Oozlefinch Beers & Blending — Restaurant in Hampton

I can’t believe I have not reviewed this brewery yet! Shame on me, because this is hands down my favorite brewery in Coastal Virginia (probably all of Virginia but I haven’t been to all of the other breweries just yet). I first visited just after the brewery opened and was pleasantly surprised to have a local place that was developing such great tasting beer. As time has gone on, their beer program has grown and all I can say is WOW! The flavors and varieties of beers they are willing to brew and work to perfect are just incredible. Now, I have a very broad palate for beer and enjoy hoppy, sour, heavy and dark, and so on, but even for the folks who just have a particular favorite style this place will have what you want and you’ll love it! For a craft brewery, they have it all! Location is amazing, Fort Monroe offers great scenery, beaches, and historic sites. The staff are all nice and approachable, when you want to taste something they eagerly serve you and talk about the beers as if they almost brewed it themselves, you can tell they are passionate about where they work. The constant rotation of local food trucks never disappoints! The outdoor seating area is relaxing and offers lots of seats, of course the busier days you’ll just have to come a tad early and snag one, or bring your blanket, chairs and canopy and have your very own lawn seats! They have plenty of games, live music, and they ALLOW DOGS outside so you can bring the whole family for a nice day out of the house! The rotating brews keeps us coming back and we are always excited to try the new releases and finish with an older favorite like an Oxcart. Oozlefinch quickly rose to the top and is being recognized locally, state-wide, and so on as being THE BREWERY to go to, and the reasons why will be obvious on your first...

Great beer at a great location. Has a great backstory and some of the best brews you will find in Virginia. The sours rank among the top I have tried. I reccomend the Innovative Agitator Barrel Aged Sour Blonde. It is incredibly balanced with a nice tart forward flavor and smooth finish. Great beer for sour lovers as well as a good introduction to first time sour drinkers.

They also have a great Hefeweizen with nice banana flavor and a hint of clove. A bit lighter than some of my favorite Hef's, but still a good beer.

Honey Mouthed has an amazing balance between the peach and walnuts with a nice color, aroma and sweet taste aided by the lactose.

Paul was nice enough to show us the backroom of the operation with all the barrels being used for aging and give a nice history of the brewery itself.

All and all, I was very impressed by such an innovative brewery. The beer was great and the staff was friendly. My only concern was that a lot of the merchandise was sold-out.

Will definitely look for this beer back in Colorado in stores and at the next Great American...

I love the venue. It is a great place to hang out, inside or outside. Dog friendly! They regularly have food trucks on site too. What's not to love? Well, possibly, the beer. If you're a fan of the sour beer fad, then you are going to love it. They have a large variety of this one style of beer. If you can't stand the sour beers, your choices become pretty limited. They also have several stouts, but they're all pastry stouts; sickeningly sweet. I sampled them; good but I couldn't drink anymore than the little sample. They usually do have a couple of non-fad beers without the flavoring adulterations and they are good. This visit, I enjoyed the Real Beer Helles Bach Lager. I've had hefeweizens that were really good on previous visits. I really want to love Oozlefinch but their inclination to ignore unadulterated beers in favor of almost exclusively producing their specialties and blends kind of sours it for me. On my latest visit I found more than a half dozen different beers that are not sours or flavored. All of them very good! I'm so happy I'm...