Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company

Terrible. We were here two years ago and loved it. The food was great. They had an amazing drink menu with different fresh margheritas and sangrias. Not tonight, and apparently not anymore. The drinks were a joke and took at least 20 minutes to come out. The food was meh. My pork belly was flavorless and my Swiss chard was pretty much just a bunch of stems. The pulled pork sandwich my brother had looked ok but he wasn’t happy with it at all. Such a let down tonight after having a great memory from two years ago.

I want to give DB 4.5 stars, ha. Their food is fantastic and well portioned. The house favorite beers are delicious. The specialty and seasonal beers are very light, very bitter, or stout. I felt like their variety was great but their sippable beers were fewer than other breweries, even though I enjoyed them.
PS, I will say the 5 apostles Saisson seasonal was my FAV.

Nice area to enjoy a Friday afternoon. The Nachos are really good. The pulled pork on the nachos has a really good smokey flavor. Wish I could sample the beers.

Again another micro brewery in a gorgeous location. Great outdoor space. The seating around the fire pits look very inviting. The inside décor has lots of stuffed animals — very interesting.
We got there around 6pm on a Saturday and it was very busy. Had to wait about 5 – 10 minutes for a table but we didn’t mind.
Food was amazing. We shared the nachos to start which were very tasty and for main I went for the protein salad with stuffed pork — massive portion! Had to take half of it home.
Had the banana pudding for dessert… out of this world! Staff were very friendly and attentive.

Really liked the outside seatings, the fire pit, and beer selection are very good. Can’t comment on the food as I did not try it.

DB Vienna Lager is the beer that opened the door for me to enjoy craft beers. Now that’s all I enjoy is beer from craft breweries of all kinds. And just say no to IPA’s! lol
I rated down one star for the food. just seems that something is missing that left an impression I paid a little too much for it. To be fair, I ate at the outdoor BBQ shack [very limited menu] vs the restaurant inside [full menu]. But I’ll certainly give another try.

First, This has been a solid 4 ½ star brew pub for me ad I have been going here 10 – 15 times a year for the last 4 years. It was a great brewery, great burgers and an awesome trail stop for AT hikers. The new outdoor area is awesome.
Tonight, I’ve seen the start the beginnings of the new owners influence. Dropped sweet potato fries, undercooked the burgers and «gasp» they covered the beer menu with cocktail specials. Anheuser-​Busch killed Old Dominion brewery and restaurant in similar fashion. Oh, and now you can order bottled beer. :(
– PLEASE install WIFI!

The last time I was here, we came for the beer. This time, we came specifically for lunch. A new outdoor area has been added since the last time I was here. This greatly expands their capacity to handle more customers. It looks like it would be a nice area at night. This outdoor area also has a separate pet area.
I had the jumbo pretzel with cheese. I loved the pretzel, the cheese was good. I also had the roast beef sandwich with sweet potato fries. The fries were tasty, quite excellent. The sandwich was ok. I’ve honestly had better.

One of the highlights of my spring break to Virginia was visiting this place. My friends and I came here after spending the afternoon at a local Cidery and had a great evening. The whole property is quite large and not only encompasses the main building/​restaurant, but also a large fire circle, live music space, outdoor bar, and a few other facilities that I didn’t get to explore further. There is a ton of parking so that shouldn’t be an issue.
I will say that this place is very popular, and coming here on a Saturday evening, we had to wait a little while for a table (Around 40 – 45 minutes). The wait was very pleasant however as there was a really great musician playing outside by the fire circle and it was sunset. At sunset the backdrop was incredible and it was a lot of fun sitting outside by the fire listening to music and eating a few appetizers.
Speaking of appetizers, the fried pickles were some of the best I’ve had, and the meatballs were pretty delicious too. I also had the Heartland Bone Dipper burger and it was delicious (it has spicy mayo on it and I love all things spicy mayo).

As Gramps was apt to say before he smacked me on my rear…“this pains me too.” Our friends, my wife and I spent this past Sunday afternoon here. The setting, atmosphere, service and beers were beyond reproach. We will come again based solely on these parameters. But the thing that each of us added after complimenting on those factors was, «but the food was Ok.» Actually, to be frank, our nachos were pretty much disgusting. The use of that Velveeta-​type cheese and not so hardy tortilla chips left us in about 10 minutes with something closer in consistency to a bowl of soggy corn flakes. The dry rub wings were rather spindly and, well, dry. I don’t know how to help the wings other than maybe purchase a higher-​grade wing, but switching out the velvet a for some real cheese would be huge step in correcting the nachos.
Like I said, we’ll come again to sample the beer and atmosphere, and we’ll probably sample some food as well. But this is not our first visit with similar results on the food, and DB is running out of chances to impress us, especially considering the growing number of options nearby.
Sent with love and in hopes that some changes will be made.

