RVA Cannabis Co. Is Building a Different Kind of Bar in Richmond 🏳️‍🌈

Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine is proud to partner with Virginia PrideFest, happening this Saturday, September 12, and to produce the annual Pride Guide celebrating Richmond and Virginia’s LGBTQ+ community. You can download the 2026 Pride Guide HERE.

We’d also like to thank the following sponsors who made the 2026 Pride Guide possible: Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Virginia MOCA, Virginia Repertory Theatre, Richmond Triangle Players, Health Brigade, Godfrey’s, Chrysler Museum of Art, and River Fox Realty.

To be honest, when I was asked to go talk with Milton Ares at RVA Cannabis Co., I had absolutely no clue what it was. By the time I went downtown to their spot on the Canal Walk, like, literally right in front of the canal at 301 Virginia Street, I was sure they were a legalization nonprofit or growers’ supply place. I was, as usual about most things, wrong.

Milton, one of the three owners of the venture, greeted me at a speakeasy-style wine* bar, but only if that bar was in a Star Trek lounge. Recessed lighting, hypnotic wall treatments, reflective surfaces, and a backlit wine bottle wall to tie it all together rang the bell of recognition. It started dawning on me that this was something new. A THC-infused mocktail joint.

I just figured out, in that spot right there, that was something you could legally do in Richmond. I’m stoked for everyone that doesn’t drink (for whatever reasons or preferences) because they’re getting a space catered to them, with the added benefit of not having to surround yourself with alcohol at the service of being social.

If this excites you, I’d lay odds that you’ve had a THC-infused mocktail before. It excites me, and I’ve had plenty. They’re as varied as any actual cocktail or, well, beverage can be. The dosages are easy to measure and control. In the right hands, they’re delicious. To top it off, they won’t encourage you to call your ex at 2 a.m. I’ve heard that’s a thing that happens. Never to me, though.

Milton read my mind and proffered a tin of Captain Runtz (hybrid) and a book of Zig-Zag rolling papers. Don’t miii-ind if I do. We settled in at the bar with the house lights up and lit up. A few minutes later, looser and with relevant small talk exhausted, we got into it.

Milton Ares: I’ve found if you get together three people with similar vision and dedication, nothing is impossible. I’ve learned that to be true.

Christian Detres: How would you describe that vision? What is RVA Cannabis? What is its mission, and how are you getting there? What sector of the weed economy are you aimed at?

MA: Hospitality. Service.

CD: I’m looking around, and you have a lot of NA wine, a cocktail bar for infused drinks. How is this supposed to work?

MA: There are more people out there that are of like mind with me these days, I’ve seen. I like the social environment of a bar, but I don’t drink. I am enthusiastic about weed and would like to experience it in more casual, semi-public settings. I don’t really enjoy the late-night “about to stumble home” crowd. I think a lot of people miss that part of life when they decide to quit alcohol. I want to bring that option back for them. Also, to give the weed enthusiasts a place that caters to their interest.

CD: Well, this is certainly not a vape shop. It’s interesting how quickly an entire aesthetic has coalesced around the retail weed bonanza, isn’t it? Vape shops have all the charm of pop-up ads on a Czech porn site. Las Vegas in a 7-Eleven. The frequency of them, too. This is obviously not that. This place is sexy. Sophisticated. Not an exclusionary vibe, but more of a come-hither than the row of onomatopoeic exclamation marks most would associate with the coming weed retail market.

MA: Well, everyone’s gonna vibe the way they’re gonna vibe. I have no problem with those stores. We just don’t vibe that way. This is something different. There’s a market for that. We want to capture the market that we capture naturally. We aren’t peddling ourselves. The right people will find us. This is a spot fit for a first date. This is a place to meet up for any reason.

As we settle in, we’re going to start introducing events and shows. Offering an alternative to the bar scene is secondary to creating a new scene that stands on its own merit, not just in opposition to a different one.

CD: Well, being first on the scene for those people means RVA Cannabis sets the standard locally for that experience. I’m sure this is going to be a model many will explore sooner or later. There’s a big difference between following a path and blazing one, though. Speaking of which, re-lights joint.

