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Stand Up At Sandman Comedy Club

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With their brand new comedy club set to open downtown later this month, Michael and Carrie Sands of Sandman Comedy Club want to take Richmond’s comedy scene to a new level.

Scrolling through the internet one day, I came across an advertisement for a new comedy club opening on 4th and East Grace in Richmond. The location was previously Champion Brewery, Club Aurora, once upon a time a bank, and now: Sandman Comedy Club. Looking at their post, there were recognizable touring comedians from across the country. I reached out to the local owners, Michael and Carrie Sands, who agreed to meet up with me for an interview, to give me a tour of the club, talk comedy, and talk about opening a comedy club in the city a midst a pandemic.

The Sands greeted me and brought me to a table. On my way to the table, I saw the whole room. A big floor with rows of tables for two and four, spread six feet apart to the CDC standard. On the sides of the room were elevated areas with the same outline. In the back is a staircase that led down to the stage with a mic stand that looks over the room. The look was completed with a nice bar with taps from local breweries, among other beverages.

Michael wasted no time in telling me his vision: “The way it’s set up is that the headliners will bring a feature with them, and then we have a person MC for every show. And we want to use all the local Virginia comedians to MC the shows. We’ll rotate.” Upcoming headliners include names such as: Finesse Mitchell, Adam Ferrara, Gina Brillon, Shane Gillis, and many more filling up their calendar. This is a comedy club in the city dedicated to stand-up and its traditions, including an open mic night every Sunday.

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Owners Michael and Carrie Sands

Opening this venue wasn’t an easy task given the past year’s events. They officially owned the property on January 1st of 2020. “Just as we got to the point where we were going to start remodeling, Covid hit,” Michael explained. “Our initial goal was we were going to open in May of [2020]. Then we were hoping maybe August, but things just kept getting worse.” The owners used the year to remodel and make the club they wanted. With vaccines rolling out, more of the public opening up, and some careful planning, they decided to open at the end of April.

We talked about the regional comedy scene and the national acts working together at their club to add to a scene that has been under our noses. “I think it is a comedy city,” said Sands. “The proof of that is that, because of the lack of a stand-up comedy club in Richmond, you see a lot of these small venues having the local and regional comedians do shows at these spots. And that’s a great find.”

The tour through the club showcased its sound booth, kitchen, and upstairs, which included more seating and a green room for headlining comics. Visions of possible future memories were surrounding every room and hallway. The bar menu (which is available on their website) is priced fairly, unlike many clubs I’ve been to in the past, and includes a large menu that includes vegan options. Some comedy clubs automatically charge for two drinks with admission but Sandman wants to go a different route than some of the chains around the nation. 

I had never been in this building when it was open as other venues. I was pleasantly surprised to walk by some bank vaults used as storage. You can live in this city all your life and forget there’s so much history here.

We talked about some of our favorite comedians on tour, and also how the Sands want to add to a hungry local scene that’s looking for a new spot. As the tour came to a close, the owners want to let the people know: “Give us a chance. We’re going to bring the best talent we can get and it will only get better as we get past COVID and eventually to full capacity,” Michael said. “We just want to bring laughter to every body because we know they need it,” said Carrie Sands, backing up her co-owner and husband.

Humor means a lot to so many people in Richmond and I think this is great step for our city’s culture. Now there’s a new place comics and fans of comedy can go to that’s dedicated to the set up and punchline. Located at 401 East Grace Street, Sandman Comedy Club’s opening night is April 29th with Finesse Mitchell doing 7:30 and 10 o’clock sets all weekend. Doors open an hour before the show starts so be sure to get there early to try the menu, order drinks, and get ready to laugh. To order tickets and check out their schedule and menu, go to their website at sandmancomedyclub.com.

Top Photo by R. Anthony Harris

Nine Pillars Fest Stands Up For Charlottesville Hip Hop

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Nine Pillars Hip Hop Cultural Fest, Charlottesville’s own homegrown hip hop festival, returns for its third year with more hip hop music, art, and culture than ever.

