*This is a Pho Eating Contest – one of kind, Champions of all Champions.
Its Pho King Time for us to honor our past Pho King Champions, and crown our new Pho King or Pho Queen!!
Mekong Restaurant hosts the Annual PHO KING (eating) contest on Feb 3th 2019 at 4pm right before the Superbowl as we always do. Please come out to support your favorite contestants, have some amazing brews, have some amazing Pho, and enjoy the Superbowl!
What’s happening, craft beer lovers of RVA?! Welcome to this week’s RVA On Tap, RVA Magazine’s weekly craft beer 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 with news this week, from beer releases to festivals, events, and other cool happenings around town — so hold on to your mugs!
Last week, we started into spooky brews and fall flavors as the summer ends. We’ve got more coming up on the Halloween theme, which is music to my ears, and a few warm weather beers to finish out the season.
Stoked to see a good blood orange flavor outside of drinking a San Pellegrino this week (Prickly Pear is the unsung hero there, y’all) with Three Notch’d Brewing Co.’s Scream Forest Blood Orange IPA. The Scott’s Addition brewery dropped this new beer last week and had a blast with the photo shoot. It’s brewed in collaboration with Creepy Hollow Scream Park, which, upon further investigation, looks like an awesome haunted house for most adults and about a week’s worth of nightmares for me. Scream Forest is dry hopped with Mosaic hops for a hearty orange favor that’s “bloody delicious,” so swing by Three Notch’d and give it a try. *Lab coats not included.
Our friends at Legend Brewing Co. dove into history last weekend with this Norfolk Experiment Imperial Stout. According to Legend (nice), the folklore behind this beer is based on a rumored U.S. Navy experiment during WWII about teleportation and time travel between Philadelphia and Norfolk on the USS Eldridge. In response, the Navy said, “What time travel?” — so conspiracy theorists, now’s your time to shine.
Norfolk Experiment as a beer sounds like a great chilly weather drink, full of coffee, dried fruit, toast malt, and warming alcohol. This 11.6% ABV stout sounds about as intense as its folklore.
The Answer Brewpub released a major throwback this week with this 80’s Mike Tyson arcade game-inspired IPA, Let’s Get Physical. The collaboration beer with Calusa Brewing from Sarasota, FL showed its roots with fruity Citra and Cascade hops in the kettle, then dry hopped with more herbal Galaxy, Motueka, and Mosaic. It’s “silky smooth” and it’s straight out of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, a 1987 Nintendo boxing video game which had such a cult following to which it’s still revealing secrets 30 years later.
The Veil brought new meaning to cookies and milk this week with their Salted Caramel + Oreo Hornswoggler, a robust chocolate milk stout complete with actual salted caramel and Oreo cookies. It’s making me hungry, and you can check it out this Saturday at their Lager World event for the brewery’s first Oktoberfest-style jammer. They’re also releasing Deathless, a Märzen Lager brewed over three months and fresh to the taps this weekend.
Over at Ardent, another end-of-summer brew is on deck with Plum Gose. The wheat-based, kettle-soured gose is perfectly pink. It comes with a touch of saltiness and a pleasant acidity, according to the brewers, in true gose style. Also fresh at the brewery is the collab Baltic Porter with Precarious Beer Project. Taps are running out on the Williamsburg porter visiting RVA, so get ‘em while you can!
That’s it for this week’s RVA On Tap! As your new 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 [email protected], and if you’re a beer enthusiast, drop me a line anytime to talk booze. Catch y’all next week!
What’s happening, craft beer lovers of RVA?! Welcome to this week’s RVA On Tap, RVA Magazine’s weekly craft beer column for all your craft beer-related events, releases, festivals, and all the brews your hearts desire.
I’m Caley, and I’m your new go-to for booze news at RVA Magazine (and local beer enthusiast). You can usually find me on a porch with a 12-pack of PBR, but as our latest RVA On Tap columnist, I’m here to be your Resident Beer Fairy — so drop me a line anytime. Cheers!
If you missed last week’s RVA On Tap, you can check that out here. Our kegs are overflowing with news this week, from beer releases to festivals, events, and other cool happenings around town. Hold on to your mugs, y’all.
Last week, we checked out the best new fall brews, including Intermission Beer Company’s All Hallows Ale, Isley’s Marshmallow Brown Ale, Midnight Brewery’s Mitternacht Oktoberfest, and Vasen’s Festbier dropping around Virginia. RVA’s keeping it spooky this week with more seasonal releases, and plenty of pumpkin for all our #PSL fanatics out there. We see you, and we aren’t judging (too much, at least).
