Chris Mumford and Alexyss Kaneubbe never expected to call Richmond home. Originally from Austin, Texas, the duo had set their sights on Brooklyn, planning to launch their cocktail concept, Nightcrawler. But fate had other plans.
“We used to work at a coffee shop and bar called The Brew & Brew in Austin. Once we moved, we realized that the concept of serving great coffee and cocktails from 8 a.m. to midnight was missing in most major cities. We wanted to fill that gap, and the name Nightcrawler came from the idea of having coffee late—getting off work, going to a show, going to a bar, and grabbing coffee and cocktails before kicking everything off,” said Mumford.
Their journey took a turn when they stopped to visit a friend in Asheville, North Carolina. Charmed by the community and landscape, they quickly decided to stay.
“I had never been outside of Texas, and I was just itching to leave. We thought we were going to move to Brooklyn. We got rid of all our stuff and packed a U-haul. On the way there, we stopped at our really close friend’s place in Asheville, and we ended up unpacking and living there,” said Kaneubbe.
“That friend weirdly also used to work at The Brew & Brew,” added Chris.
(Even more weirdly, by chance, I happened to be sitting next to one of their friends—also from The Brew & Brew—while photographing one of their Cockatrice pop-ups.)
Wasting no time, they launched Nightcrawler and found success serving cocktails at events. Before long, they secured a temporary home at a local Asheville coffee shop, where they built a loyal following. However, not everything went as planned. When circumstances at the shop shifted, Chris and Kaneubbe suddenly needed to find a new space—fast. A lifeline arrived when the owners of TRVE Brewing Co., a renowned brewery, were preparing to open a new location nearby. They offered the lower floor of their brewery as Nightcrawler’s new home, officially making it TRVE’s cocktail program.
“The pop-up thing is such a pain because you can’t build on a place; you’re having to constantly reinvent the wheel,” said Kaneubbe. “Whereas when we had that more permanent spot (at TRVE), you can work on other projects, because everything is already in its place.”
Just as they were settling in, Hurricane Helene tore through Asheville. The storm left much of the city in chaos. Though their building remained structurally sound, the lack of water and basic infrastructure made staying untenable.
“We were definitely the luckiest,” said Chris. “No one thought it was going to be that bad,” added Kaneubbe. “We were renters and hadn’t signed a lease yet on the business.”
“The night before, we were hanging with some friends, and we were pissed off because 200 Stab Wounds and Killing Pace had canceled their show,” said Chris. (Thankfully, they didn’t cancel Richmond—I can confirm it was an awesome show.)
“We had gone to see The Substance and spent the night drinking before waking up to the apocalypse,” added Kaneubbe. “The first couple days after the hurricane, we just had friends over. We had power for a couple days and a ton of frozen food. Our apartment became a hub, Chris would cook for people. Then, when the power and water went out, we realized we needed to get out of there.”
“The city was projected to not have water for a couple weeks, which turned into a couple months. We realized we could either stick around and sit on unemployment, or we could start anew somewhere else. We did it before—moved to Asheville, made friends, and started Nightcrawler—we can do it again,” said Kaneubbe.
Richmond wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. Their branding—logos and shirts—had already been designed by Richmond’s own Mike Baker, long before they arrived. Connections here had already started to form.
The folks over at Emerald Lounge were planning a fundraising night for Hurricane Helene relief when Chris and Kaneubbe happened to be at the bar. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, the lounge let them take over the bar as Nightcrawler to raise funds.
“That’s literally how the first Richmond pop-up happened,” said Chris. “They were going to do something nice to help and were like, well, if you’re here, we should just do it together.”
Here in Richmond, the duo has embraced a new vision, launching Night of the Cockatrice, a monthly pop-up with Cobra Burger that brings their signature cocktail experience to the city. But that’s not all—Chris and Kaneubbe have also announced Daywalker, the newest extension of their business. With a shared background in the coffee industry, they’re now working to integrate their passion for craft coffee into another pop-up.
The ultimate goal? A brick-and-mortar cocktail bar and coffee shop that brings both of their worlds together under one roof. With the energy and innovation they’ve already shown, Richmond just might be the perfect place to make that dream a reality.
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