The days of choosing between a handful of imports and a convenience store six-pack are long gone. The beer landscape in America has changed dramatically in the twenty-first century, as the nation has experienced an explosion in craft beer brewing and consumption. Nowhere is this truer than in Virginia, where more than two hundred independent breweries create beers of an unprecedented variety and serve an increasingly knowledgeable, and thirsty, population of beer enthusiasts.

As Lee Graves shows in his definitive new guide to Virginia beer, the Old Dominion’s central role in the current beer boom is no accident. Beer was on board when English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607, and the taste for beer and expertise in brewing have only grown in the generations since. Graves offers an invaluable survey of key breweries throughout the Virginia, profiling the people and the businesses in each region that have made the state a rising star in the industry. The book is extensively illustrated and suggests numerous brewery tours that will point you in the right direction for your statewide beer crawl. From small farm breweries in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains to cavernous facilities in urban rings around the state, Virginians have created a golden age for flavorful beer. This book shows you how to best appreciate it.