Garden Grove founders from left: Ryan Mitchell and Michael Davis (Photo by Burl Rolett.)
Richmond’s brewery craze has crept into Carytown.
Garden Grove Brewing Co. plans to open a brewery at 3445 W. Cary St. this winter.
Founders Ryan Mitchell and Michael Davis had initially lookedto set up shop in Chesterfield but turned north in favor of a location that could drive plenty of walkup traffic.
Of the slew of new, local breweries that have launched in recent years, Garden Grove is the first to try to tap into a major Richmond retail center.
“Carytown has its own reputation,” Davis said. “People come from out of town and out of state, ask what can we do in Richmond, and Carytown is a prime spot.”
Garden Grove is co-owned by Mitchell, Davis and head brewer Mike Brandt. They signed a lease for their 3,800-square-foot brewery-to-be earlier this week and plan to open with a three-barrel brewing system, meaning the brewery will be able to turn out a little more than 90 gallons of beer at a time. The space was previously occupied by furniture store Ruth & Ollie.
Mitchell and Davis, both Lee-Davis High School and Virginia Commonwealth University graduates, have been working on Garden Grove full time for about nine months. They hatched the idea after being laid off from jobs at Dominion in 2013 and took the Garden Grove moniker from a song by the band Sublime.
Garden Grove is planting its brewery in a well-traveled part of town, but heavy foot traffic may come with heavy competition. Restaurants all up and down Carytown serve craft beer, but Davis hopes the allure of being at an actual brewery will bring business to Garden Grove.