Returning for its third year, Charlottesville’s Nine Pillars Hip Hop Cultural Fest begins Monday, April 22 and continues throughout the week, closing with a block party on Sunday, April 28 at Champion Brewing. As with previous editions of the festival, the 2019 version will feature artists and acts from the Charlottesville and Central Virginia areas. However, for the first time this year, Nine Pillars is also featuring performers from outside the commonwealth.

“We started very local — Charlottesville — and we’re expanding a little bit more each time,” said Cullen Wade, one of the festival founders.

The Charlottesville festival grew from a rising community with limited resources. Hip hop artists in the city often had to fight for venues. And when they were able to book locations, they often faced up-charges due to the type of music they played.

“It was all sort of underground and didn’t really get the recognition or respect that I felt like it deserved,” Wade said of Charlottesville’s nascent hip hop scene. “There is, and was, a very serious stigma against what we do.”

The official Nine Pillars 2019 t-shirt references the struggle Charlottesville’s hip hop scene has faced, bearing the slogan “LEGALIZE HIP HOP” in black, bold letters.

The frustration this situation caused was what originally inspired Wade and other members of the local hip hop community to come together show Charlottesville what hip hop was about — for them.

“We wanted to essentially celebrate all the nine pillars of hip hop, while raising the profile of the local talent pool,” Wade said

Wade defines the nine pillars of hip hop — also called the nine elements — as: b-boying (breakdancing), MCing (rapping), graffiti art, DJing/scratching, beatboxing, street fashion, street language, street knowledge, and the entrepreneurial spirit.

The festival is designed to create an opportunity for the pillars to intersect within the eight scheduled events taking place across Charlottesville over the course of next week.

Bringing a scholarly take on the culture is the “Sally’s Kids Vol. 2” panel discussion on Wednesday at the University of Virginia. Moderated by UVa Professor A.D. Carson, the discussion will focus on an ongoing project: archiving the history of hip hop in Charlottesville.

The Sally’s Kids panels aim to contextualize hip-hop history as it relates to Virginia, and specifically the Charlottesville area. It is named after Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman whose children were fathered by Thomas Jefferson.

Last year’s discussion panel — the “Vol. 1” implied by the event’s title — featured two more experienced members of the Charlottesville hip hop community alongside two more youthful members in their early 20s. The discussion that ensued helped demonstrate the changes and growth of the community across generations.

This year’s Sally’s Kids panel will discuss the Black UVA experience, and what Wade calls “the complicated relationship between black Charlottesville and black UVA.” It will also cover the development of the Virginia sound — a hybrid sound pulling from multiple regions, according to Wade.

“We’re kind of halfway between old school New York … and a more southern influence,” he said. While the Virginia sound varies from region to region, all of it brings influence and style to the Charlottesville sound.

“There’s the Tidewater sound that got really big on the national level in the mid-2000s,” Wade said, citing Timbaland, Missy Elliot, and the Neptunes. “We’re also going to talk about the go-go influence creeping down from DC.”

On Thursday night, Charlottesville-based go-go band Seductive Sounds will take the stage to accompany the “Heart, Soul, Runway Fashion Show.” The Nine Pillars fashion show is taking place at the IX Art Park, a public art center built out of a warehouse in a Charlottesville industrial zone. The fashion show will be based around one of the nine pillars — street fashion. In connecting with the festival and the Charlottesville community, Wade said that attendees could expect only “local, independent, mostly black designers.”

The festival culminates in a block party at Champion Brewing Company on Sunday afternoon. This year, to expand beyond Virginia, the festival has brought in legendary Brooklyn MC Wordsworth; Cesar Comanche and Ghost Dog, both of whom hail from North Carolina; and Louisiana’s Marcel P. Black.

The block party will feature food trucks, local entrepreneurs, and live graffiti painting, as well as the induction of three veteran local artists to the city’s hip hop hall of fame.

The week-long festival will feature many other events over the course of the week, from a LGBTQ hiphop showcase and a DJ battle to a graffiti art exhibit with a networking brunch and a youth rap and dance competition.

There’s quite a bit more going on than we have space to cover, so for full details on the seven different events taking place over the course of the next week, check out the Nine Pillars facebook event page, or visit Nine Pillars on facebook.

