Richmond breweries and the men and women behind them that produce all that delicious craft beer we enjoy every weekend have caught the eye of two Florida production companies and will be featured in an upcoming TV series.
Richmond breweries and the men and women behind them that produce all that delicious craft beer we enjoy every weekend have caught the eye of two Florida production companies and will be featured in an upcoming TV series.
“Hoppy Trails” is a new travel and lifestyle program, produced by Fort Lauderdale-based film companies Sharyn Bey Productions and Blue Truck Media, and they’re on a mission to discover the best watering holes around the country, specifically craft breweries.
The show visits each state and picks the city with the most vibrant and lively beer scene and highlights what makes it so special in a half hour episode. During the program, the hosts tour the facilities, meet the brewers, learn about a particular beer style and philosophy, participate in a tasting, taste the food, and showcase some of the area’s top attractions.
Richmond was chosen as the pilot episode and features The Answer Brewpub, Lickinghole Creek Craft Beer in Goochland, Steam Bell Beer Works in Chesterfield County, Capital Ale House, Ardent Craft Ales in Scott’s Addition, Black Heath Meadery, and Legend Brewing.
The two producers picked Richmond for the pilot thanks to a beer fanantic friend in the city who scouted out locations as well as the historical role beer played in Virginia. The Richmond episode is titled “A Beer Revolution.”
“There’s a lot of history with beer from the Revolutionary days,” said co-producer Sharyn Bey. “George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were kind of known for brewing their own stuff,” Bey said.
In addition to tasting and telling you about their delicious brews, the producers get into the back story of how these breweries got their start in Richmond.
“I used Dave Gott from Legend and Legend represented the original brewery, the first one in Richmond, he was like the old master so that was what we featured,” Blue Truck Media executive producer Kristin A. Pelletier said.
They also included forthcoming startup brewery, Steam Bell Beer Works slated to open in Chesterfield County.
“It was a very personal story about Bradley Cooper, the owner who was an engineer and always made beer as a hobby, lost his job and went on to start this dream of having his own brewery,” Bey said. “It’s a really heartfelt story, he lost his job because he made some beer for a fellow co-worker and brought it in a growler to work and the co-worker put the growler in the company refrigerator.”
Check out our story on Steam Bell Beer Works here.
An Bui, owner of Vietnamese restaurant and beer bar Mekong and The Answer Brewpub in Willow Lawn, is also featured in “Hoppy Trails.”
“He tells the story about coming to this country not speaking any English and being accepted into this family in Richmond and how much he loves the town of Richmond, it’s just inspiring,” said Bey. “It truly shows America as the melting pot.”
Kevin O’leary, co-owner of Ardent Craft Ales in Scott’s Addition, discusses their beer and food.
“The marriage of the food, the flavors of the food with the different beers and what stimulates him to try a new beer,” Bey said.
The producers also interview Chris Holder, co-owner of Capital Ale House, Bill Cavender of Black Heath Meadery in Scott’s Addition, and Lisa and Sean-thomas Pumphrey, co-owners of Licking Creek.
“They (Lickinghole) do a lot of water conservation at their farm” she said.
Bey said the idea for a craft beer show sparked after a trip to Vermont to help her friend move.
“She said I’ve got to stop at the store and get a case of Heady Topper because I promised the guy that was going to lay my floor a case,” she said. “So we go in and get in line and I had never heard of Heady Topper so I try it and what struck me was this line of people, it was like gold! I thought, what a great story!”
Around the same time, Pelletier hosted a dinner party in July at her home in Fort Lauderdale and had the chance to try the same exact beer.
“One of the guys, he lived in Boston and he brought Heady Topper so I also tried it the same time she did so we started talking about doing a documentary and then I’m like, ‘you know this would be a good TV series,” she said.
Check out this article on Boston.com which explains just why Heady Topper, which is made by The Alchemist Brewery, is so popular.
Less than a month later, Bey approached Pelletier with a concept for a documentary on the craft beer scene, which eventually evolved into a travel and lifestyle television series format.
The producers are still looking for a major network to pick up the show, but they said they have been in talks with Discovery and Scripps Network.
For now, the first season of “Hoppy Trails” will highlight 13 states in 13 episodes. After Richmond, “Hoppy Trails” will visit breweries in Florida, Texas, Colorado, Montana, New York, Maine and then Washington.
You can catch the debut of the Richmond show at thescreening at The Answer Brewpub on Monday May 2nd at 6:30 pm.