A big congratulations is in order to several Virginia breweries for their medal-winning beers in the Great American Beer Festival, which went down over the weekend in Denver, CO.
Statewide winners include Richmond’s Hardywood and Ardent, Rocket Frog Brewing Co. from Reston, Gordon Biersch in McLean, Lost Rhino in Ashburn, the Sweetwater Tavern in Centreville, and Big Ugly Brewing Co. in Chesapeake. All of these stellar brewers won awards from around the state, putting the Commonwealth on the map once again for its alcohol enthusiasts, which may or may not be a good thing. We’re pretty stoked to keep up that reputation either way.
Not without a bit of favoritism, El Duderino from Center of the Universe is first on our list for new drafts out this week. Your author is biased from a lifetime of drinking mudslides, so this stout wraps up all of our (my) Western dreams in one creamy, mellow brew. Eight different malts and whole vanilla beans come out midnight black, with a tan, pillowy head to top off this chocolate espresso beer. It’s a White Russian disguised with a beer label, and we’re gonna be on this one well into the winter. Come out to try it at the Ashland brewery this Sunday the 29th and check out their 13 beers on tap.
This week around town, more seasonal draft releases start with Hardywood’s Rum Barrel Pumpkin. The flavors in this one are begging to be enjoyed around a fire pit, so grab a few friends and some firewood for us to try it out. The nostalgic autumn brew is full of fall spices with soul-warming blackstrap molasses. According to the brewers, it’s aged over several months in Caribbean spiced rum barrels with brown sugar and spiced rum notes. The 10.5% beer will be kicked off on Saturday, October 6th at Hardywood’s Richmond location, featuring free live music from Deau Eyes, The Head, and Landon Elliott.
Up next is Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery’s fifth birthday celebration this Saturday at 12PM. The countryside brewery in Goochland is celebrating five years at The Farm, with their fall harvest of sunflowers blooming and live music all day. They’ll be releasing their Communist-dictator referencing Supreme Leader and Eternal President beers in a family-friendly anniversary fest. Come out to see Bill Roberts and The Oak Crest Boys accompanied by the Woodheads Grill and Firesides food trucks for a full-on farm fest, in true Virginian fashion.
The land is also home to a gorgeous array of sunflowers, and occasionally hosts All-You-Can-Pick Sunflower Weekends — so if you missed the recent festivals around the state, this is a great chance to see the yellow giants.
Fingers crossed for some chilly nights to try this coffee and chocolate Nightlands Imperial Stout from Triple Crossing. It looks like the cold weather is still holding off (boo) but we can’t wait to sweater up and sit outside with this one. It’s brewed with Colombian Coffee from Ironclad Coffee Roasters with a dark cocoa taste — and unlimited crowlers. Hallelujah! We’re gonna need it.
Coming up on Friday is a new Lodestar Double IPA from Final Gravity Brewing Co. The spacey draft brewed from Galaxy and Mosaic hops will have mostly fruity tastes like peach, citrus, and lemon. Join them at their spot on Lakeside Avenue this weekend at 11AM to give it a try and hang on to the summer a while longer.
Final Gravity is also part of this fall’s 3rd Annual Urban Farm Tour + Party, put on by Real Local RVA. The tour features four urban farms around the city, introducing our residents to the urban agriculture farmers right here in our own neighborhoods. It starts at the Lakeside Farmer’s Market on Saturday at noon, and showcases the missions our local farmers have behind growing their food. Grab your tickets on the event page here, and hold your excuses for ticket prices, because they’re 25 percent off with the code RVA25. See ya there!
In case you can’t fit all your booze events into one week (unlike me), head over to Strangeways any day between now and Halloween to celebrate Oktoberfest. Technically, Oktoberfest runs up on the 6th, but this brewery is keeping it going ‘til November comes with giant keepsake steins and cheap beer. They’re running deals on craft brews all month, and we’ll keep you posted on more news to come like in-house features and specials from your favorite food trucks.
That’s it for this week’s RVA On Tap! As your new 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 [email protected], and if you’re a beer enthusiast, shoot over a message anytime to talk booze. Catch y’all next week!
What’s happening craft beer lovers of RVA?! Welcome to this week’s “Tapped,” RVA Magazine’s go to weekly craft beer column where you can find all your craft beer-related events, releases, festivals and all the booze news your little hearts’ desire.
If you missed last week’s beer news, you can check those out here. Our cup is overflowing with news this week from releases to events, and other cool happenings around town, so hold on to your mugs because we’re getting ready to tap this thing!
