We did a hike at Manassas Battlefield Sunday, so checked on some Prince William County breweries as well. Unbeknownst to us, the Post had run an article on PWC breweries on Friday:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/whats-brewing-in-northern-virginia-old-bust-head-heritage-brewing-and-badwolf-brewing/2014/10/16/0ab8d752-52e4-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.htmlso the two we went to were a bit crowded.
We had previously visited Old Busthead, and found them to be too tame/lame/mediocre, so we skipped them this time (This was the brewery where the worker had never heard of DC Brau, which I thought a little bit strange in terms of not being aware of the surrounding market, but Atomic was totally ok with that fact.)
We also had previously visited Heritage (had two flights, eight beer tried), and had recently heard of BadWolf, across the street. So we decided to hit both of those yesterday.
Service:
BadWolf: "Try anything you like before buying."
Heritage:
Me: "Could I please taste two before buying two pints (One of the beers I wanted to try was $9/13 oz, seems only fair the ask for a taste before shelling out that kind of $$ for a completely unknown beer)
Bartender: "That's what flights are for."
Me: "But I don't want a whole flight, I just want a small taste of two specific beers."
Bartender: "That's what flights are for."
(Actually, I thought a flight of four beers offer more than "a taste" of each, and I didn't want a flight, I had been there several months ago and tried two flights already.)
Value:
BadWolf: Six-6 oz pours for $15 (one each of everything on draft). I couldn't help thinking I'd get better beer for less cost if I stopped at Fairfax Whole Foods. (And indeed I did...took home a 32 oz growler of Schafly TIPA for $5.)
Heritage: Four 4 oz pours of their flagship beers (ipa, pale ale, amber ale, scotch ale) for $7. Higher price flight if you want to mix in their seasonals or limited beers. $9 for a snifter of the barrel aged scotch ale. (no free tastes...my wife commented that she couldn't believe a tasting room in a warehouse in Manassas was charging Churchkey prices for Manassas made beer when the unproven brewery had been open for less than a year), $18 for a take home bomber of the BB Scotch, BB Amber, and $25 (wtf) for a bottle of BB Winter Warmer.
Selection:
Badwolf: Six beers, always rotating. Two pale ales (fair), a habanero amber, pumpkin saison, rauchbier, and imperial stout (all very good)
Heritage: Four flagship beers (the scotch ale is good, the others mediocre...from previous visit), some seasonal and limited offerings. The BB Scotch was very good but not mind blowing.
Food:
Both BYO.
Ambiance:
WildWolf: Classic rock, lots of bottlecap/six pack case artwork.
Heritage: Classic rock, "Freedom isn't Free IPA" t-shirts.
Verdict: Will return to BadWolf if/when in area. Feel like I'm done with Heritage (and Old Busthead).