Beer here is some of the best in the world!
After an exhausting but thrilling day of snowboarding for the first time, we were able to come here and get a portobello burger without the cheese — a great vegan option.
Wish they would make this more prevalent on their menu and increase the options, the place was still cozy with the giant fireplace, and a wonderful way to end our snow bunny day.

The Food, atmosphere, beer and wine were delicious. We had the Mac and cheese, pulled pork sandwich and the amazing burger. Hubby tried 2 different flights of beer and momma had a flight of wine (which I thought was so cool as I’m NOT a beer drinker at all). Would definitely return!

Tried to come here for dinner on a Saturday night. After finding a 2 hour wait in the main restaraunt, we were advised to head over to the outdoor grill (in freezing weather) for some food. They have an outbuilding with heat, and we headed inside to get the kids seated, then I headed out to the grill for some food.
It was a mistake, in so many ways. Devils backbone is the first place you hit coming down from Wintergreen Resort, and being unfamiliar with the area (and without Unilocal-​service!) we didn’t have much in the way of options that we were aware of :(. The grill looked promising, but was just disappointing.
A small chicken breast (really, half of a chicken breast, or the breast from an emaciated chicken) was about $ 9 — and not nearly enough for any respectable adult. The sides were disappointing — really, the only option worth eating from the place was the hot dog or grilled cheese (both of a reasonable size based on what you’d expect, but also both on the kids meal.)
My wife had the vegetarian chili — which looked good on the menu, but was really loaded with enough mismatched spices to make it taste terrible. Perhaps with rice (to cut the flavor somewhat) it would have been mildly palatable, but it was served with a small slice of corn bread.
In the area there aren’t many choices, and DB has a big presence — so you see it — when you head towards the resort. It’s a spacious property that is probably a great place to drink at after a hard day on the slopes — but the lack of palatable food (perhaps its better inside) makes it look like an afterthought to simply extract money from hungry vacationers.
I’d avoid this place — the options are better on the mountain (and cheaper up there, to boot.) For 2 kids meals, a tiny chicken breast, some hot cocoa (swiss miss), and veggie chili we paid over $ 40 — and the food would have been MUCH better at a taco bell.

Stopped here on a Saturday afternoon after visiting a winery, a cidery, and a distillery (I love Charlottesville). Our plan was twofold: complete the alcohol quadfecta and grab a quick bite. The latter was not possible in the main restaurant as it was very crowded, even at 2pm.
Fortunately, the outdoor area was lovely! Beautiful view of the wintergreen mountains, plenty of seating, cornhole boards, a beer bar, and limited food service. I ordered the Trail Angel Weiss, a Hefeweissbier with refreshing hints of lemon, clove, and banana.
The surprise highlight was the «barbecue sundae», a parfait-​style mix of BBQ pulled pork, coleslaw, cornbread, and baked beans served in a cup (no joke). We ordered it from the snack shack off to the side because there was no line, and it made for a surprisingly savory, creamy, and delicious treat!
Overall, great outdoor area, good beer, and surprisingly tasty snack food. Can’t speak to the full restaurant experience, however.

TJ, dad and I visited Devils Backbone Brewery about a month ago. We went for a late lunch. We ordered some appetizers a flight of 16 different beers. We appreciated some and not others. I really liked how they explained the different bitterness levels (IBU) and ABV. The explanations were spot on. The chicken wings were tasty and Devils Platter was delicious. We split the smoked baby back ribs, chicken, sausage, smoked pulled pork, coleslaw, and baked beans between the three of us. The building is situated at the base of the Wintergreen mountain Resort about 4 miles. The building and grounds are beautiful and look like they would be a lot of fun at on a busy evening after skiing. There were outdoor heaters and comfortable outdoor seating. I plan on returning again when there is snow on the ground and i’m enjoying an apple cider outside.

Don’t expect this place to be like an actual brewery. It’s a restaurant, and a mediocre one at that. I’d say it’s on the level of a Chilis with a higher price tag.
The staff was all over the place on my visit and not so friendly. The food was not bad, but also it was nothing special. I’m sure most of it was previously frozen.
It was cold and rainy during my visit so no one was outside on their patio. I’m sure during the warmer months, that it is a nice place to hang out.
I’d only recommend this place if you’re wanting to grab a few drinks. Grab lunch or dinner elsewhere.