So last week we told you about The Answer Brewpub celebrating its four-year anniversary. The West Broad Street brewery, founded by Mekong owner An Bui, kicked off events this Monday, and will have festivities for every day of the week and no tickets are required, just your beautiful faces! They have a ton of releases and special edition glasses for sale. Check the link for details and make sure you stop in and celebrate with them for giving us four years of delicious brews.
We also told you about Final Gravity Brewing Co. third anniversary. Due to the hurricane, festivities were rescheduled for this Saturday so don’t fret if you couldn’t make it out! The Lakeside brewery and they will be taking over the large parking lot out back and bringing in food from Pizza Nostra RVA, Charm City Crab Cakes, & Gaucho, a plethora of amazing guest taps from local and regional breweries, special Final Gravity Anniversary brews, tunes by DJs PJ Sykes and Melissa Koch, live music by East of Afton, and special anniversary merchandise. 12-6 PM.
Intermission Beer Company in Glen Allen will release their All Hallows Ale, an autumn harvest ale with maple and cinnamon this Friday for their Fall Kickoff Party, which they are throwing with the creepy folks over at Red Vein Haunted House. Join them for scares and door prizes, a Halloween Costume Contest, food from Firesides, and boozy cupcakes by Lush Cupcakes,
Hardywood has its Autocorrect and Mango VIPA releases for you this Friday at both locations. AUTOCORRECT is a hazy IPA brewed with Citra, Mosaic and Mandarina Bavaria, then dry hopped with El Dorado. The brewery has also added mango to their VIPA flagship brew for an extra punch of fruity flavor! Draft and growlers.
And On Sunday, make sure you stop by Maymont for a beer dinner featuring several top Richmond chefs which will be serving up five courses paired with five Hardywood brews. $175 per person (all inclusive, includes gratuity). Snag your tickets here.
Isley returns this Friday with its weekly infusion. This time, it’s a toasted marshmallow brown ale to get you all geared up for fall. They first tried out this brew two years ago, and now they’re bringing it back so, make sure you get some if you didn’t have the chance to the first go around. Food from La Bete.
Midnight Brewery will release its Mitternacht Oktoberfest this Saturday, a Bavarian-style Amber Lager that gets you right in the spirit of Oktoberfest festivities. Prost!
Triple Crossing’s got a triple release for you so hope you’re thirsty! This Friday, at their Fulton spot they will have their Falcon Heavy, an 8% DIPA with notes of peach, mango, and papaya and Citra, Falconers Flight and Vic Secret hops. The brewery will also have Infinite Reflections, a 10% Imperial Stout. This brew gets conditioned on judicious amounts of vanilla, cacao nibs, and cinnamon. Vanilla, bakers chocolate, and smoky cinnamon sweetness round out this beautiful brew. Finally, we have their Mosaic Triangles IPA, a bright and citrusy brew with notes of fresh clementines and tangerines.
Vasen is getting into the Oktoberfest spirit this Friday, with some live polka music, the release of their Festbier, and German fare from Bon Are Provisions who will be serving up brats, kielbasa, and freshly made sauerkraut all evening. Prost!
Castleburg’s back this Friday with None Shall Pass, an Oatmeal Porter with notes of chocolate and coffee that will knock you right in all your Fall feels.
On Monday, Garden Grove Brewery & Urban Winery will host a beer dinner with Chef Craig Perkinson of Southbound. Five courses will be matched with five of GG’s brews. $39/per person. Grab your tickets here.
This Saturday, Buskey Cider will release its Thai Chili Ginger Plum cider for those looking to venture outside beer for something with a little kick.
This Friday, Ardent Craft Ales will release its brew, “Old Molasses Ale,” a collaboration with the John Marshall House. They brewed this special historical beer to celebrate John Marshall’s birthday. This beer was based on a recipe from John Marshall’s cousin, Mary Randolph, that she brewed in the late 1700s and featured a late addition of molasses in the boil.
Three Notch’d RVA Collab House returns this Friday with its Double Dark Chocolate Biggie Smores Imperial Stout with live music from QNA.
Fine Creek will celebrate Oktoberfest this Thursday, Sept. 20- 30. The Powhatan brewery will have quite a spread from their kitchen including Weinerschnitzel Sliders; Pretzels with Beer Cheese; Brats and Sauerkraut w. Whole Grain Mustard on a pretzel Bun; Flammkuchen Pizza w. Sour cream, Onions, Potatoes, and Bacon; Black Forest Cake w. Kirschwasser soaked Dark Cherries, Chocolate Cake, and Whipped Cream. Fine Creek will also be releasing their Oktoberfest Marzen Lager, Ruachtoberfest Smoked Marzen, Dunkelweisenbock, Helles Lager, and Bavarian Hefeweizen.
