Mad Fox celebrates; more VA breweries open.

Mad Fox Brewing Company —a brewpub in Falls Church, Virginia— threw an all-day, SRO, party on Saturday, to celebrate its 2nd anniversary. There were draught and cask ale tappings, a pig roast, live music, giveaways, etc.

Now, consider this. Since Mad Fox originally opened, in July of 2010, at least five more breweries have begun operations in Virginia. They are, alphabetically:

• Blue Lab Brewing, in Lexington.
• Corcoran Brewing Company, in Waterford. [Located in the Corcoran Winery.]
• Port City Brewing, in Alexandria.
• Lost Rhino Brewing, in Ashburn.
• O'Connor Brewing, in Norfolk.
• Wolf Hills Brewing, in Abingdon.

The Mid-Atlantic Brewing News lists forty breweries or brewpubs as operating in the Old Dominion; sixteen of them post updates to Twitter. At least one, however —Shooting Creek Farm in Floyd, Virginia— has closed, and two aren't exactly 'craft' breweries: Anheuser-Busch InBev, in Willamsburg, and Miller-Coors, in Elkton.

If we expand the penumbra to the DMV —that is, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland— we see a dozen breweries that can be added to the register of the brewing: three in the District, and four in Maryland.

In Washington, D.C., they are (by date of opening):

• DC Brau (April 2011)
• Chocolate City (August 2011)
• 3 Stars (July/August 2012)

In Maryland, they are (alphabetically):

• Baying Hound Aleworks (2011, in Rockville)
• Burley Oak Brewing (2011, in Berlin)
• Evolution Craft Brewing (which, in 2012, moved its operations from Delaware to Salisbury, Maryland)
• Union Craft Brewing (June 2012, in Baltimore)

According to the Brewers Association —the lobbying group for U.S. breweries of annual production of fewer than six million barrels— growth of the craft brewing industry in 2011 was 13% by volume and 15% by dollars, compared to growth in 2010 of 12% by volume and 15% by dollars.

Furthermore, the U.S. was home to 1,940 'craft' breweries in 2011. By May of this year, that total had increased to 2,000, exactly.

These are indeed heady days to be a 'good' beer fan, across the nation, and here in the mid-Atlantic region, where other breweries have announced plans to open. Stay tuned; stay thirsty!

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• See a few more photos of the Mad Fox 2nd anniversary party: here.
• If I've missed any breweries, or if any of the numbers or information above are incorrect, please correct the record by leaving a comment or sending an email.