Old Ox Brewery

I love visiting breweries. I get so excited at the idea of sitting down with a tasting flight, the possibility that some new amazing brew is waiting for me to discover it, the range of colors in the little glasses from pale straw to gold to ruby to deep brown to pitch black. It’s how Indy must have felt when they first pried the lid off the tomb with the Ark inside. In the case of Old Ox, I didn’t find the Ark of the Covenant during my exploration, only snakes.
First off, good luck finding the place. Google Maps can get you to the generic looking office/​industrial park where it’s hiding, but it can’t tell you which back corner it’s situated in, and at least on a dark night there weren’t any signs guiding me in that I could see. The taproom itself is a nice space, plenty of tables in the front with some TVs to watch the game or play some of their board games, and some more space in the back with cornhole and a few chairs. Definitely a cool place I’d like to pass some time on a rainy Sunday. The bartender was really friendly and we chatted about the merits of carbonation vs. nitro pours, always fun to geek out a little. $ 7 for a four-​beer flight is definitely quite reasonable.
Ahh, but the beers. First of all, it’s February, where are all the dark beers? Besides the one porter on the list, my choices were all pretty light in color, even a saison, not what I’m looking for at this time of year. All four of my selections turned out to be fairly thin on flavor and bitter at the finish, nothing I’d even order a pint of at the bar, much less take home a growler. I get that beer tastes are very subjective, so you’ll have to take this with a big grain of salt, but I just found their beers totally unimpressive. Northern Virginia’s craft beer scene is exploding, which means Old Ox needs to step up their game if they don’t want to get left behind.

Excellent brewery and service. While Old Ox has some beers on the more ‘experimental’ side, they try to make most of their brews approachable. I tried the 4-​beer sample flight for $ 7, but got an ‘extra’ tasting when I discovered I didn’t like one of them.
Like many places, Old Ox has a set of ‘flagship’ beers they try to always have available, plus a rotating list of ‘limited edition’ ones. In an effort to give them an honest appraisal, I did a mixture of both (oh, the things I do for my Unilocal readers…).
Golden Ox (Flagship, Belgian Golden Ale): Overall pretty good, nice fruity finish
Alpha Ox (Flagship, IPA): The only beer from here I didn’t like; as with many IPAs too hoppy for me
Saison d’Ox (Limited, French Farmhouse): I’m not exactly sure how to describe Farmhouse styles, but I know I like them. Orange taste; not as cloudy as a pilsner but reminiscent of one.
Hibiscus Saison (Limited): A clear winner! Whatever love I once had for IPAs have been clearly transferred to Saisons.
Imperial Stout (Limited): If you drink your coffee black, you’ll like this.
While visiting I overheard the brewmaster trading ideas with his colleagues regarding their next set of additions, and the words «Chocolate» and «Dark Cherry» were bandied about. Am I allowed to swoon for beer, or is that too girly?
Old Ox is clearly out of the way, but they make up for whatever inconvenience you may encounter in finding them. The tap room is nicer looking than other breweries I’ve visited, and they also have food trucks.

Saison d’Ox is back! I will be getting one after my run Saturday. come out and Anthony and the gang

It doesn’t get any better than this! A different local food truck every day so the food is never the same. Nice (and knowledgeable) bartenders. A nice selection on tap, something for everyone and every Wednesday there is a new one so it’s worth coming back and trying them out. The great part about them is that they always have plenty of room to grab a seat, even on busy days. In the spring it’s nice to ride the bike up there, grab a beer on the deck and hang out. Give them a try!

Cool place with some of the coolest, nicest people pouring our beers!
The front entrance has stairs, so if you need an accessible entrance, its on the side closest to the WO&D trail next to the wooden deck. The front tasting room is fairly small, but the back warehouse area with the tanks of brewing beer was open with various areas to sit.
The hubby and I both had the Hoppy Place IPA. It was good with a fresh bitter IPA taste and very strong (I think 6.5%). I’ve had the Alpha Ox around town and have purchased it at Wegmans which is a good one as well. Good, solid beers and cool people. Give this place a try!

Need a place to relax before picking up someone from Dulles Airport? Old Ox fits the bill and certainly gave me plenty of reasons to make a return trip when I have more time.
Substantial space in the front bar area included big tvs and tables, but the real winner seemed to be the back brewing area that included additional seating, a large projection screen playing football and at the time it seemed that there was some kind of birthday party or private gathering happening, as I haven’t seen that many kids together in a brewery in quite some time!
Seriously though, the Black Ox rye porter on nitro was smooth and chewy, nice even on a warmer day. There were plenty of bikers getting ready to bet back on a nearby trail and a food truck getting ready for the day. Their tap lineup wasn’t encyclopedic, but I appreciated their 6 – 8 options that offered something for both a bearded beer geek and anyone new to craft beer.
Nice offering in the growing options around Virginia. If I lived nearby Old Ox would be a good standby.

