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Home to more than a dozen craft breweries and tap rooms — and three wineries — Fairfax County offers many options for exploring the burgeoning craft beverage scene. Visit Fairfax, the official tourism organization for Fairfax County, launched Fairfax County’s Locally Poured Field Guide, a mobile-exclusive passport that aims to cross-promote and drive visitation to Fairfax County’s craft breweries and wineries in a fun and rewarding way, offering users discounts, deals and prizes for checking in.

“We have seen continued growth in Fairfax County’s craft beverage scene over the last several years and have been working closely with our local brewers and winemakers to support their businesses through tourism,” said Barry Biggar, president and CEO of Visit Fairfax. “The new Locally Poured Field Guide is an exceptional way to showcase the amazing beer and wine our talented partners craft each and every day, all while giving visitors and residents an incentive to find and enjoy places they may not have previously known about.”

Available to any beer and wine lover, whether a resident or a visitor, the Field Guide can be instantly delivered via text and email to a user’s phone. The pass can simply be saved to a user’s home screen for easy one-tap access and without the need to download any apps.

Once a user has signed up for the pass, they must simply show their phone at the brewery taproom or winery tasting room to check-in and redeem the discounts and offers. When a user checks in at seven of the 15 participating locations, they are eligible to redeem additional prizes and merchandise discounts.

Visit www.FXVA.com/beer to sign up for Fairfax County’s Locally Poured Field Guide or to learn more about the participating wineries and breweries.

Fairfax County Breweries

Fairfax County is home to a dozen breweries and tap rooms — and that number is about to grow. Joining the mix soon will be Settle Down Easy’s Oakton Tasting Room, expected to open in spring 2022. The opening was announced November 8 during Settle Down Easy’s third anniversary celebration of its Merrifield location. It will be Oakton’s first brewery, housing a one-barrel brew house. This second location will offer a curated wine and cider menu and artisanal food pairings through an exclusive partnership with The Fermented Pig.

“The owners of Settle Down Easy Brewing live in Oakton and Vienna and all of our children attended Westbriar Elementary in Vienna. We love Fairfax and wanted to create a new business that could bring more of our neighborhoods together. As we looked at second locations, we felt Oakton could benefit from a similar establishment that we created in Falls Church/Mosaic,” said Frank Kuhns, Settle Down Easy’s owner.

“We experienced wonderful success following our initial opening, and even throughout the global pandemic we were able to expand our customer base through our to-go program,” Kuhns said. “We are thrilled to open a new location in Oakton and really integrate our concept with the many incredible local food and beverage producers in the area.”

The brewery is named for a line in a Grateful Dead song “Ramble On Rose.” “We are blessed to be a diverse community and we want to continue to grow within Fairfax County,” Kuhns said.

Bunnyman Brewing, located in the Fairfax/Burke area and named for the local Bunnyman legend, is another recent arrival to the Northern Virginia brewery scene. Sam Gray, one of its two owners, agreed with Kuhn’s assessment of the area.

“We are so proud to have grown up and raised our kids in Fairfax County.  Our goal in starting Bunnyman Brewing was to give back to the intelligent, diverse and inclusive community that has defined our lives,” Gray said. “Fairfax County has so much to offer. Bunnyman Brewing hopes to add to those offerings by having a gathering place for its residents. A place where people can meet and enjoy time together”.

Find out more about the participating Fairfax County breweries by clicking on the links below.

• Aslin Beer Co. (Herndon): Brewery in Herndon and Alexandria offering world class beer that pushes innovation and  creativity. Both taprooms offer more than 20 craft options, beer to-go, and outdoor seating.

• Bike Lane Brewing & Café (Reston): Located in The Bike Lane bike shop, Bike Lane offers a variety of pastries, muffins, lemonade, and ice tea.

• Bunnyman Brewing (Burke) Locally owned, funded and operated by Sam Gray and Eric Barrett. The two owners grew up in Fairfax County and said they joined as a team to open a place in central Fairfax “to give back some of the love given to them growing up.”

• Caboose Commons (Merrifield): Caboose Commons is Caboose Brewing Company’s second location in Merrifield. It’s a full-service coffee house, brewery, restaurant all rolled into one.

• Caboose Tavern (Vienna): Caboose Tavern is Caboose Brewing Company’s flagship tucked away in the industrial section of in Vienna. Located right off the W&OD trail, guests can walk, run, bike, skate, or even arrive by horse to enjoy a fresh beer.

• Fair Winds Brewing Co. (Lorton): Fair Winds Brewing Company provide fresh, local, flavorful craft beers to neighbors and friends in Fairfax County and throughout Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia.

• G34.3 Brewing Co. (Lorton): G34.3 is a small batch brewery in Lorton focused on innovation and quality, with a “concept” taproom that takes visitors one small step into outer space.

• Honor Brewing Co. (Chantilly) A family/veteran owned brewery, Honor Brewing offers 16 taps of great beer paired with BBQ and daily changing menu items. Family friendly and dog friendly.

• Lake Anne Brew House (Reston): Lake Anne Brew House brews small-batch, handcrafted beer, and serves it up lakeside in a mid-century modern themed taproom, and on a large deck overlooking one of Reston’s iconic lakes.

• Mustang Sally (Chantilly): Mustang Sally Brewing Company is a production craft brewery that includes over 14,000 square feet of total space and a 4,000 square foot tasting room.

• Ono Brewing Co. (Chantilly): Ono Brewing features a self-serve beer wall with 12 craft beers and hard seltzers on tap, all brewed there. Ono has a tropical-themed tasting room, expansive outdoor tiki patio and on site food vendor, Odd BBQ.

• Settle Down Easy Brewing Co. (Merrifield): Settle Down Easy is a nano-brewing operation in the Northern Virginia Merrifield/Falls Church neighborhood.

And that’s not all. Sweetwater Tavern, part of the Great American Restaurant chain, this summer celebrated its 25th anniversary as a microbrewery. It has locations in Centreville and Merrifield. Starr Hill Brewing based in Crozet, Va., near Charlottesville, opened the Starr Hill Biergarten at “The Perch” skypark at Capital One Center in Tysons in August.

And there are two craft breweries with tap rooms in the City of Fairfax: Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company and Ornery Beer Company.

Fairfax County wineries

Fairfax County is home to three wineries: Paradise Springs Winery, The Winery at Bull Run and Woodlawn Press Winery.

Called the “Gateway to Virginia Wine Country,” these wineries are the closest to Washington, D.C . Take in the beauty of Fairfax County while enjoying a day trip or two out to these nearby wineries – a win-win situation!

Fairfax County wineries:

• Paradise Springs Winery (Clifton): Located outside the quaint country town of Clifton, and bordering Bull Run, Paradise Springs Winery and Vineyard is the first winery in Fairfax County. Tastings, tours, wine dinners and much more can be found at this intimate, family run destination winery.
• The Winery at Bull Run (Centreville): Travel back in time at this scenic, working farm vineyard in an authentic 1860s setting. The Winery at Bull Run adjoins more than 5,000 countryside acres of the historic Manassas National Battlefield Park, providing visitors with a beautiful vista of preserved 19th-century farmland.
• Woodlawn Press Winery (Mount Vernon): Family and veteran-owned urban microwinery located off Richmond Highway. The owners are the third in a family of winemakers to grow our home wine-making hobby to a fully operating microwinery.