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Sera Petras Photography

Old Rappahannock Brewing Company

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Our next stop was Old Rappahannock Brewing Company (Old Rapp) in Warsaw, which launched in January. Although I was struck by Old Rapp’s decor—open, airy, with tables and even leather couches—the first thing that caught my eye when we walked in was the pizza oven. I’ll come back to that.

Owner Andy Beale is a believer in European-style beer. “Every town has its own brew and unique characteristics,” he said. “Whatever influences might come from water chemistry or brewing practices. What we have done is brought very high-end beer-making to the Northern Neck. The investment we’ve made is large, and it allows us to brew very precisely.”

He neglected to mention that it “allows us to brew very good beer.” We’ll do that for him. Kudos to Beale and Head Brewer Greg Fleehart. The reports from my crew, who ran through two flights of beer—and then ordered another flight—were that the beer is “solid” and “really good.” In particular, they said the ales stood out and were quite impressive at Old Rapp. 

In general, Beale said his vision is to use the best brewing ingredients and practices to make a consistently high-quality product. He was born and raised in Newport News, was co-founder and had a stint as general manager of Tradition Brewing Company, the first craft brewery in Newport News. He also has a background in real estate, which led him to Warsaw. He bought the building that houses Old Rapp in 2019 and also operates a restaurant next door.

One thing that sets Old Rapphannock Brewing Company apart is that all the ingredients come from the USA. Most of the grains come from the East Coast, and the hops come from the Pacific Northwest.

Beale said he learned in the early 2010s that there’s a lot more to beer than just a lager. “So many flavor profiles that can be created—different grains, different types of heat, yeasts—the sky’s the limit,” he said.

Old Rapp offers 12 beers, including three lagers and two Belgian-style beers—a Belgian blonde and a Belgian dubbel. “Those are actually the first couple we had to put in the tank to brew again,” Beale said.

Beale said that all the beers were well received. We concur enthusiastically.

Old Rapp nailed another theme across all the microbreweries—a link between history and being a modern community asset as a place to gather, eat and drink. “We’re working on building out some events that we feel like the community will embrace, like marketing our [microbrewery] as a small corporate place,” Beale said. And making other community ties, such as a stop on a bar crawl for a local food bank.

Now, about that pizza. We started with the “Abe Froman”—shredded fontina and Gruyere cheese with crumbled Italian sausage, caramelized onions and Parmesan fondue. The pizzas come out of a gas-fired brick oven with a wood chamber that lends char. They make the dough from scratch from Italian 00 flour that ferments for 72 hours, and they make their own sauce with tomatoes sourced from California. I am not making this up.

The pizza was a revelation. “Bro,” Graveline said in mid-chew, “it’s almost like we need to have separate conversations about the beer and pizza.”

One is never enough, whether it’s flights of Old Rapp beer or pizza. So we also downed a “Peppah Pig” that features whole milk mozzarella, crispy Virginia country ham, roasted red pepper sauce, ricotta, basil and Parmigiano Reggiano. The char of the crust, the salt and savor of the cheese and ham, the acid of the sauce and the sweet ricotta…we seriously debated getting a third pizza for the road.

They also offer wine and have a thriving cocktail offering at the tap house. With the pizza, there’s “no better complement to beer or wine in my opinion,” Beale said.

Old Rappahannock Brewing Company  |  124 Main Street, Warsaw  |  Follow Old Rapp's Facebook Page