The Best Coastal Virginia  Distilleries Are Hiding in Old Buildings

Virginia distilling likely goes back to when the colony began.

Destination Virginia / Coastal Virginia Distilleries

A Warehouse, an Armory, and a 1927 Hotel: Where Coastal Virginia Distills

Virginia was among the first English colonies, and distilling here likely reaches back as far as the colony itself. In those early days, creating spirits was more about preserving and transporting a bulky commodity (grain) and supplying beverages like whiskey and hard cider that had less bacteria and disease than some water and milk, especially in the cities.

Fast forward to modern times, where sanitation and science have improved greatly, and the reason for seeking out a distillery is more about enjoying the craft and honoring the history it came from. On Virginia’s coast, that history usually starts with the building.

The drive from Williamsburg to the Virginia Beach oceanfront takes a little over an hour, and along that stretch you’ll pass a dry goods warehouse, a National Guard armory, a roadside motel, a country antiques store and a grand hotel’s laundry room. What these historic buildings have in common is that they have all been reimagined and fitted with copper stills. The spirits are the reason to stop. The people are friendly and passionate about their craft. And the buildings the spirits are made in will inspire you to linger longer than you planned.

It began as a roadside motor inn on Capitol Landing Road, built in the 1950s for the postwar wave of visitors coming to see Colonial Williamsburg. In its day the Lord Paget was grand. Years later it was shuttered, and it took Rick Wasmund of Copper Fox in Sperryville to look past a tired tourist motel and see a whisky compound. *He spells whiskey without the “e,” and that’s that.

The malt house occupies one wing. Barrel storage fills another. Tastings happen in what used to be the breakfast café overlooking the pool, now fitted out as a speakeasy, with a firepit courtyard where the parking lot used to be.

Wasmund apprenticed at Bowmore Distillery on the Isle of Islay in Scotland before founding Copper Fox in 2005. What he learned in Scotland planted a conviction that has shaped every decisin since. He malts his own barley on the floor, and dries it over apple and cherry wood smoke instead of peat. The grain comes from a single Virginia farmer, and the six-row Thoroughbred barley was created for Copper Fox at Virginia Tech. The whisky is then matured with hand-cut, toasted applewood, a process the distillery says no one else in the world uses. Wasmund’s Original Single Malt was launched as the first applewood-aged whisky made anywhere.

Note: The original Sperryville distillery at 9 River Lane also offers tours.

Distillery tastings in Virginia are now set at 6oz per Virginia Law (as of July 2026)

The building started as a grocery and dry goods warehouse in 1913. About 50 years before the first brick was laid, however, two iron-armored warships fought to a draw in Hampton Roads, the harbor just off Newport News where the James River meets the Chesapeake. The USS Monitor met the CSS Virginia, rebuilt on the burned hull of the Merrimac, and in a single afternoon in 1862 the clash made every wooden navy ship in the world obsolete.

That battle also gave the S.W. Holt & Co. warehouse’s current occupants their name.

Ironclad Distillery runs tastings and tours for the bourbon they make inside those red brick walls. They embrace Virginia’s history as readily as their own modest beginnings. Every bourbon has a story, and on some bottles you can peel back the label to read it. On others the flavor carries the story instead, pulling hints of coffee, maple or wine from the barrels used in aging. The grain mash is fermented, distilled and bottled under one roof, from Virginia corn, wheat, rye and a proprietary malt blend.

The Vanguard calls the historic Hampton National Guard Armory home. The building is a Works Progress Administration project started in March 1936 and finished the following year. The building’s style came to represent the architecture of the years between World War I and World War II. Roughly 300,000 tapestry bricks were used and it’s one of the more structurally sound buildings of its era. Today it’s listed on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.

The armory was always meant to double as community space, serving Hampton as an auditorium, gymnasium and concert hall when the artillery unit wasn’t using it. That second life continues in how The Vanguard brings people together over music, food and drink. Beer and spirits are made on site under the Caiseal label, and the stage hosts local and touring musicians most nights. The brewpub occupies the main floor. The distillery tasting room is upstairs and keeps its own hours.

Whiskey flavors are pulled from wooden barrels made with different types of trees.

Blue Sky started with a vacation. Mark and Kim Rangos toured the Jameson distillery in Ireland in 2015, and Mark came home wanting one of his own. They founded the company in 2016 and began producing the following year out of a warehouse shared with a bottled water company in the Isle of Wight Industrial Park. In 2024 the county approved their move a quarter mile up the road into the former Kuntry Kabin antiques store, a larger space that finally gave them a proper tasting room.

It’s the smallest operation on this route and they are committed to sourcing close to home. The wheat comes from Charles City County, the honey from Breezy Hill Meadworks in Smithfield, and the bottles from Richmond. The distillery holds Virginia Green tourism partner certification and describes itself as the first in the state built around sustainable practice from the beginning. The waste resulting from spirits production goes to nearby farmers so they can use it on the farm.

The names on the bottles come from regional lore and personal loves. Blackbeard’s Point Rum takes its name from the Hampton spit where the pirate’s head was displayed in 1718. Dog Star Vodka, is named for Sirius in Canis Major, and a portion of every sale goes to animal welfare.

