Isley

RVA ON TAP: Party Time! Excellent! Scott’s Addition Booz Crawl, and Richmond’s Best-In-Nation Brews

Caley Sturgill | October 17, 2018

Topics: Ardent craft ales, beer crawl, Black Heath Meadery, Blue Bee Cider, booz crawl, Buskey Cider, Castleburg, courthouse creek, Isley, Reservoir Distillery, RVA On Tap, Scott's Addition, Steam Bell, stone, the beer travel guide, The Veil, three notchd, Väsen, waynes world

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 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 checked out a few awesome beer events and even found a boozy haunted house for Halloween. We’ve got even more exciting stuff coming up, and RVA made the news once again for being one of America’s top beer destinations (surprise, surprise).

This week, Richmond was named the “Ultimate craft beer destination in Southeast America” by The Beer Travel Guide, with a note that good ol’ RVA has the best craft beer east of the Mississippi (can’t argue with that). According to the travel guide, we not only have a rich number of breweries, but also have some of the nation’s most elite right here in the city limits. They report:

“Any serious beer trader has a few Richmond breweries on his or her ‘In Search Of’ list. One could easily spend a weekend in Richmond doing nothing but drink craft beer and *still* feel like there wasn’t enough time to get everything done.”

Ain’t that the truth. Since RVA is just so-damn-great, we actually get two parts to our chunk of the country’s guide, all to ourselves. They released Part 1 this week, and some of our favorites made the list.

Final Gravity Brewing Company came in at #3 for its world-class IPAs (with The Doppler Effect recently ranking as the 12th-best IPA in the country). Up next was The Answer Brewpub at #2, where the travel guide remarked, “If the question is ‘Where can you find some of the best beer in the country?’ the answer is…well, The Answer.” #1 on the list is the entire neighborhood of Scott’s Addition (lol) and honestly, they’re totally right.

I’ve been saying forever that RVA is one of the most unique beer cities for its ability to go brewery-hopping (Seriously, where else is that a thing?) and our friends at The Beer Travel Guide found the same to be true.

Speaking of Scott’s Addition, one of the neighborhood’s best beer events of the year is this! weekend!

Once in a blue moon, we get an opportunity for the whole city to day-drink together, and nobody gets to judge us for it. Richmond’s self-proclaimed Booziest Neighborhood has brought that opportunity back this Saturday, for a full day of adult Trick-Or-Treating in the Scott’s Addition Halloween Booz Crawl.

The crawl this weekend hits 10 different spots in a day, full of beers, ciders, meads, and whiskeys. On your way, make sure to pick up Booz Crawl cards anywhere that’s participating. If you get three unique stamps, you’re entered to win a $25 gift card for each location.

They’ve also included a Lyft voucher for 25 percent off rides, so Trick-Or-Treat responsibly. Participating spots include: Ardent Craft Ales, Black Heath Meadery, Blue Bee Cider, Buskey Cider, Courthouse Creek Cider, Isley Brewing Company, Reservoir Distillery, Three Notch’d RVA Collab House, Väsen Brewing Company, and The Veil Brewing Co.

Party time! Excellent! Yesterday, The Veil Brewing Co. brought Crucial Taunt back at the taproom, and it won’t last long. Straight from Wayne’s World, Crucial Taunt is Wayne’s girlfriend Cassandra’s band, known for their impressive Jimi Hendrix and “Ballroom Blitz” covers that really jam. The New England-style double IPA is extremely hoppy, dank, and has a low bitterness to accompany its juicy, small-malt taste. As a longtime WW fan, I’m extra stoked on this one — and the brewers have warned it may be gone by Thursday, so hop on it, Richmond.

Castleburg Brewery dropped their Above the Salt Gose this week on a berry-blend randall. The Leipzig-style brew is light and tart, and according to Castleburg, it’s the perfect poolside drink as a 50 percent wheat beer that’s crisp and refreshing. It’s Castleburg’s first sour beer, and it hits at a nice medium with a 4.7 ABV. A reminder from the brewers: “Just don’t call us Salt Bae.”