After leaving Wild Wolf Brewing Co., we drove a few miles down the road to Devils Backbone Brewing Co. I was really looking forward to visiting DB, I’ve tried a few of their brews — I’ve drank their Eight Point IPA more times than I can count, as well as their Cattywompus Belgian IPA.
It was a cold, rainy night when we arrived, perfect for tasting a flight or two!
We went inside and sat at the bar. I ordered one flight of five, then tried two individual samples. I intentionally avoided the DB brews I’ve had before. My friend tried a flight of everything as he was not driving.
The brews I sampled were as follows:
Skull Crushing Ape (8.0% ABV)
Pumpkin Hunter (5.1% ABV)
Marsedon Quad Strong Ale (11.2% ABV)
Bravo 4 Point (4.4% ABV)
Wheat Stout (6.0% ABV)
Pilot Brew Ale (5.9% ABV)
Four Point Session IPA (4.9% ABV)
The Skull Crushing APE and the Marsedon Quad Strong Ale were really rich. The Marsedon was so rich it gave me heart burn! It comes across more like a Barley wine.
My fave was the Pilot Brew Ale. I’m not typically a fan of Golden Ales, but this one was really good. It presented itself more more like an Extra Pale Ale. According to the barkeep — the details of this brew are currently a secret as it is an ongoing collaboration between DB and some other craft breweries.
We met some nice folks while we were there. Two guys sitting next to me turns out were huge college football fans — as am I. We got into a long and enjoyable discussion about college football while quaffing our ales.
The restroom is a bit odd. They have a trough in the Men’s room — which is loaded with ice. I guess they feel it helps keep the smell down.
The service was good and the barkeep was friendly and informative.
I’d love to visit here again.

Fantastic venue. Amazing taxidermy décor! Great beer. Great food. Nice outdoor drinking area.
We had the giant pretzel appetizer… Highly recommend with a beer flight! I also ordered the French dip with bacon and sweet potato fries. It was absolutely perfect!
This spot is slightly off the beaten path, but the beautiful landscape combined with the food & brew makes it totally worth it.

I made a long journey here from Annandale, VA as I’m a HUGE fan of DB Brewing Co. It was a beautiful drive, and the scenery is just gorgeous. I went on Super Bowl Sunday, and it was not crowded but somewhat busy. There was some live music, a guy singing and playing acoustic guitar. I don’t remember what he was playing but it was nice.
The first thing I realized was that this is unfortunately not the actual brewery, which was my fault. Their website wasn’t exactly clear, or I missed something… Lol.
No matter though as I’ve been to several breweries and came for the drive, the beer and a good meal. I found a seat at the bar and was promptly greeted and given menus and a glass of water. I put an order in for buffalo wings and the first half of the specialty beer flight. They were out of one of the five beers from the «top half» so I had 4 served up (later I found I’d be charged for all 5 :(). I ordered a burger with bacon, cheddar and portobello mushrooms when my flight arrived.
I liked the Dark Abbey and Old Germany Lager, but the Carob Porter and Apricot Weiss were awesome! The Rute Bier tasted like an English mild ale with Jägermeister which I thought was good. Smokehaus Bock was awful and nearly undrinkable, tasting of a hot tire warehouse in the summertime (I used to work at a tire shop so just trust me). Their Beech Grove Brown was decent but could have had better mouthfeel. The Old Glen was my favorite! It was simply awesome!
After finishing my flights and my wings arrived and I eventually got to order a Gold Leaf Lager. Service was a little slower this time as I had to wait a few minutes to order my beer. My wings were not piping hot and a little soggy, but tasty once my brew showed up.
The burger was satisfying and tasty, but I don’t think the $ 15 price was worth it. Fries were meh. I’ve had better burgers for $ 10.
All in all, this place is solid and I’ll probably come back on a future Rockfish Valley visit. I was sort of ticked they charged me for a full flight but only served 4, they should have offered an alternate beer for the one that ran out.
Go here for the beer and events, I’m hoping the food and service are a notch better next time!

What a busy place! The bar staff do their best to accommodate the patrons but they just keep coming. You can only do tastings at the bar… So try your best to squeeze in. The beer was good… I couldn’t decide what I preferred best. Honestly, after a while it all started tasting the same.
The atmosphere is lively, but kinda touristy… People drive way out there for the beer. So not many locals plus having to go threw those winding roads at night, I’ll stick to the daytime tastings and prefer going out there for lunch… I like keeping my car insurance premiums low