By Liz Barry

Published: March 20, 2008

On my way to the Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton, clear skies gave way to a cold rain, turning the idyllic countryside into the land of gloom.

To me, half the brewery’s appeal is the ride out there. So logically I expected it to be deserted.

But the beer lovers were undeterred. The brewery was packed.

The Blue Mountain Brewery, which opened in October, is a small-batch craft brewery in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A craft brewery, according to the Brewers Association, is small, independent operation that uses traditional methods and ingredients. Blue Mountain produces about 5,000 kegs-worth of beer a year.

Inside, a sleek bar divides the brew room from the casual dining room, where customers chat over pints and food. The light fare menu changes seasonally, and is made with local meat and produce.

On Saturdays and Sundays, Blue Mountain offers tours of the brew room. Here, I met Taylor Smack, the brewmaster himself, who owns the brewery with his wife Mandi Smack and Matt Nucci.

In the brew room, the concrete floor is damp. The air smells of Bourbon, which Smack explains is coming from a batch of Dark Hollow, a high-gravity Imperial Stout aged in once-used bourbon barrels from the Jim Beam distillery in Kentucky.

The room is dominated by large metal tanks, which process the beer.

Smack says brewing is a craft that can take years to master. He went to beer school at Chicago’s Siebel Institute of Technology and apprenticed under professional brewers. Before opening Blue Mountain, he spent six years as the brewer of Charlottesville’s South Street Brewery.

Smack gives us a mini-lesson on beer’s four essential ingredients — malted barley, hops, yeast and water — and explains the process of making beer.

Yeast, he explains, converts the sugars from the malt into alcohol and carbon dioxide (bubbles). Without yeast, there would be no beer.

Malted grain provides the sugar for fermentation and contributes to the flavor. Hops, known for their bitterness, are used to season beer.

Blue Mountain grows its own hops in nearby fields, which it supplements with imported varieties. Its water comes from a nearby well that’s 300 feet deep.

After the tour, I went to the bar for a $5 sampler of the brewery’s six draft beers, presented in order of color, from pale yellow to dark brown, in 2 ½ ounce glasses.

My personal favorite was the Irish Dry Stout, which the menu describes better than I can as a “roasty ale” with an “exceptionally light body and quick, dry finish.” Spot on.

In the dining room, I met Jim Little, of Lynchburg, who came to Blue Mountain Brewery with two of his friends after a day at Wintergreen. Little, a home brewer, is a first-timer at the Nelson County brewery.

Little will be going home with a six-pack of Evil 8°, Belgian-style Abbey ale and a bottle of Dark Hollow. He plans to come back in the spring to try some of the new brews.

Larry Hartless, also from Lynchburg and a friend of Little, doesn’t drink beer but says he still enjoys soaking up the laidback atmosphere.

“I get tired of eating at the same places in Lynchburg, like Applebee’s, Red Lobster,” he says. “We wanted to try something different.”

The brewery has food and drink specials throughout the week. On Wednesday evenings, it hosts live music from 5:45 to 7:45 and will be adding more performers on Sunday afternoons.

When it was time to go, the rain had stopped and the sun was out. I wandered outside to scope out the wrap-around deck, making a mental note to come back with my friends in the spring for an afternoon of good beer, sun and mountains.

If you’re going
WHAT: The Blue Mountain Brewery
WHERE: 9519 Critzers Shop Road, Afton
HOURS: Wednesday and Thursday 12 p.m. – 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday 12 p.m. – 9 p.m., Sunday 12 p.m. – 7 p.m. Brewery tours are on Saturday and Sunday only from 12 p.m. – 4 p.m.
INFO: Visit http://www.bluemountainbrewery.com or call (540) 456-8020.