All events are free, and Nine Pillars relies on community donations to cover costs. To donate to their fundraising campaign, click here.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

RVA ON TAP: Let’s Get Fruity

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What’s happening, craft beer lovers of RVA?! Welcome to this week’s RVA On Tap, RVA Magazine’s weekly column for all your craft beer-related events, releases, festivals, and all the booze news your hearts desire.

If you missed the last column, you can check that out here. Our kegs are overflowing this week with beer releases and festivals, events, and other cool happenings around town — so hold on to your mugs!

This week, we get to vote on our favorite local breweries (only until tomorrow!) and check out a few new releases coming up. We’re off to a slower week to follow up on the last one, which was totally packed with events, and some awesome tastes this time to keep rolling into the warmer weather.

Before we jump into the goings-on of the week in beer, head over to NBC12 to vote for your favorite local breweries in their Brewery Bracket. This is a really fun way for the drinkers of the city to give their input back and vote for the ones who they keep coming back to — it’s honestly hard to pick between a lot of these choices, but voting ends tomorrow night, so make sure to hop on it while you can!

Happy 4th birthday, Black Heath Meadery!! Come out and celebrate all weekend long, hosted at The Hive in Scott’s Addition. They’ll be featuring special mead releases every day, starting Friday off with a Bourbon Barrel Aged Sour Cherry with Vanilla mead, which just in its own name sounds absolutely mouthwatering. Following up on Saturday, grab a taste of Black Heath’s ZZQ Smoked Pear Cyser, and close out the weekend’s events with their Barrel Aged Ginger Lemongrass Cider on Sunday.

In new brews this week, check out Isley Brewing Company’s Pineapple IPA that’s dropping for their weekly Infusion Friday. It comes along with many in the season of fruity-IPA’s, and we’re stoked to see more of these coming out around town. Isley will be hosting the release at their spot in Scott’s Addition with the Right On Time Mobile Diner, so check it out if you’re feelin’ fruity (aren’t we always?) and taste one for me, too.

Yesterday, The Veil Brewing Co. dropped Never Never Rest Rest, a new Gose brew in their series of “Never” beers that keeps going strong. With a history of beers like Never Never Forever Forever, Never Again, Never Never Again Again, Never Never Gonnagetit Gonnagetit, Never Never Aloha Aloha, and still so many more that are certainly going to twist my tongue if I keep going — Never Never Rest Rest is still a special one of the bunch. This Gose is packed with double guava and double raspberry to bring in the fruits again, and at 5.1%, it’s a solid day-drinker for the flavor outdoors.

Head over to Richmond’s sweethearts on Saturday for the release of Bourbon Cru. Hardywood is dropping this bad boy with its rich mahogany color this weekend, and it’s brewed to mimic the fashion of the revered monastic breweries of Belgium. After months of barrel-aging, according to Hardywood, the “maturity and melding of flavors” that’s brought on by the freshly-drained bourbon whiskey barrels “lends an extraordinary sense of harmony” to this special beer.

For flavor, you’ll get a lot of tastes of almond, toffee, and oaky vanilla with hints of dark cherries and raisins, with caramel overtones to top it off — and as usual, me drooling at my keyboard while I write about it. Holy yum, y’all.

If you’re looking for fun on a weeknight, head over to Champion Brewing Company tomorrow for the Untz Festival Richmond Pre-Party featuring Secret Recipe Music. You’ll also catch the Wormhole Music Group and Mister Jennings, Richmond’s “sherpa of swing” according to Champion. They say you should come prepared to get absolutely-down from the moment the doors open, so make sure to pregame and get the fun rolling on before you walk in for an instant party. The whole show’s put together by Ebisu Sound and Home Bass, and it’ll be an awesome spot in a series of events at Champion over the season. Get your jam on, Richmond!

Over the weekend, Garden Grove had several releases that you’re definitely gonna want to try. Fruit Bomb IPA is first up, and this blend of Citra, BRU-1, and New Zealand Rakau hops is packed with spring fruitiness and wild yeast. To offset the warm weather brews, Garden Grove also dropped a Chocolate Imperial Stout to bring in a rich flavor with its real-chocolate flavors and Sumac Berries. It’s full of complex tastes that bring out a long, chocolatey finish, so if you’re hanging on to winter this one’s for you!

