Culture

Spirit Lab Distilling puts Virginia wilderness in your glass

“I ’ll be honest,” says distiller Ivar Aass without a hint of irony. “Forage Amaro is my least favorite thing to make.” It’s not that he dislikes the result. Quite the opposite is true. But as a one-man operation, the process of foraging is both time-consuming and labor-intensive: walking fields and forests, pulling his car […]

Paul Ting | November 19, 2025

Culture Food & Drink

A new collective brings fresh ideas to Virginia wine

In both scale and spirit, Virginia wine is growing, fueled by new talent, broader perspectives, and ambition. The result is a more confident, creative region that’s gaining national recognition. Like other thriving wine communities, we are seeing the emergence of small, independent winemakers, and side projects from established names. The Virginia Wine Collective, a new […]

Paul Ting | July 16, 2025

Culture Food & Drink

Women gather to set a new vision for Virginia’s wine industry

The journey to establish Virginia Women in Wine began five years ago with a series of informal get-togethers spearheaded by food and travel writer Nancy Bauer. The gatherings of women who shared a passion for Virginia’s wine industry but found themselves unfamiliar with, or disconnected from, one another grew, and Bauer remembers the moment when […]

Paul Ting | September 11, 2024

Culture Food & Drink

Best pressed

Beginning in 2021, the annual Virginia Governor’s Cup competition, which traditionally recognizes the best wines in the state, included a separate category for cider. In 2022, the competition awarded 10 gold medals to ciders and Albemarle CiderWorks’ 2019 Hewes Crab won Best in Show. Opened by the Shelton family in 2009, Albemarle CiderWorks is Virginia’s […]

Paul Ting | May 25, 2022

Culture Food & Drink

Core focus

It’s well known that our founding fathers brewed beer, distilled whiskey, and, in the case of Thomas Jefferson, worked diligently to make wine in Virginia. But cider, too has been in production since the Colonial era—both Washington and Jefferson also grew apples and brewed cider. The industrial revolution saw a decline in the cider industry, […]

Paul Ting | November 17, 2021

Culture

Reason to believe

At first, making beer was just a hobby for Mark Fulton—when he finished punching the calculator during his day job as an accountant, he’d head home to his lab. Then, in 2010, the amateur beer enthusiast snagged a craft brewing apprenticeship with the American Brewers Guild. He untied his tie, quit his accounting gig, and […]

Paul Ting | July 21, 2021

Culture

Day trip east

The greater Charlottesville area is overflowing with beverage producers who make delicious products. But if you’re up for a scenic drive, there are additional treasures to be found not too far away. In part one of our day-trip series, we head east toward Richmond to taste Virginia-made beer, wine, spirits, and cider.  Cunningham Creek Winery, […]

Paul Ting | June 9, 2021