MA: We already have a spot open in Chester, VA. The aesthetics down there are different from what we’re doing here. It’s more “hometown welcome.” We live there. We’ve been able to curate, there and here, a comfortable vibe that reflects the local culture. We aim to fit into the local experience, not change it. We want to focus on hospitality and deliver a stimulation that’s unique to our brand.

CD: It’s a bespoke endeavor for sure.

MA: We want to be the spot that gets you out of the house without insisting you get drunk about it. We want to be that third space drinkers have an abundance of. It’s hard to find that environment here. We also are getting a lot of people that are moving away from flower to edibles, mocktails, tinctures, etc.

We generally have a clientele in their 30s and 40s. A lot of these people are health-conscious about their lungs, and they should be. It’s a massively growing market. Liquids are the next big thing in this industry. There are long-time smokers feeling the need to back up a bit. This gives that option.

The beautiful thing about the drinkables, as opposed to edibles, is that it takes much less time to show effects. You eat a brownie or take a gummy, it can take up to an hour for you to feel it. The drinks allow for a soft-tissue absorption rate that brings that down to 10 to 15 minutes. You can actually enjoy the experience during your whole visit rather than having to wait for it.

CD: I mean, that’s about how long it takes for me to feel my first whiskey. What parts of the legalization debate impact this place particularly? Are there considerations leveled directly at the ability to have a space like this?

MA: We have our eyes on and are kind of test subjects in the hospitality sector. For one, we are in a situation they haven’t gotten around to writing laws or regulations for yet. We are really helping them make it up as we go along. Of course, that is a tenuous scenario to exist in, but we are creating a business model that is helpful to the process.

We are responsible adults. I’m a father. This whole thing requires regulations that make sense, whether they’re aimed at restrictions or freedoms. The market wasn’t really set up for bakeries or in-house products. So far, we have regulations that are built specifically for prepackaged goods. You can’t walk into a weed bakery and ask how much THC is in an individual muffin. They’ll tell you to get out. [laughs].

With our baked goods in Chester, we had to develop printable labels, deli-style, with all the ingredients labeled with exact THC content. None of that was part of the regulations expressed in any bill. It’s a little Wild West right now, and we want to be on the vanguard at finding the best way to honor the responsibilities of selling in this industry while protecting the business owner from burdensome, adverse regulation.

Some of the creativity involved in finding a way to do this right, not just a way to “get away” with something. I happen to enjoy the prospect of that. And make it look good while we’re doing it. Dispensaries have a habit of feeling sterile. We want people to be able to walk in to get an edible and feel like they just visited a bakery, not a hospital.

CD: I think it is always smart business to lead with strategy, not belligerence.

MA: We know difficulties are ahead of us, and legislation is fickle. We’ve had to pivot so many times. We have to stay creative on how we adjust. We now have to scale our potencies down to 2 mg.

CD: You know, at some point I would have said that’s kind of weak, buuut, I’m kind of tired of getting a brownie I can only eat a corner of before I have to pass out. I want to eat an entire sleeve of weed cookies and have a buzz, not a problem. A bag of gummies to get the effect you’d get from one. Who wants to eat one gummy bear? It’s candy, not a pill. Bringing the dosage down is good for sales too. Instead of buying one cookie, people will buy a bag of cookies.

MA: We advocate for a tiered system, like we already have for alcohol. You want a beer? Go to a convenience store. Wine? Same convenience store, or a wine shop. Jack Daniel’s? You know you have to go to an ABC store. It might seem unwieldy, but it works. I doubt most people here notice that system as an inconvenience.

The 2 mg approach is reasonable if the hemp industry wants to offer something that low. But imagine if Starbucks decided to offer 2 mg espresso shots? People would line up for that. They would not offer 10 mg. It wouldn’t be a thing you go to a Starbucks for.

Currently, there are state-credited labs for batch testing goods. We have to use one, and we do. It’s needed. There’s a lot of nasty shit floating around out there. Having some oversight just gives confidence to every stage of production and usage.

Things are moving in a positive direction. We have a formidable amount of research and best practices from earlier-adopting states, like California and Colorado, that will inform the executive decisions made here. We’re here now and will be through the doors when the floodgates open.

More information can be found HERE

Photo by George Dagerotip

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