Earlier last week, The Answer Brewpub dropped One Beer, a collaboration brew with Black Ninja Design and 8Bit Adam Kaufman. This one was brewed up with hops like Motueka, Falconer’s Flight, and El Dorado — and like always at The Answer, it comes in a badass glass. Also like always: the good ones go fast! So make sure to swing by and grab a taste of this One while you can.

Also over the weekend, Fine Creek Brewing Company had a special release for their Friday Beer Feature. This New Zealand Saison comes in at 6%, and it’s dry-hopped and made with a house Saison yeast as its base to bring out its lemon-lime, zesty smells with its fruity ingredients. It’s also boosted with pear flavors from the yeast with layers of tropical fruit, and it’s available out at the brewery on tap, in Growlers and in Crowlers.

Happy 1st birthday, Canon and Draw Brewing Company!! Two birthdays in one week — how lucky is that? For their birthday, Canon and Draw just dropped their *first ever* bottle release, so it’s definitely a special occasion! But first, story time.

Last year, “with nothing but good spirits and an old van,” the folks behind Canon and Draw made a personal pilgrimage to ol’ Frankfort, Kentucky to retrieve some gold: retired barrels from the Buffalo Trace Distillery’s finest reserves, from a special friend of the owners. From those barrels was born Le Confort Du Vide, C&D’s American Barleywine that was made in just one barrel of the adventure’s haul — and it’s been sitting quietly for over a year waiting to be freed. They made it special for their first anniversary, and its tastes sound like a dream. Brown sugar, vanilla, and bourbon blend with layers of caramel in this birthday brew that even out each taste to complement the gentle bitterness of its American hops. With a “pleasant warmth,” this one-time-recipe celebrates the warmth of the season alongside the warmth of celebrating your first trip around the sun. Congrats, Canon and Draw!

That’s it for this week’s RVA On Tap! As your weekly columnist, I’m here to take all your beer releases, event info, ideas and questions. If you’re a brewer, send me your release info at caley@rvamag.com, and if you’re a beer enthusiast, drop me a line anytime to talk booze. Catch y’all next week!

Tarot, Reiki, and Incense: Investigating the Paranormal at Psychic Saturday

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The cards don’t tell me when I’m going to die—which is a bit anticlimactic—but they do give me further insight into the mysterious world of the paranormal. Welcome to Psychic Saturday.

As a budding paranormal investigator, I’d found myself at Psychic Saturday, a small craft market and metaphysical fair hosted by Richmond Moon Market at Champion Brewing Company. The event promised a collection of local artisan craft vendors, psychics, and healers, all with the intention of offering insight, spiritual council, and a peek into a thinly veiled world beside our own.

Champion Brewing Company hosted the psychic fair

At least, that was the pitch.

What I found instead was an array of booths and vendors and a few dozen people milling inside Champion Brewing Co., the air thick with incense and craft beer. There were more than 20 booths, selling everything from Tarot card readings to painted meditation pillows.

I had my Tarot cards read at the Sword & Sworcery booth, a couple’s joint venture to bring traditional folklore and magic into the modern age. Ash Emrys, one half of the founders, said she’s been practicing in this field for as long as she can remember.

Where I’d learn my fate

“I tell people I’ve been practicing witchcraft for over 20 years, but the truth is that I can remember working with spirits and connecting with the earth as far back as around five years old,” Emrys said. “People talk about having a job or a career—I’ve always felt I had a calling.”

Sword & Sworcery offers Tarot readings, energy work, magic consultations, enchanted jewelry, and Reiki—a healing technique based on the principle that the therapist can channel energy into the patient by means of touch.

Emrys said that the mission of all of their practices is to help people. “We try to make some of this stuff translatable for people so they can actually incorporate it into their lives. I remember feeling really overwhelmed thinking it would be impossible to live a truly magical lifestyle in my everyday, and yet now that I’m doing it it’s incredibly simple.”

She described their home in rural Ashland as part of an intentional community, where they have a meditation and art studio and live close to the land. “There’s always some plant or bush or tree or animal greeting us like an old friend,” Emrys says. “The world feels a lot more full than it used to.”