The first full-time brewed and bottled West coast double IPA on the planet is back at Stone Brewing. Ruination 2.0 is the second round of the groundbreaking pale ale, dry-hopped and hop-bursted to get “every last drop of piney, citrusy, tropical essence” that gives this beer its character. It’s also the second stanza in the brewery’s Liquid Poem to the Glory of the Hop.

Stone’s also got their Bikes and Beers event coming up this Saturday for all the athletes out there. Gear up for 15- and 30-mile rides leaving the brewery (rest stops included, thank god) and circle back to Stone to get a glass, koozie, and two free beers! It’s similar to Hardywood’s motorcycle event last weekend, but for analog motorcycles (bicycles), and it’s got a raffle just the same. If you participate in the ride, you get a free raffle ticket — and if you’re anything like me, you might have so much fun you win back your own day-beer lost-belongings in the raffle.

Proceeds go to Bike Walk RVA to improve cycling conditions in RVA, so even if you don’t ride, swing by for a beer and make sure to check this one out!

Out in Midlothian, Steam Bell Beer Works just brought back Dueling Hops. The American-style IPA, brewed with Mosaic and Amarillo hops, has notes of mango and stone fruit for an easy-drinking fruit bomb.

The brewery’s also a stop on the Richmond Beer Trail (with more than 30 craft breweries — no wonder we’re top in the country). Pick up a map and hit five RVA breweries for stamps, and get one of these sweet trucker hats fo’ free!

In more new-beer news this week, the cold weather is back, and so is stout season! Swing by Ardent tomorrow for the release of their Imperial Milk Stout. This bold, rich chocolatey-sweet stout is balanced with a roasty base and has a silky smooth finish — unlike “the boozy burn” that often comes with a 10 percent brew like this.

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!

RVA ON TAP: Three Notch’d Zombies, Hardywood Motorcycles & Terror On The Farm

Caley Sturgill | October 10, 2018

Topics: ashland berry farms, Champion Brewing, Final Gravity, Hardywood, intermission, Isley, RVA On Tap, terror on the farm, The Veil, three notchd

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.

Last week, we saw a few end-of-season warm weather beers and some bloody collabs from the locals. We’ve checked out some cool events and beer releases since then, and a bunch more are headed your way.

This week at their downtown location, Richmond’s sweetheart Hardywood is releasing its new Tropication India Pale Ale. It looks pleasantly summer-ey for the rainy ~60° forecast, but I appreciate the enthusiasm, and know we weren’t expecting to get chilly so fast — a lesson I learned together with Hardywood on a very hot day over the weekend, at their annual Heroes Run motorcycle banger.

I spent my Sunday with Hardywood at their new farmhouse spot, which opened up earlier this year as a beautiful escape from the city, complete with woodsey views and swinging hammocks. Day drinks are usually no bueno for me, so I stuck to trying their Farmhouse Pumpkin and White Out to keep it lighter. Can’t recommend these two more highly — Farmhouse is a perfectly-spiced seasonal blend with VA-grown sugar pumpkins, whole nutmeg, and a very smooth feel down the hatch. Right up my alley. White Out is one of my favorite white brews to-date, a wheat double IPA that’s “pillowy soft” (accurate) and full of flavor of “balanced, but noble bitterness.”

Thanks to White Out, I ended up winning back my own cell phone in the motorcycle raffle (because I lost it somewhere at the brewery post-day beers), so anyway, go easy on your early drinks out there. Hardywood: You’re 10/10 in my book.

Terror on the farm! Hide your cows, hide your pig!

The Boo and Brew festival is here this weekend at Ashland Berry Farms, and Isley Brewing Company will be there to booze everyone up after they hit the haunted houses. One is promptly named “Booger Woods,” which is exactly the type of place I don’t want to be, so catch me in Isley’s beer garden instead.

All jokes aside, Ashland is a Berry cool property (nice) — and their Halloween jammers look like a blast. They’ve also got something this year called “Misery’s Playland in 3D,” which sounds like an actual nightmare, and, uh, if this guy’s there, I’ll pass.

Nope. Hard nope. But don’t take Halloween advice from someone like me, because the place looks like a blast for anyone who can sleep within a week of seeing a bad horror movie (more nope). Catch me in Charlottesville instead picking pumpkins and drinking some Bold Rock on top of a mountain, where no one can jump out and give me an accidental pickaxe lobotomy.

