Escutcheon Brewing

Must try if you’re in Winchester! The friendliest bar tenders and the brew master and owner are always hanging out to answer any questions you have on beer. Absolutely love this place and the beer and atmosphere is awesome. Love love!

As a brewery, with French dips, burgers, and fish and chips, Escutcheon is sadly not. Most likely due to Virginia’s antiquated liquor laws, Escutcheon doesn’t serve food. But they do make excellent beers. Technically a «tasting room», they have a bar and tables and serve up reasonably priced pints of beer that would give Portland, OR breweries a run for their money. The odd thing about this establishment, is that they are perfectly okay with you bringing in outside food while you sip their ales. While watching Monday Night Football recently, on their big flat screen, I saw several groups ordering pizza, which was delivered right to the tasting room. VA and Winchester don’t have a lot of places like this, so I think Escutcheon really fills a void. It’s a cool place to meet friends after work with a really comfortable, inviting vibe.
Now if we could just get them to stay open a little longer.

Cool spot, interested to see more of their upcoming brews. The current line up of the kolsch, IPA, and pale ale are solid but the IPA is more like an amber. Kolsch is spot on for style but not one of those styles that makes you excited to go back.
John the brewer is a really cool guy, more than willing to talk you through the process and answer any questions.

Caught Escutcheon heading home from Winchester Blues House Festival. It was the end of their day but you wouldn’t have known. Pleasant, gave us tastes and acted as we had been friends all along. And the beer was tasty! Although I can’t remember the names of what we tried. Looking forward to their next releases!

Great space, lots of room for large groups. Beers were good, only four right now, and very friendly and knowledgable staff. I’m sure they will have a lot of success.

My husband and I visited with two other couples. The guys each had a flight to sample all of the brews (four as of now) and then chose their favorites to have larger glasses. The tap room has a great ambiance, and we were able to tour the brewery. There was a food truck available outside, though we had dinner reservations later, so we didn’t partake. There was also corn hole for anyone who wanted to toss a few games.
The staff was very friendly and extremely knowledgeable, and we even met the head brewer. I’m sure we will make the 1+ hour trip out to Winchester again!

Excellent staff. The bartenders are young but they are passionate about beer, knowledgeable about what is on tap, and make an effort to have a conversation with you (without ignoring other customers).
The high ceiling in the tasting room carries acoustics almost too well. It can get fairly loud when they are busy. The tasting room could use some sound absorbing material on the ceiling to make it sound less like a cafeteria.
If I could give 4.5 stars, I would. The beer has potential, but it isn’t 100% yet. The malts are great. The Kolsch is true to the style and my favorite so far — perfect for a hot summer afternoon. The Plimsoll IPA tastes incredibly fresh, but isn’t hoppy enough for my palate. Since this brewery just opened, they are releasing their 4 «staple» beers before other more experimental beers. I understand that. However, I have tasted 3 staple beers — plus a mediocre «seasonal IPA» that they offered me when they were out of Plimsoll IPA — and all of them have been hopped conservatively. Some people in Winchester’s craft beer scene prefer IPAs with a dominant hop flavor rather than a brown biscuity malt flavor.
Lastly, I do not consider their growler special a great price. It may be a good price compared to bars in Old Town Winchester but it is expensive for a brewery. I’ve been to other breweries in Virginia that offer $ 10 growler fills all day (not just during happy hour).

I was a bit apprehensive about the new brewery opening up, worried that well, it just wouldnt be very good. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded. Only 3 beers at this point, but 2 of which are good, and one which is great. The brewer knows his stuff and Im really looking forward to them putting out more beers and wider varieties. Growler specials have great prices, the tap room looks great, the crowd is pretty friendly, as are the bartenders. Now Im just waiting for a stout…

I hesitate to tell people how awesome this place is, only because I dread battling the crowds that will be there when word gets out about Escutcheon! But I also want them to stick around, so I will happily tell everyone I know that they need to come here.
As of right now, they have 3 amazing beers, and I hope they consider making some more because they obviously have it figured out. The beer is fantastic.
Live music on Thursdays (or at least there was when I went) and the group was excellent.
Everything about Escutcheon is super chill but also everyone excited to be there. Awesome atmosphere!