Most of their work is done at events and pop-ups, catering to seasoned practitioners and the casually curious, alike. I fall into the second group, more a skeptic than anything, but I try to approach my card reading with an open mind.

Ash’s husband does a three card reading—past, present, and future—and after I randomly chose a deck, he paused to “connect with the cards and say a prayer.” Then he shuffled the deck until a card fell out. “Sometimes the fate is just out there,” he said.

He interpreted each revealed card in turn, and as much as I tried to listen and nod, I had trouble taking it seriously. But his passion for the work was apparent, and my cards—The Lovers, The Knight of Cups, and The Fool—were explained to me patiently. After he flipped the last card, he told me “you’re free to start whatever it is that you want to do.”

As vague as that may be, it was a nice message to hear. And ultimately, that’s the point of Tarot readings: to provide the promise of a future broad enough for it to mean what you need to hear.

“The Tarot is basically a system of self help,” Emrys said. “Nothing the cards tell you is written in stone—our readings are typically aimed more at helping people find help and inner guidance.”

I’m still a skeptic after my hour at the metaphysical fair—I don’t know if I believe, but I also don’t think I have to. Regardless of beliefs, it’s important that anyone in downtown Richmond that day could walk off the street to escape the stifling 90 degree heat, and find themselves somewhere a little different.

Whether you are researching haunted mansions, UFOs, or just searching for some spiritual guidance, we all deserve a little mystery—cosmic or otherwise.

Please tip your witch

See some of Sarah Honosky’s previous paranormal research in “The Peculiar and Spectral History of Swannanoa Palace.”

RVA #30: Scott’s Addition’s newest brewery, Manchester’s Twisted Ales, & new brews at The Veil

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Originally printed in RVA #30 FALL 2017, you can check out the issue HERE, or pick up your copy around town today. 

Väsen: A Swedish word that roughly translates to “inner essence” or “animal spirit.” Also, a new brewery in the quickly developing Scott’s Addition area, just down the street from The Veil Brewing Co. and Ardent Craft Ales. So why the name, and the giant psychedelic reindeer head painted on the wall? Väsen president Joey Darragh and head brewer Tony Giordano, cousins, tracked their ancestry to Sweden and discovered that their ancestors were reindeer herders. Combining that inspiration with an appreciation for the outdoors and adventure — Tony and co-founder Nathan Winters lived in Colorado at one point — makes for a unique aesthetic, but it also informs the beer that Väsen produces. Winters heads up the marketing and environmental branches of Väsen; he seeks to make the brewery as sustainable and environmentally conscious as possible. The brewery is largely focused on yeast-forward styles like saisons and various sour ales, and as such, has dedicated part of the company to harvesting and researching local wild yeast strains, yet another aspect of the company that is intertwined with the natural world. Co-founder Jon Warner is the head brewery scientist, and does all of the microbiological research. With his expertise, the brewery is working towards building their own house yeast strain, and hopes to be able to package and make available to other brewers a variety of local yeasts. They also plan to be fully transparent in terms of what goes on behind the scenes of beer production via having information available to the public regarding which beer is in which tank, and at what stage of the process any beer is in at any given time.

Originally printed in RVA #30 FALL 2017, you can check out the issue HERE or pick it up around Richmond now. 

That all sounds like a lot for a young brewery to undertake, but they seem more than capable — Warner holds a Ph.D., Winters used to do environmental work for Patagonia, and Darragh worked at Tesla early on. The brewery has also been in planning for two and a half years, with lots of pilot batches and experimentation going on in that time period. A recent visit revealed that the brewery had a variety of farmhouse ales on draft (six in total), a gose, a vanilla dubbel, a Belgian Wit, and even a sour stout on draft. Some of those beers are the products of early experimentation, and beers like Nate’s Wheat will likely be mainstays. In terms of beers that brewery plans to put out in the future, a Belgian-style Quadrupel Ale, a barleywine, and a chocolate wheat beer are planned for this winter. Further out, in about a year, more sours will be available — the production schedule for many traditional Belgian-style sours is fairly long-term, with a great deal of time needing to be devoted to the aging of and, in some cases, the blending of multiple beers. Väsen hopes to have 750-milliliter bottles of sours available in about a years time. Currently, the brewery is draft only, but Winters noted that they plan to install a canning line in about four to five months. According to him, the neighborhood has been kind to Väsen so far, and with more food options popping up in Scott’s Addition soon, he sees things only getting busier in the coming months.