As part of Tap That Thursday, Three Notch’d Brewing Co. dropped their new Zombie Killin’ Ale last week. The black rye DIPA is a collab with The Judy Chops brewery, and has an interesting combo of big citrus and chocolatey, roasted malt flavors. The ale came out in a 90’s zombie movie-style bright green can, and a really cool video on its brewing process . For this week’s Tap That Thursday at the RVA Collab House, Three Notch’d is putting out their fall seasonal Pomegranate Gose. According to the brewers, nothing says autumn in Virginia like mild days and crisp nights, so they put that feeling in a can. The German sour ale is full of pomegranate tartness and kettle-souring with lactobacillus, for a dry, crisp taste to match the autumn nights. “Fall never tasted so good.” Mmmmmmm.

The Veil dropped not one, but three(!) new brews yesterday. The Veil is another local favorite (rightfully so), and it’s also home to some beautiful street art by Nils Westergard. This week’s release included Frostbite, Never Never Calm Calm, and We Ded Mon. It was also meant to include Expert Tastemen, but it came out with a not-so-expert taste, so now it’s pretty “Ded, Mon,” too.

Fresh last night, Never Never Calm Calm is first on the list of new fruity beers at The Veil. Its double-fruited pineapple and passionfruit flavor is made even stronger with their brand-new fruit brewing process. The new Frostbite beer is a sour-whiteferrari-meets-fruit. The apricot and plum DIPA is 8.5% ABV, aka the same as Hardywood’s White Out, so enjoy it lightly before dinner. It’s topped by We Ded Mon, named appropriately, because this 100% Citra hopped TIPA is 11% ABV. Thanks, Veil, for keeping the bar-goers crawling (even without a real event). I’ll definitely make my way over to give this one a try.

Head to Intermission Beer Company tomorrow at 7 to school your friends in horror movie knowledge! The brewery’s hosting a special trivia night, and since Richmond’s always had a love affair with the spooky and weird, I’m sure plenty of you out there will make great contestants. They’re partnering up with the RED VEIN Haunted House and serving up all their beers, like the Vienna Cream Ale and a milky-sugar chocolate foundationed milk stout. Horror movie trivia, like math and mechanics, is something I’ll never master (because of who I am as a person) — so go get some spooks right on my behalf.

This Friday, Final Gravity is dropping a brand-new Brittle Star DIPA that’s also up for grabs in Crowlers. The 8% DIPA is a balance of El Dorado, Galaxy, and Mosaic hops to give off citrus, passionfruit, mango, and pine notes. If you’re headed towards D.C. this weekend, give it a taste at this year’s Snallygaster — the best of the best for Washington beer festivals, packed with 400 craft beers from all around the globe and more than 120 of the world’s best brewers. If you’re sticking around town, swing by their Lakeside spot for a taste of any of their spacey beers.

Champion Brewing has started up Local Music Nights every Friday night, and they’ve asked the city to name-drop their favorite local artists to start off the shows with RVA’s best — so shoot over to ‘em if you’ve got someone in mind. Iron Reagan (pictured above) played the brewery earlier this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Richmond comes back with when they start setting up shows with local faves.

Local food truck Mean Bird aims to spread its wings with upcoming Fan storefront

Amy David | March 15, 2017

Topics: Ardent craft ales, community, Fan restaurants, fried chicken, GOOD EATS RVA, Hardywood, Isley, Mean Bird, rva food, rva food truck, StickyToGoGO, vegan fried chicken

Fried chicken food truck Mean Bird has been serving hungry Richmonders for just over a year now, and is already ready to fly the coop-well to a bigger one at least.

Owners Sarah and Mike Moore plan to expand with a takeout restaurant and market in the former StickyToGoGo space at 2227 W. Main St. in the spring.

While they’ve only been around since January of last year, the couple said they are already in need of a bigger operation to satisfy their customers.

“We kind of started to outgrow what we could do as a food truck, we wanted to make some kind of investment whether it was renting commissary space…and we were like there’s no sense in renovating a warehouse space just to ramp up our food truck when just for a little bit more we could have a storefront,” said Mike Moore.