Get your steins ready and get out your lederhosen! This weekend, St. Benedict kicks off its 14th Annual Oktoberfest celebration. Free admission, over 50 beers on tap, tons of delicious German eats, polka, dancing, and a stein-holding competition. Prost!
Submissions or ideas for Tapped can be emailed to Amy at [email protected] Cheers!
Top Photo By: Midnight Brewery
What’s happening craft beer lovers of RVA?! Welcome to this week’s “Tapped,” RVA Magazine’s go to weekly craft beer column where you can find all your craft beer-related events, releases, festivals and all the booze news your little hearts’ desire.
If you missed last week’s beer news, you can check those out here. Our cup is overflowing with news this week from releases to events, and other cool happenings around town, so hold on to your mugs because we’re getting ready to tap this thing!
This Friday, Hardywood will release its But Does It Make Sense, a New England-style DIPA, with mosaic lupulin powder and Galaxy hops. Saladworks will be serving up good eats!
On Monday, through next week, The Answer Brewpub is celebrating its four-year anniversary. The West Broad Street brewery, founded by Mekong owner An Bui, will have events for every day of the week and no tickets are required, just your beautiful faces! Be on the lookout for updates!
Final Gravity Brewing Co. will also celebrate an anniversary. This Saturday marks three years for the Lakeside brewery and they will be taking over the large parking lot out back and bringing in Go Go Vegan Go, Intergalactic Tacos, & Pizza Nostra RVA, to feed your hungry faces, and offer a number of amazing guest taps from local and regional breweries, along with special Final Gravity Anniversary brews, tunes by DJs PJ Sykes and Melissa Koch, live music by East of Afton, and special anniversary merchandise. Featured guest breweries: The Answer Brewpub, Ardent Craft Ales, The Veil Brewing Co., Red Dragon Brewery, Precarious Beer Project, Aslin Beer Company, Equilibrium Brewery, American Solera, Triple Crossing Beer, and Benchtop Brewing Company. 12-6 PM.
On Thursday, Ardent Craft Ales will release its Sweet Potato & Sage Saison to get you in all your Fall feels. The brew is a dry, farmhouse-style saison. Earthy notes from the sweet potatoes are balanced by the fragrant aroma of fresh, local sage.
On Thursday, Three Notch’d RVA Collab House returns with its weekly collaboration. This time, it’s “Here To Serve,” an American Brown Ale made in partnership with Ford Stephens and Leadership Metro Richmond. Ford Stephens won a charity auction to help brew a beer at the Collab House. Through Ford, Leadership Metro Richmond joined in the collaboration. LMR brings together a diverse group of people and creates leaders to serve the Richmond community. Pint Specials from 4-7pm.
And on Saturday, Three Notch’d RVA will release its “As You Are” Pineapple and Mango Gose in honor of the Scott’s Addition Pride Crawl. The theme for the bar crawl was cocktails, and the brewery set out to make a beer as close to a cocktail as possible. A ton of organic pineapple and mango fruit purée was added to this beer. While Florence may bring her wrath this weekend, let this brew take you away to a tropical paradise.
This Thursday at Triple Crossing‘s Fulton spot they will have a special early release of The Proposition, an 8% DIPA, appropriately hopped with Galaxy and Nelson. Notes of super soft chardonnay grape, touches of bright dankness with tropical fruits providing the majority of the presentation on this one to keep you calm during the storm.
Lickinghole Creek will release its Nuclear Nugget brew, an Imperial Honey IPA this Friday. The Goochland brewery will have it in 16oz cans in 4packs so venture out there and grab enough to hold you over during Florence.
Today, Kindred Spirit Brewing in Goochland will release its Spacehead in cans. This rich and juicy IPA will be available on draft too, so either get it to go or kick your shoes off and stay for a drink or three…well maybe don’t take your shoes off. No one wants to see that.
Fine Creek is hosting another Bluegrass Jam this Thursday, as well as a Teacher Appreciation Night! Bring in your teacher’s badge and get 15% off your tab. Fine Creek will have live music this Saturday. Next weekend is the beginning of Fine Creek’s Oktoberfest, where they will be offering fiver German beers and 1 Liter Steins!
On Saturday, the Scott’s Addition Pride Crawl will brave the hurricane to kickoff Pridefest. OutRVA and VA Pride have partnered with the neighborhood breweries, cideries, distilleries, and meaderies, to offer up a day of beer and fun festivities. With your Pride Passport, you can get it punched after purchasing beers at any of the participating locations, and after five punches, drop your passport off at the Richmond Triangle Players at the Robert B. Moss Theatre for a chance to win a gift certificate from your favorite spot. Check the link above to download your passport and check out the participating breweries and other spots.