Twisted Ales Legend is no longer the only brewery in Manchester. Twisted Ales opened up their doors in June, and so far, it seems the reception has been rather warm. The brewery is located in a charming, historic taproom, a building built around the turn of the century. While the brewery is still fairly new, and as such mainly offers draft pours, a couple of recent rounds of canning of their New England-style IPA Industrial Rev have proven successful. In addition to that beer, at time of writing, the brewery has several other varieties of IPA available, as well as a hefeweizen, a saison, and an English Brown Ale made with espresso. Besides beer, Twisted also offers board games like giant Jenga, trivia night, and live music. The brewery is family-owned and community-minded; they support urban renewal, and they support causes such as FeedMore, James River Conservation, Amy Black’s Pink Ink Fund, and Richmond’s Daily Planet. Although fresh on the scene, Twisted Ales seems to be fitting right into Richmond’s beer scene, and more good things can be expected of them in the future.

Champion Brewing Company A little ways back in our spring issue, we first featured Champion Brewing Company’s Richmond location, which had not yet opened its doors at the time. Champion RVA has now been open for several months, and has rolled out some really fun additions to their taproom. While the kitchen mentioned in issue twenty-eight may or may not still be planned, the brewery has installed bar-height “viking tables” for taproom patrons, as well as a wall of pinball machines with varying themes, such as Game of Thrones and Metallica. Additionally, the brewery has begun hosting free shows every Thursday, so far featuring all local acts: The Milkstains, Fat Spirit, Dazeases, Gull, and many others have played so far. Most interestingly, brewing at Champion finally began in September. So far, a Biere de Garde and a Patersbier-inspired Belgian Pale Ale have been produced on the Richmond brewery’s system, and more interesting brews are sure to come.

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Fall is upon us, and while it hasn’t quite cooled down at the time of writing, the leaves are changing, and pumpkin beers are appearing on the shelves. While pumpkin ales are not for everyone, there are plenty of other seasonal beverages out there to appreciate.

The Veil will be putting out their imperial oyster stout Unloved sometime in October, with an accompanying oyster roast, courtesy of Northern Neck Oysters. The brewery will open early (at noon) on November 24th for a dark beer-themed Black Friday event, Dark Daze. They will have ten plus dark beers available, which so far includes bourbon barrel-aged imperial chocolate milk stout Whangdoodle, espresso bean-conditioned robust chocolate milk stout Double Espresso Hornswoggler, black double IPA blackivy, their anniversary imperial stout Sleeping Forever, plus Vanilla Sleeping Forever, and bourbon barrel-aged 2016 Sleeping Forever. Whangdoodle is the imperial version of Hornswoggler, conditioned on Heaven Hill bourbon barrels for fourteen months. It’s sure to be a decadent treat, and will also be available in 500-milliliter bottles. Additionally, Double Espresso Hornswoggler and Blackivy will be available in The Veil’s usual format of sixteen-ounce can four packs.

Also in Scott’s Addition — which now boasts two cider makers, one meadery, five breweries, and one distillery, making it THE up-and-coming neighborhood for brew lovers in the know — the Three Notch’d RVA Collab House has released Reaper’s Red, a low-alcohol red IPA brewed in collaboration with Creepy Hollow Scream Park. The ale is mild enough to continuously sessioned, and the sweeter malt character paired with piney, citrusy Centennial and Cascade hops calls to mind classic red IPAs, but with virtually no detectable alcohol.