Mean Bird’s food truck serves up fried chicken, vegan fried chicken, known on the menu as “Veggie Bird” which consists of fresh vegetables, whole grains, herbs & seasonings and is battered in coconut milk. They have an ever-rotating menu of sides including Texas caviar, watermelon and sea salt, fried green tomatoes, Cajun fries, and a variety of sauces.

The truck frequents places like Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Isley, Ardent Craft Ales, and Blue Bee Cider in the winter and bigger events in the summer along with catering for events and weddings.

“Festivals, fairs and we do a lot of food truck courts all over town we go as far out as Colonial Heights,” Mike said. “The breweries are a good fit for the winter time.”

The new restaurant in the Fan will serve as a take-out spot, a market where you can get not only ready-made Mean Bird favorites, but other RVA specialty goodies, along with a few seats for dining in.

“The core {will be} fried chicken…then we’ll do specials, we want to incorporate more of that into our menu, we want to do more sandwiches, we want to do chicken wings, some seafood…,” Mike said. “Now we just rotate a small number of sides, but people will be able to get all their favorites all the time.”

And Mike said they’ve already started talking to local artisans about goods for their market and they are on the hunt for more.

“Specifically stuff that pairs well with fried chicken,” he said. “We’ve been talking to a bunch of pickle makers, sauce makers, spice makers…stuff like that in town. We want to focus on a curated market kind of setting.”

The two leased the space at the beginning of this month, but started scouting out a brick and mortar location around Thanksgiving.

“We looked at a few spaces in the Brookland Park area and a couple others… ,” Mike said. “We started talking to the Sticky Rice people around Christmas.”

This will be the couple’s first foray into restaurant ownership, but they are no strangers to the Richmond restaurant scene. Far from it.

Mike Moore has been working in Richmond restaurants since he was 18. He’s worked at Dot’s Back Inn on and off for 10 years where he was most recently kitchen manager.

Sarah has bartended and managed restaurants since college and was most recently at The Mill On MacArthur, before the two decided to test out their culinary chops in the market.

“We’ve been working in the food industry a long time and decided to do something on our own and it’s been crazy,” Sarah said. “By the end of the year, it kind of felt like we knew what we were doing.”

Mean Bird’s Fan storefront will please the late-night Fan bar crowd, those in the area looking for a delicious lunch on break from work, and eventually the early risers.

Mike said they will be open seven days a week from 11 am to 10 pm during the week and until 3 am on the weekends.

“The plan for the future, we’d like to be open for morning and do like chicken biscuits and coffee and stuff like that and be open straight through until late night,” Mike said.

They will scale back a bit on the food truck side of the business except for catering, but they plan to ramp it up again once they get settled in the new place.

“Our hope is by next year we’ll have enough staff where we can run the food truck on a regular schedule and operate the brick and mortar space for long hours,” he said.

Sarah and Mike Moore plan to open their Mean Bird storefront at the end of April. Until then, you can catch them March 26 at Isley Brewing for their “Mean Brunch”.

RVA Mag President John Reinhold’s Thanksgiving food & craft beer pairings-with some metal thrown in

John Reinhold | November 23, 2016

Topics: craft beer, Devil's Backbone, Garden Grove Brewing Company, Hardywood, Isley, Legend Brewing, Lickinghole Creek, RVA craft beer, strangeways, Thanksgiving, the answer brewpub, The Veil, Three Notch'd Brewing, triple crossing

Thanksgiving is upon us, and we can all hope that sharing some time and fun with friends is a part of this day we will enjoy. No matter what is going on, chances are that you will be enjoying a meal, and maybe you’re in charge of cooking or providing a part of this meal.
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The great pumpkin beer has returned to RVA. Here’s where you can get it

Amy David | September 19, 2016

Topics: Ardent craft ales, craft beer, Growlers to go, Hardywood, Isley, pumpkin beers, RVA craft beer, strangeways

We weren’t even halfway through the month of August before we started seeing Southern Tier Brewing’s PUMKING and other pumpkin-flavored beers crowding the shelves of grocery stores and markets around town. And now with it just starting to switch into fall, local breweries are rolling out pumpkin beers as fast as they can.
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