In an era in which breweries pop up and close down on a yearly basis, making it in the craft beer game is beyond difficult. In fact, it’s damn near impossible. But this month marks Legend Brewery’s 20th year in business, making it Virginia’s oldest craft brewery.
In an era in which breweries pop up and close down on a yearly basis, making it in the craft beer game is beyond difficult. In fact, it’s damn near impossible. But this month marks Legend Brewery’s 20th year in business, making it Virginia’s oldest craft brewery.
Tom Martin, Legend’s owner, was brewing for Anheuser-Busch before he decided to take the leap and go out on his own. This was the early nineties, and Sam Adams had been out for a while. Sierra Nevada and Anchor Steam popped up on the radar as well as some other American craft breweries.
“He decided he wanted to open a small brewery in order to give consumers an alternative to basically what are the mass-produced, American-style beers,” said Dave Gott, Vice President of Operations at Legend. “He picked this spot because he stood up on that hill and said ‘what a beautiful view, and what a perfect place to put a brewery’.”
“Tom got to it, had a nice small ten-barrel brew house: four ten-barrel fermenters and four ten-barrel finishing tanks, some kegs,” said Gott, who has been with Legend since 1996. “We weren’t doing any bottling at the time. It was all on tap and growlers.”
Gott points out that while Martin had some helping hands here and there, Legend truly began as a one-man operation.
“When [Legend] started in ’93, Dominion Brewing Company was open, and Richbrau. To my knowledge, there were one or two other places that had tried and not succeeded… Shortly after we started, Rock Creek opened up, Mobjack opened up. Extra Billy’s did their thing; they’re still around,” said Gott. “We at one point had five breweries in the city area, in the metro area. That rapidly decreased to two, then just to us–except for Extra Billy’s, [which was just a brew pub], they kept on. For a while there, we were the only production facility in the trade. We were the only one brewing beer and putting it in the trade [stores and restaurants].”
The Richmond area is now home to nearly a dozen breweries, so what the hell happened in the last twenty years?
“[People are] willing to experiment a little bit. People started [making their own] wine, and said ‘hey this is pretty good, I can drink some of this stuff,’” said Gott. “And then they started doing artisanal cheeses and breads, and all that stuff got really popular. Then the Belgian beer craze hit, and you heard about it a lot. I think people just decided – I have a t-shirt that says it – life’s too short to drink crappy beer. And people were trading up, just like they were in many other things.
“Then the big farm-to-table thing happened, which made local beers even a bigger deal. It’s been a genesis of many different things coming together. The market is changing somewhat. I think our end of the market is growing more than the other end of the market… and I could be wrong. But it’s been an interesting couple of years.”
When asked where he sees Legend in the next 20 years, Gott said he’s unsure. “If you had asked me that two years ago, I’d have given you a pretty confident answer,” he said. “I would like to say we’d still be at the top of the heap, and I’m fairly sure we will be. But there’s a falling out that’s going to come. No one wants to talk about it, no one wants to believe it… Some people will make it, some won’t. It’s a tough battle.”
It’s a battle Legend has been fighting for two decades. Becoming the Old Dominion’s oldest craft brewery is no small feat. The folks at Legend are ready to celebrate, and celebrate they will.
“We want it to be the mother of all anniversary parties,” said Gott. “We want to not just have a big blast of food and beer, we wanted to give it almost a carnival-like atmosphere, so that’s what we’ve done.”
What can you expect at the party happening this Saturday, April 19th? Several businesses will have booths set up promoting their products; one of Legend’s farmers will be bringing two Clydesdale horses; a self-guided brewery tour of sorts will be set up; face painting; balloon twisters; live music; food; and, of course, lots and lots of delicious Legend beer.
Legend isn’t simply celebrating with a party, though. They’re also bringing back the Urban Legend line, and this year’s will carry a bit of a sentimental twist.
The brewers at Legend wanted to pay respect to some of the other breweries that have been around a while. The result: this year’s Urban Legend series. The four beers – the second of which will be released this coming weekend – are the outcome of four collaborations with other seasoned Virginia beer vets. Teach’s Oyster Stout was released back in February, a collaboration with Legend’s brewmaster John Wampler and Andy Rathman of St. George Brewing Co. in Hampton, VA.
“All you have to do is say you’re going to open a brewery and you’re on the front cover of every magazine and newspaper in Virginia. Us poor old guys, for us to get press from somebody is damn near impossible,” said Gott, who got into the beer businesses when he could no longer handle teaching. “We figured with 20 years we’d be able to get some press, and we wanted to share that glory with the other guys who paid their dues. So we thought that by doing these collaborations we’d be paying homage to them. We’d be saying, ‘We respect the fact that you guys have busted your hump, and gotten as far as you have, just like we have.’”
So what’s the damn secret, guys? What makes a successful brewery?
Beer. Good beer.
“We still produce beers that are very drinkable,” said Gott. “Very good, very tasty, not overpowering… We’ve got seven beers year round. We have something in our portfolio for everybody. If every brewery were to fall by the wayside tomorrow, I think the world could survive on Legend Brewery. We brew a little bit of everything.”
Legend’s anniversary party will take place this Saturday, April 19, at 2 pm. Visit the event’s Facebook page for more information on tickets, schedules and pricing.