Image result for hardywood sixth anniversary stout

October saw the release of Hardywood Park Craft Brewery’s Sixth Anniversary Stout, a coffee and coconut flavored imperial milk stout bourbon-barrel-aged for one year.  Later that same month, Hoax was unleashed upon the world. Hardywood normally has Trickery, their imperial milk stout Cassowary aged in apple brandy barrels, available around this time of year, but in 2017, Hoax took its place. While Halloween is more about tricks and treats, a hoax will do. Instead of the apple brandy barrels used with Trickery, grape brandy barrels were used to make Hoax, imparting some different characteristics upon Cassowary, with notes of oak, grape jam, fresh plum, and dried date. On November 12th, Hardywood will hold their Fall Harvest Festival, a family-friendly event with carnival games, pumpkin painting and face painting starting at noon, as well as live music from two to five.

Legend Brewing Company accompanied the Manchester Harvest Festival on October 28th with the release of a fall seasonal, dubbed “Ember Ale.” Details on this one were also unavailable at press time, but one might imagine it to be some sort of twist on an amber ale. What we do know is that Legend’s third Urban Legend release of the year, The Witch of Oak Hill Road, also made its debut in October. The urban legend that it’s tied to was actually spawned not in Richmond, but in Danville, Virginia. On a hill known as “Gravity Hill,” it is said that if one is to leave their car in neutral at the intersection of Oak Hill and Berry Hill, it will roll backwards up the hill towards Oak Hill cemetery, gaining speed as it does. Seems like a risky proposition — you should probably just stick with this high gravity ale. November ninth sees the release of Legend’s Lebkuchen. It’s an American Brown Ale inspired by the German dish of the same name, a savory spice cake that is traditionally made during the holiday season. Brown sugar, nutmeg, molasses, and cinnamon are included in the beer, making for a nice seasonal beverage for those who like their beer roasty, warming, and a little sweet.

RVA #28: Upcoming Three-Notched brews, Champion Brewing opens, & Black Heath Meadery celebrates 2 years

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This article was featured in RVAMag #28: Spring 2017. You can read all of issue #28 here or pick it up at local shops around RVA right now.

Comng Up At Three Notch’d

Back in RVA Mag #25, we featured an interview with Dave Warwick and Stefan McFayden of Three Notch’d Brewing Company, one mainly focused on their plans for their Richmond location. They wanted to have a brewery with a small system that could make small batches of beer with Richmond-area collaborators on a frequent basis. It seems like things are going to plan: That Richmond location opened in Scott’s Addition at the end of September 2016, and has brewed twenty-eight beers at time of writing, twenty of those being collaborations and twenty-six of the brews being unique recipes (only two of their beers have been made more than once). I recently spoke with McFayden, and sampled several of his beers at the collab house, including There Will Be Braggot, a honey-infused Belgian tripel brewed in collaboration with Black Heath Meadery, a highly aromatic Belgian IPA made with the organizers of the Virginia Wine Expo, as well as originals like a tropical gose and a dry Irish stout. The stylistic diversity is partly just due to the collaborative nature of the facility — one collaborator is unlikely to come into the brewhouse with the same ideas or goals as another. Another factor is Stefan McFayden. He’s a natural fit for the mercurial nature of working with a host of different collaborators, as he likes to brew a wide range of styles and enjoys bringing intriguing ingredients into the process.

McFayden brought up some past collaborations he’s particularly proud of, such as a blonde stout made with local musical artist Clair Morgan, the choice of that multifaceted style being a nod to Morgan’s diverse roles as bandmate, employee, and father. Also mentioned was a Hibiscus IPA made with the organizers of the First Fridays Art Walk, which came out pink thanks to the hibiscus, and of course RVA’s own collaboration with No BS Brass Band, The Broadberry, and Three Notch’d: the No BS Cream Ale.

Coming soon is Heroes PrevAle, a collaboration with non-profit Connor’s Heroes, an organization that provides support to youngsters that are undergoing cancer treatment. The cream ale is being made in support of a Connor’s Heroes art ball, and some of the pieces from that art ball will be put up in the collab house. After that will come a collaboration with the Library of Virginia, an imperial brown ale (some of which will be barrel-aged for a few months) made to coincide with a library exhibition called Moonshiners and Teetotalers, which documents the history of prohibition in Virginia. If it sounds like Three Notch’d is busy, that’s because they are — the brewery is booked solid through June or July with no shortage of willing collaborators likely waiting in the wings. If you are interested in working with Three Notch’d on a beer, a form can be found under the “About” tab of the Richmond location’s Facebook page. McFayden noted that past collaborators have all enjoyed learning about the brewing process and that collaborators have also enjoyed coming into the brewery for beer release days. The head brewer also commented that he’s been happy to be able to work with a diverse assortment of groups so far, and that he hopes each collaboration is a good representation of the collaborator involved in making it. The Three Notch’d slogan is “Leave Your Mark,” so it’s only natural that these liquid storytellers want to allow others to do just that with their own totally unique brews.

