VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA

One block from Chesapeake Bay in a well-maintained aquamarine-roofed mini mall, PLEASURE HOUSE BREWING began operations in 2014. Prolific homebrewer, Drew Stephenson, crafts rangy fare running the gamut from simple blonde ale to wattle seed-laden stout.

My wife and I grab seats at the bar (July 2018) where a pastoral earth-toned brick wall features twelve tap handles. Wall-hung surfboards and mounted fish decorate the place and show off Pleasure House’s amiable beach spirit.

The cement -floored space offers one community table and eight dining tables while several brewtanks hide behind the bar. Crowlers and cans are available for takeout.

Musky wet graining soaked spritzy lemon limed souring for light-bodied G’Suffa Helles Lager, leaving minor herbal spiced restraint upon the crisp finish.

Tingly Belgian-styled lightweight, Shuckers Single Blonde Ale, plied orange-peeled lemon meringue piquancy to honey-spiced pilsner malts and salty herbal notions.

Salted yellow grapefruit piquancy led the way for Glo Belgian Blonde Ale, picking up mild lemon, orange, banana and mango tropicalia.

Blackcurrant tartness boosted hybridized German wheat beer, Melo Currants Hefeweizen, shoving stylistic banana-clove sweetness to the side for currant-bound honey mead wining.

Easygoing NoMoHazeBros Brut IPA (with Simcoe-Amarillo hops) let sparkling Brut champagne effervescence pick up light wood tones to envelop lemony orange-tangerine-grapefruit tanginess.

Duck sauce-like Duckin Saison boasted apricot and ginger adjuncts that serenaded black-peppered green grape wining and mild dry leathering.

Approachably smooth Chardonnay-barreled Light Tower Wine Aged Saison brought light white wine tannins to sour lemon rot and dry barnyard acridity.

Hop-forward Red Mill Seven Red Ale let sharp red-orange fruiting gain caramel-spiced grain toasting. 

Lemony orange, grapefruit, peach, pineapple and tangerine tanginess brightened Rudee Inlet Imperial IPA, a lightly creamed medium body with delicate pale malt sugaring.

Roasted wattle seed boosted OB’s Wattleseed Stout – Nitro, scurrying thru bittersweet cocoa-dried black chocolate malting, peanut-oiled walnut musk and mild hop-charred bittering.