Porter was like vanilla dessert, followed by a warming sensation that was perfect for this brisk winter day. The flavor mellowed out the more we drank it, and by the time we got to the bottom, we were ready for some higher IBUs.

Our next pours consisted of the Tuber IPA and Fluvanna Fluss Hefeweizen. We enjoyed both of these beers so much that we took home a six pack of each (only $9.99 – a great deal compared to a lot of breweries). The Tuber seemed to be one of the fan favorites, with one person after another coming into the brewery stating their number to get a pour in their own personal copper mug. The walls were covered in these shiny, engraved mugs that could only be used by their designated mug club member. We clearly stuck out with our glass pint glasses.

Make sure you check out the event calendar when you plan your trip to James River Brewery. Between game night, trivia, bingo, craft night (yes please!), AND live music, there’s always something for you and the fam to enjoy. And while they don’t serve food, the local nearby restaurants will deliver to the brewery. We will be in town a couple more times before the wedding to check off the long list of planning we have yet to do, and we are certainly hoping to drop by JRB during those trips. We’re even considering getting a couple sixtels for the wedding so our guests get a taste of their beer, too. The hard part is… which beer do we choose?