Devil's Backbone

So last September my friends moved to Blacksburg for Grad School at Virginia Tech. They've come back for family holidays and such twice, bringing me back mixed 6 packs from an excellent store, The Cellar, in exchange for crashing at our place. The best stuff I've gotten has been Duck-Rabbit Brewery that I reviewed before, Starr Hill Brewing and from Crozet, VA and Highland Brewing from Asheville, NC. But the most exotic and delicious variety of beer from Virginia I've gotten was from a brewery in Roseland, Virginia, Devil's Backbone. This week I decided to cash in my couch time and spend a week  below the Mason-Dixon line.
I have no idea when Devil's Backbone built a taproom outpost in Lexington, VA but I was thrilled to see the attractions sign from the highway signaling me to pull off the never ending expanse of Eisenhower's Interstate 81 and into the rustic roads of northwest Virginia. Pulling into the parking lot was  a mixed reaction, first we have a Connecticut license plate loading in a fresh case of Eight Point IPA into there trunk, and next we have two different minivans with Virginia plates plastered with anti-abortion bumper stickers and all sorts of catholic guilt bullshit. The outpost was a beautifully built new looking building with excellent ridged metal roof panels and exquisite wood doors and crafted metal door handles like deer antlers. It was bright and sunny out but the rays could barely squeak into the tap room. You can bring your own food to the taproom, and the baby saving squad was pulled up to two tables enjoying pints of delicious beer. I may disagree with everything they stand for and would regard a conversation with them as the equivalent of having my teeth pulled and being forced to drink lemonade but at least they're enjoying the best beer they can find. And they're requesting hockey on the TV. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
Saddling up to the bar is a wonderful thing. 8 taps in front of me! So many choices but the clear choice is a taster flight of all 8 beers. The bartender pulls out all 8 beers and aligns them with the beer menu sitting on the bar so we can read the descriptions of everything we're tasting.
The beers were an excellent variety, 3 lagers, 2 Belgian style beers, 1 IPA and 2 takes on a scottish ale. I love the variety here, as I can really get a grasp on how well a brewery's ingredients react to my particular tongue. Gold Leaf Lager and Vienna Lager have won a combined 6 metals yet it was Beggar and Thieves Rye Lager that just blew my taste buds out of the water. The smell is immediately of citrus and pine hops, and the taste continues with fresh malt and a touch of pepper, with those hops beginning and ending the experience. It was so good I got a mini growler of it to take home. And it was just as good after 10 hours of driving home.
The belgian styles were extremely interesting to me. First was Congo Pale Ale, a pale ale that was stronger than their flagship IPA, clocking in at 7.5% and made with a Belgian yeast strain. Unfortunately is tasted a bit too sweet of alcohol and the hops felt buried in the back of this beer. After that comes Dark Abby, Devil's take on a Belgian style dubbel. It's exactly the same ABV, 7.5% yet there's no presence of alcohol in this beer. The yeast isn't battling hops in this beer, but rather pairing amazingly with the malts to give it a delicious raisony sweetness with that excellent clove and fruity spiceness in the finish. Besides saisons, the south doesn't have much Belgian beer going for it and this was an excellent surprise.
Reilly's Red Ale was an excellent irish red ale and a wood aged version of their Wee Heavy Kilt Tilter were and excellent bridge to the beer I was saving for last, Eight Point IPA.
Eight Point IPA is listed as a west coast style IPA that comes in just a touch under 6% alcohol, right in the range I love. I love my hops with a dry malty backbone, probably why I didn't love Congo, and exactly why I was leaving Eight Point for last. The smell is musty, like I dug up a citra hop plant in my grandmother's backyard garden. The taste is bursting with fresh hops of serious pine and citrus, the malts taking a back seat to the wonderful crispness of some serious hops. Every state should brew a fresh tasting IPA like this beer, so you can go down to your local store and grab a fresh 6 pack for some bitter deliciousness.
Anyways, that's how you do a taster, spanning a full spectrum of what your brewery can provide a community, and an excellent indicator of how people's taste works. One of the angels of justice came up to the bar and ordered a Congo Pale Ale just as I was leaving, showcasing something so important, my taste buds don't mean shit to anyone but myself, so everything is subjective, probably just like my opinions.
Though, as an added bonus, I got a bottle of brewed to support the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and their fight for clean water.

THIS. IS. AN. OUTSTANDING. BEER!!!! The hops in this beer are probably approaching 6 months since bottling but the beer still tastes like a fresh face full of hops picked from a vine and pressed directly on my tongue. The malts are perfectly balanced with some bready sweetness that carry a bitter wash down the tongue. They're brewing another batch soon and if I could recommend any beer from Virginia it would be any from Devil's Backbone, and this one might be the best beer I've had from the state. Hopefully I get it even fresher soon.