Nestled in the vibrant heart of Richmond, Virginia, lies The Jasper, an unpretentious cocktail haven that has, in many ways, revolutionized the city’s drinking scene. In this interview, we sit down with Brandon Peck and Thomas Leggett, the dynamic duo, along with partners Mattias Hagglund and Kevin Liu, behind The Jasper, as they discuss their journey from playing in bands to opening a game-changing cocktail bar, and share their insights on expanding with two new concepts in Church Hill.
It all started when the two met back in 2005 and eventually ended up working at The Roosevelt in 2011. As their love for creating unique and interesting cocktails grew, so too did their vision for a space that would break down the barriers between upscale dining and casual drinking. The Jasper was born from a desire to put the focus on the bar, while still offering a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere where guests can indulge in both high-quality cocktails and affordable beverages.
Since its opening, The Jasper has received overwhelming support from the community, and the duo is now set to expand their reach with two new ventures in Church Hill. The first, Slurp Ramen, will showcase the team’s passion for food, while the second, The Emerald Lounge, will invite guests to explore a tropical-inspired cocktail experience. As Brandon and Thomas continue to push the boundaries of what a cocktail bar can be, they remain dedicated to their core values of inclusivity, creativity, and most importantly, having fun.
ed. note: This interview is featured in RVA #40. Pick up the print version around town for FREE or join our patreon and read the web version right now at patreon.com/RVAMag!
I’m here with Brandon and T from The Jasper. We’ll start off easy. And we’ll start with you, Brandon, who are you? And what do you do?
Brandon: I am currently the beverage director at the Jasper. I try to make sure we have a cool menu for people to drink. And I pick up a lot of liquor.
Where did you guys meet?
Thomas: We met around 2005, playing in bands together. Then we both ended up at the Roosevelt in 2011.
Brandon: I came on as a server at first and eventually got behind the bar.
Thomas: I had come from Six Burner restaurant and had worked with Lee Gregory there. He was a part of opening the Roosevelt and he brought me along. I had dabbled in cocktails at Six Burner, but I wanted to really push forward and try to make cocktails a part of what the Roosevelt was.
I don’t know if it was the time, the location, or maybe just the attention we were receiving in general, opening that place. It seemed like night and day, all of a sudden, people were interested in cocktails and asking about them.
Brandon: When we opened the Roosevelt, I don’t think anybody had a clear idea of what that restaurant was going to be. It was so much more casual when we first opened. And Balliceaux obviously, was the nightlife place– outside of Balliceaux, you wouldn’t get cocktails unless you were at a nicer restaurant. Putting out a really interesting cocktail menu in a place that was so casual was pretty uncommon in Richmond, or anywhere really in Virginia.
When did working at The Roosevelt turn into wanting to open the Jasper?
Brandon: There was a point at The Roosevelt when we decided that we didn’t want to only have eight to 10 drinks. We wanted to do 20. We completely blew out this cocktail menu for a 10-seat bar. And the restaurant was gaining momentum in the press– we were busy all the time, more so for the food. But at some point, we started having bar regulars. That was one of the weirder moments. It was a strange realization to notice they weren’t eating– they were only there to chug cocktails.
At first, we didn’t do all our own drinks. We had it laid out like it was a band set– you had your originals and classics and covers. So we were picking lesser-known classics from other parts of the world and putting those on the menu. It was a bit of a history lesson.I think that was the genesis point for The Jasper in a way. Because that’s when people started paying attention to the drinks that we were putting out. Thomas can talk more about opening the place.
Thomas: Our other business partner, Mattias, was the co-owner at Heritage and ran the bar around the time we were at the Roosevelt. We were friends for a while and he knew I wanted to do my own thing. We always joked around about doing something more cocktail focused together. And then it became more and more serious to where he and I started looking at locations and speaking to potential investors.
We didn’t have too much of a hard concept, besides wanting it to be drink focused rather than food focused. Both of our restaurants had fantastic bar programs, but they were still very heavily focused on the food, the kitchen, and the chefs. What if we made the bar creep up to the forefront?
We also knew that it would be very location specific. The location was going to denote a lot of what the final concept would be, but we didn’t even know what neighborhood we would end up in. We looked downtown for a while until our other business partner, Kevin, found the Carytown location.