Tarnished Truth Distillery is housed in the former laundry of the Cavalier Hotel.

The Cavalier Hotel opened in 1927 on a hill above the oceanfront and spent its first years hosting presidents and celebrities upstairs while Prohibition ran its course everywhere else. Tarnished Truth seems to reflect that contradiction.

The distillery occupies what was once the hotel’s laundry room. They took out the floor and designed the space around the equipment: a 500-gallon hybrid pot still and a 20-foot vodka column, both hand-built by Vendome Copper and Brass Works in Kentucky. These stand in full view through a window from the Hunt Room next door. You can watch the distillers work from your dinner table. The company opened in March 2018 alongside the Cavalier’s reopening after an $80 million restoration, and describes itself as the only distillery operating inside a working hotel in the United States.

Bourbon is the focus, with moonshine, gin, vodka and a bourbon cream offered too.

The online distillery museum tells the story of Virginia spirited past.

The Spirits Museum

The museum provides a virtual documentation the history: the glass alembic still used at Jamestown between roughly 1607 and 1624, reproduced by a Corning glassblower from fragments that Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists pulled from the ground, and a ceramic reproduction of the Thomas Ward still from Martin’s Hundred, a James River settlement founded in 1618, which may be the first still ever made in America.

An indigenous grindstone sits alongside them, a reminder that corn, and the knowledge of how to prepare it, came from the people already living here.

The museum belongs to 8 Shires Coloniale Distillery in Williamsburg, whose tasting room has permanently closed. The museum’s collection is now located at Virginia Distillery Co. in Lovingston, and it is available online as well, free to explore before you drive anywhere.

Spirits Museum online collection

Virginia Distillery Company

This distillery is the new home for the museum artifacts. The distillery sits on 100 acres in Lovingston, in Nelson County, roughly 150 miles inland in the Blue Ridge foothills. That’s the wrong direction entirely for a coastal weekend, so save it for its own trip. Route 151 runs nearby, linking enough wineries, cideries and breweries to fill a long weekend.

Virginia Distillery Company, 299 Eades Lane, Lovingston. 434-285-2900
Museum Installation Information

Planning the route

Two more Virginia distilleries sit close to these:

• Chesapeake Bay Distillery at 437 Virginia Beach Boulevard in Virginia Beach
• Reverend Spirits at 1120 W. Olney Road in Norfolk.

Virginia law shapes every experience. Distilleries are regulated for how much they can serve (currently at 6oz per person) so keep that in mind during your tasting and ask the distillery if you have questions.

Confirm the distillery hours prior to your visit. Some are open only a few days a week, and the smaller operations keep the tightest schedules.

Newport News Tourism maintains a regional listing of coastal Virginia distilleries, breweries and wineries; a helpful resource as you plan your trip.

There are distilleries throughout Virginia where craft beverage lovers can see how it’s done…Virginia style.

Which distilleries can you visit between Williamsburg and Virginia Beach?

Five distilleries operate along this coastal route. Copper Fox Distillery in Williamsburg makes hand-malted single malt whisky at 901 Capitol Landing Road. Ironclad Distillery makes bourbon exclusively at 124 23rd Street in Newport News. The Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery occupies Hampton’s historic armory at 504 N. King Street. Blue Sky Distillery is at 17466 Benns Church Blvd in Smithfield. Tarnished Truth Distilling Company is inside the Cavalier Hotel at 4200 Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach. Chesapeake Bay Distillery in Virginia Beach and Reverend Spirits in Norfolk are also within easy reach.

How much can you taste at a Virginia distillery?

Virginia distilleries may serve up to six ounces of spirits per guest, per day, as of July 1, 2026. That doubled the previous three-ounce daily limit, which had been in place since the state first wrote tasting room rules for craft distilleries. The change means visitors can order a cocktail and a tasting flight in the same visit rather than choosing between them. Individual distilleries decide how to structure their offerings, so experiences vary by location.

Can you get food at a Virginia distillery?

Yes. Under Virginia’s July 1, 2026 law, food must be reasonably available wherever spirits are served. That can mean a food truck parked on site, packaged snacks sold at the bar, a kitchen operated by the distillery, or food guests bring themselves. Before this change, Virginia distilleries could not serve food at all, which is why older articles and guidebooks still advise planning meals entirely separately.

Is 8 Shires Coloniale Distillery still open?

8 Shires Coloniale Distillery in Williamsburg has permanently closed its tasting room, according to its own website. The company still produces and sells spirits, including its Jamestowne 1608 single malt whiskey, available for in-store purchase and online ordering. Visitors cannot tour or taste at the Merrimac Trail location. Its Spirits Museum collection, which includes reproductions of stills used at Jamestown and Martin’s Hundred, is now installed at Virginia Distillery Co. in Lovingston.

Is there a distillery inside a hotel in Virginia?

Tarnished Truth Distilling Company operates inside the Historic Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach, in what was originally the hotel’s laundry room. The distillery describes itself as the only one operating inside a hotel in the United States. Its floor was removed during construction so a 500-gallon hybrid pot still and 20-foot vodka column stand in view through a window from the Hunt Room restaurant next door. It opened in March 2018 alongside the hotel’s reopening.

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