Early Wednesday evening, they gather in the side parking lot and head out for a 90-minute ride on a few routes through the city before coming back to wet their whistle on the wide variety of in-house brews the brew master creates at Red Dragon. 

“The group is open to everyone,” said Red Dragon owner Mark Perry. “Some ride in from Stafford,” he added.

One of the lead riders is Bill Evans, a cyclist who went to high school with Perry. Bill’s brother Tom and another rider, Dan Baker, are part of the core group. Sometimes there are 30 riders, and in cases of rain, some riders come anyway and sit down for a cold one instead of riding. Bike Works and Old Town Bicycle support their rides in Fredericksburg.

The Red Dragon menu has a variety of beers, all brewed on site, and some locally made sodas that are frequently mixed with the beers for particular flavors. The sodas are from Maggie’s, a small business on nearby Caroline Street that features subs, hot dogs, and salads. On Maggie’s soda list, they have root beer, orange dream, cream soda, ginger ale, and ginger ale ‘heat,’ with an extra kick. 

When mixed with Red Dragon’s beers, they become drinks on the menu like “Orange Creamsicle Sour,” “Here Be Dragons,” or “Black Jack,” to name a few. They also serve a beer called the “Road Rash Red,” a name connected with the biking world.

Perry served as a military pilot and owns a stake in the Rail House Brewery in Aberdeen, N.C.

Red Dragon is part of the Fredericksburg Area Beer Trail, an established route beer connoisseurs use while making a beer run into a day trip. There are 11 area breweries on the trail, and there’s a passport all trail users can download to keep abreast of happenings along the trail. At each brewery, the passport can get stamped, and once it’s full, prizes are awarded.

Soon, the Red Dragon cyclists can ride on a new trail portion along Lafayette Boulevard between Twin Lake Drive and St. Paul Street in the City of Fredericksburg. This $2.37 million project includes a new section of path that will connect with an existing shared-use path on Lafayette Boulevard that currently terminates at St. Paul Street.

The path will be accessible, with ramps and crosswalks built where the route intersects with Twin Lakes Drive, Springwood Drive, Kensington Place, and St. Paul Street. It is expected to be completed this November.

STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. – Newly added brewing equipment at Highmark Brewery in Stafford County takes this already-established name in local beer to another level. Moving beyond its menu of eight standards and a few rotating beer types, Highmark is setting a new note on the brew scene with the recent installation of three new fermentation tanks, three extractors, and a modern keg washer.

This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.

STAFFORD, Va. –  Brewing wants your help naming a key part of its identity—the horse in its logo.

This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.

MANASSAS, Va. – Farm Brew LIVE, one of the region’s top spots for beer, food, and live music, has a new name and an expanded vision. Villagio Hospitality Group announced that the 10-acre entertainment campus in Manassas is now officially NOVA LIVE.

This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.

A new craft brewery with a distinct German flair, Laudenbach Brewing, will bring a unique mix of classic German beers and modern craft favorites to Stafford this fall. Founder Zack Guy's vision is to create a warm, friendly atmosphere that mimics a Bavarian courtyard and offers a diverse selection of beers that cater to all tastes. The brewery is located at 45 Centreport Parkway.

This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.

Press release:

Brew Republic Bierwerks, a craft brewery known for great beer and delicious food since 2016, took home three medals at the 2024 Virginia Craft Brewers Guild’s Virginia Craft Beer Cup on Monday night.

A record 128 breweries competed in this year’s competition, including 20 new participants. Brewers submitted up to four beers each, judged in 33 different categories. This year’s competition saw a record 473 beers entered—it continues to be the largest state competition of its kind in the United States.

Brew Republic won three medals this year:
Inception Imperial Coffee Stout won a bronze medal in the strong ale category. Inception (11.6% ABV) features coffee beans infused with the previous batch of beer, then beer infused with those coffee beans, then later more coffee beans infused with this beer, for a dizzying inception.

Weizenbock won a silver medal in the German and American wheat category. Weizenbock (10.7% ABV) was brewed in collaboration with the founding brewer of Brew Republic. Born of our Hefe yeast, banana and clove dominates, closely followed by a sweet breadiness from Munich and caramel malts.
Eisbock (last year’s gold medal winner) defended its crown and won gold for the second time in the strong European lagers category. Eisbock (10.3% ABV) is a strong lager—a Dopplebock that is taken to freezing temperatures, which removes some of the water content to strengthen the beer further.

Our Eisbock will be featured at the Virginia Governor’s Mansion at an event later this year.

These three medal winners, along more than a dozen more of our delicious beers, are available on tap in the Brew Republic taproom, located in the Stonebridge shopping center in Woodbridge, Virginia. To-go formats are available as well in limited quantities. All our beer is brwered is brewed on-site, just steps from the taps that serve it.

Brew Republic also features a kitchen with a rotating selection of entrée sized and small-plate menu items, all designed and crafted by the brewery’s chef and kitchen team. The food is prepared to pair with the beer, and uses fresh and locally-sourced ingredients when available.

A note to you, our readers:

Local news keeps a community strong and informed. This story is free to read, but it costs money to bring it to you. If you rely on us for local news and haven’t already, please support us by becoming a member!

• Join our Locals Only Membership Today!