There are few places that I enjoy more than I do Franklin County Virginia. I am very fortunate that we have family that lives there. We normally visit at least twice a year. We decided to head up for the weekend to see our family and to attend Lake Fest Craft Beer Festival which is held at Bernard’s Landing on Smith Mountain Lake. The sheer beauty of this lake is jaw dropping. To attend a beer festival on this lake was greeted with pure anticipation.
We awoke that Saturday with heavy thunderstorms. The meteorologists called for rain the whole day. We weren’t going to let that spoil our time. We jumped in the boat with Jennifer & David – (family that lives there that has an equal desire to enjoy craft beer) – and headed down the lake for the 30 minute boat ride to the festival. It was cool and damp but I knew they had tents set up for festival goers in case the inevitable happened. We were treated as VIP’s (thanks Jennifer!). The host brewery, Sunken City Brewery from Westlake Corner, Va, could not have been a better host. They had a VIP tent set up pouring their Surfside Wheat Hefeweizen for us to enjoy.
It was time for the festival to begin! This was a small festival for what Catherine and I were accustomed to but we really liked the set up. They prepared for the rain by setting up a huge main tent with the breweries setting up alongside the perimeter. There were approximately 20 Virginia breweries in attendance. It wasn’t too packed but I’m sure that was due to the weather. And low and behold, about 30 minutes in the clouds broke and the sun started to shine through. That just goes to show you that a meteorologist is the only job that you could be wrong half the time and still keep your job. Welcome to summers in the south!
We made our way through the different breweries and enjoyed the offerings. Stand outs for both of us were The River Company Restaurant & Brewery Gose Against The Grain Gose and Hardywood Park Craft Brewery Sidamo Coffee Stout. Other stand outs for me included South Street Brewery Anastasia’s Chocolate Fantasy Russian Imperial Stout and Hardywoods Raspberry Stout. Catherine’s favorites were South Street Brewery 365 Degrees Shandy, Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery ‘Til Sunset Session IPA, and Starr Hill Brewing Northern Lights IPA. We had other good beer but these stood out. Even though we didn’t have Sunken City’s Red Clay IPA at the festival we have had it at their brewery before and we highly suggest you stop in for one. We were done and got in the boat and headed back to the house to enjoy the rest of the day.
I had forgot to mention earlier that on the way into town we needed to stop somewhere and pick up some beer. It isn’t a very populated area where my kin folk live so there isn’t a lot of places to find a great craft beet selection. Wrong! I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled into the Kroger and went inside. They had an absolute great selection of local craft beer. It took me awhile to finally decide what I wanted. They even had a mix and match six pack area. The only thing that I didn’t understand that it was located in the produce section! Odd but I’m glad I found it. I brought several varieties back home with me.
Like I said before, Franklin County is one of my favorite places. I love it. The beauty of this county is immense. This was the second year of Lake Fest and I have no doubt that it will get bigger and better in the future. I recommend it to everyone. Plan a vacation around this time of year and you won’t be disappointed with the amount of activities your family can enjoy. Just make sure you attend Lake Fest!
Cheers!
Jason
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