Fall is upon us and it’s time to enjoy the warmer concoctions of our local Distilleries & Meaderies.

Meaderies
According to the Honey and Hops Brew Works website, mead has “been quickly gaining popularity. But what is it? Is it beer? Is it wine? Is it cider? It’s all of those things, and none of them…
“While classified as a wine, and the process is similar to wine, we’re fermented with honey instead of grapes or other sugars.
“Mead, like wine or beer, can have many different characteristics. It can have: Sweet. Dry. Fruit. Tannins. Oak. Spice. Hops. You name it. There’s pretty much a mead for anyone. And just because you tried it at a RenFest once and didn’t like it, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it another try! :)”

Capital Hive Meadery
9600 Sycolin Rd Suite 115, Leesburg, VA 20175
“Welcome to Capital Hive Meadery! We are a small, locally owned and operated, micro meadery in Leesburg Virginia. Our production and tasting room facility is located across the street from the Leesburg Airport. We focus on utilizing exceptional ingredients to produce premium craft mead and hard ciders.”

StoneHouse Meadery
36580 Shoemaker School Rd, Purcellville, VA 20132
“Mission:  make the best mead possible with what the honeybee has given me.  Since I have no control over where the bee gathers pollen, I appreciate the terroir in the honey they bring forth and move to enhance it in every possible way.  Only then do I stand back, taste the mead and yes ASK, have I done justice to the bee’s efforts and hard labor they provided to make this possible.”

Honey & Hops Brew Works
212 E Main St. A, Front Royal, VA 22630
“When we first opened we were out of the gate with 5 flavors. 4 of those were sessions, and then our full bodied Back Trails blueberry mead. Since then we’ve released over 20 flavors, and will continue to push the boundaries of your taste buds, with our honey wine.”

Misty Mountains Meadworks, Inc.
661 Warm Springs Rd., Winchester, VA 22603
“Misty Mountain Meadworks is a small Virginia Farm Winery. We specialize in making Mead, which some people call honey-wine. We are the oldest operating meadery in Virginia. The Meadery is owned and operated by the Copeland family in Winchester, VA.”

Distilleries
Per the Virginia is for Lovers website, Virginia is the Birthplace of American Spirits — the first batch of whiskey was distilled right here in 1620. From there, George Washington went on to be the biggest producer of Virginia whiskey during his time, producing more than 11,000 gallons in 1798 alone. Virginia has many distilleries where you can visit their tasting rooms, and learn about the process distilling process firsthand, while sipping and savoring batch spirits and craft cocktail samples.

George Washinton’s Distillery
3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Mount Vernon, VA 22121
“In 1799, George Washington’s distillery produced nearly 11,000 gallons, making it one of the largest whiskey distilleries in America. Today, a faithfully reconstructed working distillery produces small batch spirits on site and is open to visitors April – October.”

MurLarkey Distilled Spirits
7961 Gainsford Ct., Bristow, VA 20136
“At MurLarkey, we support local farmers and we are proud to be 100% FARM-TO-FLASK. All of our ingredients are sustainably sourced here in Virginia and we hand (nose) select only the highest-quality, all-natural raw materials, grains, and botanicals.”

Falls Church Distillers….in Manassas
8420 Kao Cir., Manassas, VA 20110
“Falls Church Distillers is an award-winning distillery located in the Virginia suburbs just outside of the Nation’s Capital. As a uniquely licensed distillery, you are invited to stay awhile, enjoy some of our partner craft brews, seasonally varied libations and all in the craft environment that is a small batch distillery. ”

Orkney Springs Distillery
7701 Southern Dr. Suite R, Unit A1, Springfield, VA 22150
“Our Kosher, 4x distilled, gluten free Italian Wheat Vodka is made from 100% mountain wheat imported from the Italian alps. It is proofed with pure Orkney Spring source water, better base ingredients makes for better spirits. We are committed to bringing the highest quality hand-made spirits to our customers. ”

KO Distilling
10381 Central Park Dr. Ste 105, Manassas, VA 20110
“Enjoy a cocktail in our beautiful tasting room, explore our production facility and barrel room, and buy a bottle to take home with you.  If you’ve ever wondered how high-quality, craft spirits are made, visit us to taste and see.”