Champion Arrives


Champion Brewing Company planted its feet in downtown Richmond in late January of this year, and according to Taproom Manager Cary Carpenter and Head Brewer Ken Rayher, the reception from local businesses and customers has been quite warm. This branch of the Charlottesville-based brewery is still getting its beer from the Cville location at time of writing, but they hope to start making some of their own very soon.

Construction on a brewing system and a kitchen is underway, and the brewery has some exciting plans for both of those in the future. Rayher intends to brew a variety of beers in Richmond that compliments Champion’s already strong lineup. The lineup for the next few months is fairly stacked, as they intend to make a Saison (plus dry-hopped and fruited variants), a Biere de Garde (a malty Belgian style), a Zwickel (a rare, traditionally unfiltered German Lager style), a Dunkel (sort of a double Hefeweizen), some kettle sours (more fruited variants), and some small batch IPAs.

The plan is to have half of the downtown location’s twelve taps dedicated to those Richmond-brewed beers. As of now, there are no plans to do any extensive packaging at the brewpub, although the brewery does offer growlers to go. In terms of food, southern-style tacos and tortas will be offered by the kitchen, which will be managed by Jason Alley (of Pasture, Flora, and Comfort) and Michelle Jones. Carpenter and Rayher hope to be serving food and Richmond-brewed beers by the end of April.

2 Years for Black Heath

Although Scott’s Addition is now well known for its breweries, one of its mainstay alcohol producers makes another sort of brew — one of honey. Black Heath Meadery just celebrated two years of making mead (also known as honey wine) in Scott’s Addition this March, and they definitely seem to be prospering. The meadery also recently took home a gold medal in the Cyser (mead-cider hybrid) category for Blue Angel, a collaboration with Blue Bee Cidery, who just recently set up shop in Scott’s Addition.

Speaking to Mead Maker Bill Cavender recently, his enthusiasm for the area that he works in was clear: He’s enjoyed seeing the growth of alcohol producers and restaurants in the area, and often finds that people visiting his meadery are coming from visiting other local businesses. He also added that he’s met quite a number of out-of-town visitors that are in Richmond specifically to visit Scott’s Addition. Cavender said that it’s important to note that all of the Scott’s Addition alcohol producers, although technically competitors, all work together. Monthly meetings of the Scott’s Addition Social Club have allowed Bill and other alcohol producers in the area to sample one another’s products, and talk about ways to make business in Scott’s Addition even better.

So, obviously, Black Heath is no stranger to collaboration. They certainly have plenty coming in the near future: The Veil is working on a beer made with some bourbon barrel-aged honey and vanilla beans from Black Heath, a Cyser is in the works with Buskey Cider, and another Cyser is being made with Potter’s Craft Cider, some of which will be barrel-aged with Brettanomyces (wild yeast beloved for its sour, funky, and fruity qualities) and more fruit. In the spring, the meadery will release their Sour Cherry mead, made with Montmorency cherries, and their Ginger Honeywine, made with baby ginger root from Casselmonte Farm in Powhatan. Summer releases will include Proserpine, a pomegranate mead, and Passiflora, which is made with passionfruit. Cavender obviously stays busy, and has made quite a few different meads since opening up two years ago. Looking back on those two years and thinking about meads that he’d like to see make a return, he mentioned Hiver, which was made with a Saison beer yeast and aged in gin barrels. Hiver, French for “winter,” was only available once, at Black Heath’s opening. Hopefully Hiver and some other barrel-aged meads will make an appearance at the next anniversary. Until then, we’ve got a lot to look forward to from Black Heath.