And Carytown, I’ve never thought about Carytown. And at first, I was very unsure. But then it makes sense. It is the business corridor of Richmond. In theory, this is where all the bars and restaurants should be. I felt like Carytown needed to circle back on itself. Really bring the focus back. Prior, I understood why places like The Roosevelt ended up in Church Hill, they were all underserved neighborhoods that needed a coffee shop, needed a bar. So that started happening and these adjacent neighborhoods were getting what they needed, and it felt right to bring it back to Carytown. To where the heart is, especially if we were doing something so bar-focused. All of the sudden it felt right.
Was there a point after opening up The Jasper where you could feel that it was going to work? From the outside looking, it looked like you were an instant success.
Thomas: I think we knew within the first week. People were excited. It was almost overwhelming.
Brandon: We were in a unique situation where we could reframe how people drink cocktails, I mean, before us opening up, you would have to go to a nice restaurant for nice cocktails.
Thomas: And you might have to have a reservation, and you’re probably going to have dinner there.
Brandon: I feel like we took a lot of the pretentiousness out of it. Pretentiousness might not be the right word though?
Barriers, maybe? You guys are easy to talk to, and you’re willing to talk about the cocktails.
Brandon: We want to be a place where people feel comfortable hanging out for a long time if they want to. We’re very social people and we like having fun. And drinking is fun. We’re trying to create a place where you don’t feel like you’re prohibiting somebody else from coming if you have another cocktail. Also, to that point, if you have two cocktails and decide you want to switch to inexpensive beer, we have that too.
Thomas: That was a lot of the precipice for this place as well. Brandon and I are cocktail people, but that’s not all we drink. Maybe in the span of one night, I want to have a daiquiri, and then I want to have a cheap canned beer, and then maybe I want to have a glass of champagne. There were very few places where you could do that, at least at the time.
We were interested in breaking that barrier, so people could come here and feel okay with taking up the table and having a cocktail or two– and they don’t have to go to Bamboo after to get a cheap beer and a shot. And we wanted to have a more casual seating arrangement, so you’re not sitting around a white tablecloth with the server coming over like, “Can I read you the specials for tonight?” No thanks, we’re just trying to sling back a couple of drinks and go about our business.
Brandon: But you should absolutely go to Bamboo too.
That’s one of my favorite bars. So, you’re in the process of expanding. Could you speak on what’s going on in Church Hill?
Brandon: Sure. We’re actually doing two concepts. The first of the two that will open is Slurp Ramen, which is a brick-and-mortar of one of the concepts that we did during COVID when we were doing all to-go food. And it’s based around Kevin, our other business partner. He has an incredible tonkatsu broth recipe and we built the menu around that. That’ll open probably at the beginning of March. Our plan, if everything goes well, is to be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
ed. note: They open this weekend!
Then shortly thereafter we’ll open the other side which is the Emerald Lounge. Before knowing what we were going to call it, we called it Tropical Bar. I feel like that’s still indicative of what we’re trying to do there. It’s an amalgamation of all, our favorite ideas from tropical bars, beach bars, and Tiki bars.
Thomas: It’s like The Jasper on vacation.
Brandon: We’re huge fans of Tiki bars but wanted to reframe the context of what it means to be in a place like that. So we took a very different approach design-wise, and it’s more, 70s LA and 20s/30s, Cuba.
It’s going to be close to the Roosevelt, right? Its like full circle.
Brandon: Yeah, it’s coming full circle.
Thomas: We ran away just to come right back. It’s funny, as soon as we left Church Hill, I missed it. It had been a week and I missed Church Hill already. We did so much to distance ourselves from dinner service, and that’s almost what the Jasper was built around. But somehow, there was still a nearly instantaneous feeling of missing it.
During COVID, when we were forced to do food service to keep the lights on, we loved it. And one of our most successful in-house concepts was the ramen– Slurp. So, when we were approached about this new mixed commercial and residential property, we knew what we wanted to do with it.
Check out The Jasper @jasperbarrva
Check out Slurp Ramen @slurpramenrva
Check out Emerald Lounge @emeraldloungerva
Main photo by Kimberly Frost @kimberlyfrost
