I’ve visited Virginia Beach twice. The first was back in 2011 when craft beer was hard to find. Fast forward to this year’s visit to the beach and I had multiple breweries to choose from when my in-laws offered to watch my kids for an afternoon.

Brewing Equipment

After a quick review of the locations of the handful of breweries in the area, I quickly chose Back Bay Brewing Co. mainly because my wife and I could ride our bikes there from our hotel on Atlantic Avenue next to the beach. The tasting room is on the somewhat busy Norfolk Avenue, but there is a bike path all the way from the beach area.

Bar Area

The tasting room was comfortable and the beers helped cool us down after our hot bike ride. While enjoying the beers we chatted with the employees from the brewery who were all very friendly and knowledgeable of the breweries history.

Atlantic Avenue IPA

The brewery started in 2011 and originally was contract brewing at another brewery’s site. Now they have opened up their own small system on site and are brewing as much as they can. The flagship beers are still being brewed offsite, but the brewers make sure to oversee the operation as much as they can. I’m told they are also planning to open their own production facility in the future.

Coaster Backside

Their Atlantic Ave IPA was a very good choice and I was also given a taste of a new double IPA they were working on, which was excellent. My wife was happy with the Hefeweizen and even tried a Shandy that they create by mixing their lager with San Pellegrino, a good choice for a hot afternoon.