Went to Old Ox for the comedy show last night. Had a fantastic time with three other couples. Multiple comics were all great! Great beer and the food truck outside had the best lamb and chicken combo Turkish food I’ve ever had. What a great experience. Oh, the comics raised money for a local charity so it was even better.

This review goes out to Jeff, who made our Saturday experience there really awesome. I had reached out to him about a month ago to see if he would be able to accommodate a group of about 10 – 15 people for my fiancé’s birthday. Jeff responded right away and gave me all the information I needed and leading up to the weekend, he even reached back out to confirm numbers and let me know he’d put a few tables together so we wouldn’t have to worry about finding seats once we got there. Upon arriving, Jeff was very nice and attentive to our group. To note, the beers were also very good and it was cool to be at a brewery that was kid-​friendly to some of our friends who had brought their kids. I will definitely be back and have Jeff to thank for that!

Live music on a Friday night. Soda option for the non-​beer drinker/​designated driver. No food. Nice bar area. Gross warehouse area. The furniture looks like it was found on the side of the road. I was afraid to sit down on the couch.
Corn hole noise was loud and distracting.
Friendly staff.

The Old Ox has grown leaps and bounds since my first review last year. Service is vastly improved and you’ll get to know your bartenders here. They are the best. What a great place for a perfect märzen or porter. If you like lighter beers, there are some great choices. All you have to do is ask and you’ll get lots of info on how the brews are crafted. The selection will change and keep you off guard. Try a jalapeño-​infused beer one week and then it’s gone. Pumpkin is in right now. You’ll want to stay in touch to see what’s coming.
There are often food trucks in the area. A great partnership and good eats are right outside… or you can order delivery, no problem.

I recommend doing the 4 tastes + free glass for $ 10. You end up with 2 full beers and a clean souvenir tulip glass to go. I particularly enjoyed the Basil Saison, it is oddly delicious. Beertendress was awesome and made great suggestions. Lots to see and do here.

Located on the backside of an industrial building, this place is laid back and offers board games while you enjoy your beer and snacks. They have a food menu on hand as well. We arrived about 30 minutes before they closed and shared a quick flight to sample what they had to offer. The staff is very friendly and helpful with suggesting beers to try.

Love me some Old Ox! Tried Old Ox on a whim after visiting Lost Rhino one afternoon this past spring (they are really close to each other) and I’ve fallen hard.
The beer is excellent. Super fresh, and I love that they experiment with limited releases (hello, Kristin’s Temper with Jalapeño?).
My current favorite is the Saison D’Ox — just a touch of hops combined with a bit of spice to make for a super-​refreshing spring-​summer beer. I can’t wait for their fall Oxorcist release.
A laid-​back, super casual place, which features a few TVs great for watching the games. In the area with the tanks, there’s a smattering of furniture and usually a cornhole game set up.
Bonus — they feature food trucks. I’ve been twice when they’ve had BBQ and it has been great — who doesn’t love brew & ‘que?
One of my favorites for a laid-​back Sunday.

I’ll be honest, I had not heard of Old Ox Brewery until we were right across the street from it. We were in the area, watching my fiancé’s first Muy Thai fight. We wanted a place to go afterwards, and conveniently Old Ox Brewery was walking distance from the arena!
Old Ox is a wide open space. When you walk in, you first see the tasting room and bar area. They have a sampler where you get 4 small samples for about $ 7.00 (not what I ended up doing but what I should have done in restrospect). I ordered the Saison, which was delicious. Refreshing and not too heavy. a delicious beer.
One of the nice things about Old Ox is the space. They have an outdoor patio, seating in the tasting room, and seating in the back where they do the tours. We chose to sit in the back (we were a big group). They also have corn hole boards in the back and board games. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere and decent beer too. Staff was helpful and pleasant enough. They don’t have a kitchen but I’m told food trucks will come.

We visited here Sunday afternoon of Easter Sunday for an Ale tasting! A group of five of us got together to sample the Old Ox Brewery brew lineup!
I ordered two flights — each flight comes with four ales.
The first flight contained (see pix attached to business listing):
— Alpha Ox Session IPA (4.5% ABV): Nice hoppy IPA — hoppier than I would normally expect for a session IPA — packed full of flavor really, really good! Made with three hops: Amarillo, Centennial, and Simcoe.
— Oxplorer Batch #3 IPA (7.5% ABV): An excellent full-​strength IPA in the alcohol department and in the flavor department. Nice intersection of pine and citrus flavors! Made with three different hops: Centennial, Amarillo, and Citra hops. Gorgeous golden color.
— Saison d’Ox French Farmhouse Ale (5.7% ABV): Interesting ale, a hint of sweetness to it — my least favorite of the ales we tasted.
— Kristin’s Temper Jalapeño Pale Ale (5.5% ABV): Don’t let this one scare or fool you. It’s not hot at all. What it is — is damn good! After we were done with the ale tasting, I went back and had a full pint of this ale. Gorgeous copper color!
The second flight wrapped things up with the three remaining brews I did not not try on the first go around:
— Golden Ox Belgian Golden Ale (6.5% ABV): Too light for my tastebuds, but an interesting ale to taste. Very pilsner-​esque…
— Black Ox Rye Porter (6.0% ABV): This is an excellent Rye porter, rich, full-​bodied, and delicious!
— Nitro Red Irish Red Ale (5.6% ABV): Irish Red Ales don’t seem to excite me — and this one also falls into that category. Rather ordinary.
The staff working here are very knowledgable and can answer a lot of questions about their beers and the brewing process.
Lots and lots of table space — two separate rooms, plus some outside space. There was a food truck on-​site Easter Sunday selling BBQ and other munchies.
I’d visit here again!

Here on a Friday night at 7:30pm. Very strange atmosphere for a brewpub. Half the bar, bathed in bright florescent light, is loudly throwing corn hole bags. A large TV projection has NCAA basketball playing, which is nice, but I’m the only one watching that. A roller derby team is conducting a meeting. Kids are running around with little supervision. The real bar is up front in a separate area, but I was the only one there so I moved to the back. The bartender was wonderful, giving me 3 tastings before I selected the awesome red beer on nitro. They featured food offloaded from a food truck, very good: I tried the «Mac Bowl, mac and cheese covered with BBQ pork and brisket, chips, and jalapeños. I preferred the pork.
Good food, great beer, horrific atmosphere.

So have you heard that redbull has a class action lawsuit against them? Funny in all honesty because um they make beer not energy drinks. The beers here are solid and the layout is great. Lots of space by the taps and a whole lounge area by all the fermenting tanks. Its a little hidden but once you get here you will enjoy it. On a side note you can bike here via the WOD trail!
Overall I like them and I’m glad that we have a partnership with them at my job. Good people and good beer nothing else!!!

I seriously love Old Ox Brewery. They have added 5 beers since our last visit and they are all very good. They have also added more seating in the back, have a space for food trucks to come set up and have added cornhole. Pair that with the nice tasting bar, multiple family style tables out front, super friendly owners with a serious passion for their craft and you know you are bound to have a good time here!
Onto the beer, I’m completely in love with Kristin’s Passion. It’s description is very accurate as it is essentially a grown up (and cold) Mexican hot chocolate moonlighting as a Porter. Then their Bourbon Barrel Black Ox is so good it breaks my heart they will only sell it by the glass since it’s a limited release. I don’t want to share it! Lol. It’s seriously amazing!
It’s easy to spend a few hours at Old Ox! It’s a great spot and it’s neat to see how they have grown in the past several months.

This place was pretty cool. It’s located kind of in the corner so you wouldn’t know it’s there. My friend and I actually arrived about 30 minutes before opening time (they open at 4pm), but they were nice enough to let us in. They have a various tap options and you can try four different ones as a flight for $ 7 which was a good option for me as it was my first time there. I cannot remember the names of the beers I tried, but two of the golden colored ones I chose were a little too fruity taste for me. I did, however, like the dark one the most. There is the black ox and another one just like the name which is a tab bit stronger. It has a coffee taste to it and I normally don’t like dark beers, but this one was great. They also have a food truck in the back for food!

OUR NEW FAVORITE BREWERY!
Faves:
— The saison brew & their seasonals.
— Ales are Ale-​licious!
— My hubster, the IPA fan loved their brew.
— They feature a local food truck.
— They post a lot of updates & which food truck will be there on their Facebook.
— Everyone here are super friendly and you can tell they are proud of their brewery.
— The brewery might be little hard to find but if you call them they give you great directions. One of the owners actually came out of the brewery to flag us down! So nice!
Check out Old Ox Brewery! They have lots of seating with TVs & they show a lot of baseball & football games. I’m sure they will show hockey too!