Check out the fresh delicious batch of brews The Veil released for their can drop on Tuesday. they need no further details so just feast your eyes and go stop by there and snag what’s left!
Courthouse Creek Cider will host Slurp & Sip, an oyster and cider flight event featuring oysters from Rappahannock River Company this Thursday.
This Friday, Isley returns with its weekly infusion, an Oreo Oatmeal porter. Hits the taps at 4 pm. Available In-House & To-Go. Get some!
And on Saturday, the Mos Eisley Brown Ale returns to Isley. A traditional brown ale, the brew is inspired by the barren expanses of Tatooine. Brewed with a careful blend of roasted and caramel malts, it seeks to quench the thirsts of those who live in the shadows. Get out there and have some brews and food from Shakedown eats.
Submissions or ideas for Tapped can be emailed to Amy at [email protected] Cheers!
Tapped Photo By: The Answer Brewpub
Last year, the inaugural Stone’s Throw Down in RVA brought major act Lettuce and several prominent bands such as the London Souls and The Bright Light Social Hour, along with Richmond staple No BS! Brass Band to Brown’s Island for an all-day festival of music, local and regional breweries, food trucks, and more.
The beer and music festival from Stone Brewing is back this year with a bigger lineup, more breweries, and fun this weekend. Stone’s Thrown Down was launched last year to celebrate the anniversary of the brewery’s first local beer, and to celebrate the Richmond community.
“We enjoy routinely giving the world some of the boldest, genre-defying, groundbreaking beers on planet earth,” said Dominic Engels, Stone Brewing CEO in a statement. “This music festival gives us a chance to plug in and amplify our personalities. I deeply love a broad range of music and I absolutely love Stone beer. When we get a chance to bring these together in our new hometown, a stone’s throw from our new brewery, well, let the brilliance ensue.”
This year, Richmond’s epic brass ensemble No BS! Brass Band returns to hype you up once again, along with fellow Richmond acts Kenneka Cook and Spooky Cool, Futurebirds, Antibalas, and fellow headliner Drive-By Truckers round out the bill. Cook has been carving out a name in the Richmond music scene for herself with her performance in the local band Mikrowaves, looping her funky jazz vocals, and churning out her debut album, “Moonchild,” earlier this year. She recently put on an amazing show at The Camel alongside up and coming hip-hop act Cole Hicks so even if you’re just stopping by for a set, make sure you don’t miss her.
For three years, the ever-elusive Spooky Cool was a bit of a mystery in the music scene. No social media or albums, you had to catch the magic of the psychedelic indie rock group live. Recently, they’ve put out the five-track EP, “Every Thing Ever“, so you can hear their jams whenever you please. Make sure to brush up on these guys ahead of the show, and check out this weirdly dark but awesome video from the band and GOOD DAY RVA below.
Georgia-based politically-driven rock band Drive-By Truckers will make their debut at Stone’s music fest and are unafraid to speak out and cause some ruckus. The band has been performing for over 20 years and have nearly 12 studio albums under their belt. The band’s most recent album, “Amercian Band” dropped in 2016 and takes society’s current issues like racial and cultural divisions, mass shootings, gun violence, and more and shoves it right in the face of listeners. Let’s hope they not only come to entertain, but wake some people up as well.
Fellow Georgia band Futurebirds will bring their psychedelic country tunes to the stage on Brown’s Island for the first time. Mixing banjo, pedal steel, and mandolin with spaced out tunes, you’re in for a surreal experience so sit back and open your mind and enjoy.
Not only will Stone’s Throw Down provide some serious tunes, the festival will also have a solid lineup of local and regional craft beer. Beers from Stone, along with Champion Brewing, Fair Winds Brewing Company, Virginia Beer Co., Smartmouth Brewing Co, Buskey Cider, Beales Brewery, and Arrogant Brewing will also be on site. Of course, to soak up all that alcohol, the festival will have food from Strawberry Street Café, Carytown Burgers & Fries, Goatacado, Boka Taco Truck, Saucey’s BBQ, King of Pops, and Curbside Creation.
All of this year’s Stone’s Throw Down in RVA proceeds will benefit the James River Association, Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton, Virginia Capital Trail Foundation, and Venture Richmond. Tickets for Stones Thrown Down RVA are $20 and can be purchased online or at Stone Brewing.
Photo By: Joey Wharton Photography
Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond
