For The Keepsake of It

Usually, when Mrs V and I drive back to central Virginia from South Carolina we stop at Olde Mecklenburg Brewing in Charlotte, mainly to swap our my growlers, have a beer, and maybe get some cans as well. On our most recent trip, we decided to change things up a little bit and go to visit a brewery that I have been following on Instagram for about 18 months now, Keepsake Brewery in Gastonia. We took something of a scenic route from Columbia as we had overestimated how long the trip would take, and so pulled into the adjacent parking lot with about 10 minutes to opening time. Thankfully, we were meeting up with Mrs V's life long best friend, so there was much hugging and chitchat to fill the empty time.

We wandered into the brewery premises themselves, noting the spacious beer garden, piles of kegs, crates, and other brewery type paraphenalia, and bimbled into the just opening taproom.

From many, many posts and stories on Instagram, I knew that Keepsake is dog friendly, so it was nice to not have to leave our wee Cairn Terrier in the car with the windows cracked - it also helps that Hamish, for that is his name, is quite content to just lay down and chill while we sit in a beer garden.

Having scoped out the lay of the land, parked the children at a picnic table with devices (yeah, yeah, judge away), we went inside the taproom and immediately I felt as though I was back in Central Europe - my favourite part of the world if you haven't already noticed. I am sure I have mentioned this in a post about my ideal pub, but I have a soft spot for eclectic, mismatched furniture...yay!

I was charmed to say the least, oh, did I mention the stammtisch nook? No, ok, here:

And yes, that is Hamish's fuzzy wee butt. Anyway, we weren't here just to indulge my Mitteleuropaphilia...there was beer to be had, so I started at the beginning, with their house helles lager, Heartsease.

Now, I am going to be honest, and if you've followed along with my approach to tasting notes at breweries you will know that I generally don't bother, and this day was no different. That said, I bought a six pack and took some notes last weekend. The helles is a very respectable beer, soft bready malt, with just a slight crusty edge and enough hop bite to keep things interesting, there is a nice floral hop aroma floating around. At 4.5%, I could quite happily sit around drinking a few jars of this. A solid start then.

Next up, as you can see, I went to the dark side with their "Vesper" Dark Lager - again I bought some home with me so these notes are from the weekend. First off though, kudos for a proper German style half litre bottle, you know what that looks like right? I don't recall the menu at the taproom stating what kind of black lager this is, I asked if it was schwarzbier, dunkel, or tmavé, but really didn't get an answer to the question. I later learned from pottering around the internet that it is considered a "San Francisco Style Black Lager". Not really having a sense of what that means in relation to the others...it is definitely black, jet black, like a blackhole swallowing the light. Mostly I got American chocolate, espresso, and a rich maltiness that made me think there was a fair old whack of dark Munich malt in there. It was surprisingly thick and chewy for a 5% abv beer, and put me more in mind of a London porter than the dark lagers of central Europe. Still, another flavourful, respectable beer.

Next up a style I don't think I had ever actually tried before, a California Common, monikered in this case "Causwell". Another well put together tasty beer, with plenty of bitterness to prevent the maltiness being overly cloying. As I had never tried this style before, I know, I am lame and a total beer dilletante, I have no frame of reference, but I had a second pint, so that's a good thing right?

For the remainder of our time at the brewery, we had to get back to Virginia after all, I actually stuck to Keepsake's pale ale, called "Little Helper", and I think it was my favourite of all the beers I tried. Hopped with Cascade and, I think, Spalt Select hops, this is a delightfully hoppy, citrus forward easy drinker. The grist is, again working from memory, is 100 pilsner malt, and the combination just works beautifully, I might have to try making something similar myself.

Having ordered in some food, there being no food truck that day, we finished up, leaving the band to carry on playing, and a growing crowd to enjoy the atmosphere. We enjoyed our visit, everything about the space is delightful, including, and I am not joking here, the décor in the bathrooms. It not only feels like a Central European space, but also a local hangout spot that were I to live in Gastonia would very easily become my local. I definitely expect we'll be back, as the trip out of the way makes a nice change from just churning through the interstates of Charlotte, and Keepsake are on to something good here.

Top 5 Virginia Ciders - 2026

I know I don't really write very often about cider on here - though of course you know I wrote a book on cider in Virginia, there's a link over there to it if you fancy buying a copy - Christmas is coming and all that. To support the book, I do have a cider only Instagram account, come give it a follow if you are there. That said, a couple of years ago, just before the book came out, I wrote a post listing the 7 best Virginia ciders I drank during my research. For this year's list, I decided to trim that to a top 5, mainly because 5 just seems a more manageable number. As with my Top 10 Virginia Beers posts, this is an entirely subjective list, so if I have missed out your favourite habanero mango dill pickle cider made with Red Delicious, oh well.

Let's dive in then...

5. Potter's Craft Cider: Farmhouse Dry

   This is the cider that launched Potter's Craft into my consciousness over 15 years ago, when it turned up on tap at my main drinking den back then, a place in Charlottesville called Beer Run. These days it is difficult for me to think much past it when Mrs V and I go down to their taproom. "Taproom" really isn't the right word for what is a former Episcopalian (if I remember rightly) church building in the rolling hills of Albemarle County's Piedmont. It is a glorious space, and when a friend's band is playing, there are few things more chill than sitting outside sharing bottles of Farmhouse Dry with the wife. Made with Gold Rush, Albemarle Pippin, and the Old Virginia Winesap, this is a riot of fruit, balanced with a dry acidic finish that just screams "drink more", and I often do. The acidity, at least for me, is something between lemon and Key Lime, and I get very subtle spicy hints in the background, think cinnamon and you're in the right ballpark. Cracking stuff.

4. Big Fish Cider: Virginia Hewes Crab

   Last autumn I did a grand tasting of single varietal ciders from Virginia using just the, allegedly, Virginia Hewes Crab apple. I say "allegedly" because a recent article by David Zakalik and Gregory Peck in the Journal of the American Pomological Society has shown that the "Hewes Crab" trees growing at Jefferson's Monticello are, in fact, not Virginia Hewes Crab, based on DNA analysis of their lineage that includes an apple variety unknown in the United States until long after Jefferson had died. Putting that fact to one side, and focusing on the liquid in the glass, Big Fish's offering here is a wonderful cider, regardless of the actual apple in use. Delightfully floral, like being in a meadow orchard in spring, in aroma, and brightly acidic, coupled with a trace of spice, this is, as I said in the Cider Review article "clean, dry, and leaves you wanting more, lots more".

3. Tumbling Creek Cider: Ruby Red

   Tumbling Creek Cider is located in far away Southwest Virginia, with a taproom in the town of Abingdon, not too far from the state line with North Carolina. It was the first cidery I visited when I was researching my book, and it made an immediate impression. So when my family and I went to Grayson Highlands State Park over the Memorial Day weekend, I made sure we stopped by to stock up. Stocking up turned into an afternoon session with a couple of the owners, Tom and Justin, and the standout cider for me was their experimental batch of Ruby Red. The Ruby Red crabapple, at least in a Virginia context, is unique to a single orchard where it was discovered growing as a seedling. Tumbling Creek made a single varietal with it and it was stellar, dry as a bone, but with a firm tannic body that belied the 9.5% abv, red berries marry with the apple flavour create a cider that is just too easy to polish off a 750ml bottle in a single sitting. Glorious.

2. Daring Cider: Crab Apple Blend

   The first time I had Daring Cider's Crab Apple blend was sitting with owner and cidermaker, Jocelyn Kuzelka, talking about her work for my book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and made a mental note to buy a few bottles so that Mrs V could try it as well. Last autumn, I was invited to speak at a cider festival hosted by the Frontier Culture Museum, and behold Jocelyn was pouring the latest batch of this blend of Virginia Hewes Crab and Ruby Red. Mrs V tried it, loved it, and so we got a few bottles. Being 75% Virginia Hewes Crab, the dominant flavour is noticeably lemon, with with a background of red berries, mainly strawberries from the Ruby Red - a note that is also in the aroma. A gorgeous cider that paired wonderfully with the roast beef we had for our Yule feast back in December.

1. Troddenvale: Malus X Dolgo

   Talking about the winter holiday season...Early in January, I packed the kids and my wife into the car and took the couple of hour drive from central Virginia, down I-81 a bit, and across the mountains, to get to Bath County. It was a fun trip of beautiful countryside, winding roads, and at the end of the journey, Troddenvale Cider at Oakley Farm. A few weeks later, when I went to Norway for work, I took a bottle of Troddenvale's cider with me for the folks I was working with. I am sure I have mentioned this before, but Troddenvale's Dolgo is a cider that blew me away the first time I had it, and it continues to be something I love to drink, especially for the sharp acidity that slices through rich foods as though the barely exist. Sometimes I will say that it is like sucking a lemon and a teabag at the same time, but I mean that positively. Wildly acidic, massively tannic, but also deeply fruity, think strawberries and cranberries, with hints of flower meadows in the mix for fun as well. Troddenvale make a raft of great ciders, but Dolgo just hits the spot for me everytime.

The hardest thing with this list is leaving off so many great cideries, and magnificent ciders, whether that's Albemarle CiderWorks, Buskey, Blue Bee, the list goes on - Virginia is insanely fortunate when it comes to fantastic cider. So if you're interested in learning more about our embarrassment of apple riches, buy a copy of the book, and get out on a journey of discovery. 

Definitely though, don't sleep on any of these five.