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Richmond brewery scores a medal from ‘Best of Craft Beer Awards’

Posted at 5:08 PM, Mar 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-14 12:56:39-04

No Veto Three Notch'd BrewingRICHMOND, Va. – Two Virginia breweries just won medals in a national craft beer competition, and one has a spring opening slated in Scott’s Addition.

Three Notch’d Brewing Company opened in Charlottesville in 2014, and has an April or May opening planned at a former car dealership and garage that has been renovated, at 2930 W. Broad Street in Scott’s Addition.

They have been winning awards since the year they opened in Charlottesville.

The most recent accolade was a bronze medal for the British Brown Ale, called No Veto.

There were 170 entries for the “Best of Craft Beer Awards” judged out of Oregon.

The Old Bust Head Brew Company, located in Warrenton, Va. won two awards. They received a gold for their Vixen, an Irish Red Ale, and their Oktoberfest.

It isn’t the first year that Virginia has been represented. In 2015 Wild Wolf, of Nellysford, scooped up a silver medal for their Blonde Hunny, in the same competition. Devils Backbone, in Lexington also won.

And in 2014 Devils Backbone scooped up four awards; two gold, one silver and a bronze.

A return to the drawing board

If it feels like Scott’s Addition is always in the news lately, well, it is, and the headlines indicate it isn’t just the next big housing market or restaurant hot spot; it has become Richmond’s craft beverage hub.

While it’s hard to get a total census count for the area, there are just over 1,134 apartments planned, with a reported 1,110 complete, according to Scott’s Addition Boulevard Association data.

For every 137 new apartments, there is a craft brewer. If you took a stab at population, and estimated 3,500 residents, then there would be a brewery (including cideries and meadery) for approximately every 437 residents in Scott’s Addition.

The most concise number to take away is almost a third of all the beers or ciders produced in the Richmond-metro area (city, Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, Goochland) are made in Scott’s Addition.

There will soon be 15 breweries/cideries (and a meadery) open in Richmond city, and a total of 26 breweries open in the metro-area. More than half of all the breweries in the Richmond-metro area are in the city.

Ardent Craft Ales, Black Heath Meadery, and Isley Brewing are already open in Scott’s Addition. Reservoir Distillery has been producing  whiskey on Summit Street since 2009, and recently opened a tasting room at 1800 Summit Avenue. Within the next two months, Buskey, Veil and Three Notch’d plan to open. Vasen Brewery and Blue Bee Cidery will open in fall 2016, maybe sooner for Blue Bee.

Outside of Scott’s Addition, Castleburg Brewery, on Ownby Lane near Hardywood, has an April opening planned. Stone Brewing has opened already but is not selling beer brewed in Richmond, yet. Outside of the city, on Midlothian, Steam Bell Beer Works has a spring opening planned. Kindred Spirits in Goochland hopes to open in May.

Scott’s Addition has always been a place where things are made

Scott’s Addition has always been a place where things are made, as Mayor Jones recently pointed out. Even Legend considered a move over to the area, having bid on the old city stables that Blue Bee will soon call home.

“It’s no secret that Scott’s Addition real estate is hot right now,” said Nathan Hughes, who as principal broker of Sperity Real Estate Ventures, has closed several business deals in the area.

“The basic reasons that started the move are the zoning, price, and building requirements,” he said. “Breweries are industrial by nature and have industrial needs like: floors that can take a beating and carry a heavy load, bay doors and/or loading docks for bringing in ingredients and shipping out product, and taller ceilings to accommodate the tanks.”

“There are good open spaces to work with and you can layout your system pretty well,” said Isley General Manager Patrick Bisha. “A lot of them [buildings] were easy to take over.”

“It is unique to be able to get a building with drive up, parking, loading dock and built-in foot traffic,” said Will Correll, founder of Buskey Cider on 2910 W. Leigh Street.

Sure, the buildings are big, not that expensive, and easy to convert, but many brewers also said the appeal is the community.

“There is something exciting about being a cidery near breweries,” Correll said. “We see it as a synergy to have breweries nearby.”

Isley is excited to be joined by so many others brewers. “It is exciting,” he said. “For every door that opens in Scott’s Addition, my traffic increases.”

The 52-year-old Richmond native only expects for traffic to increase to the area, noting that “it is becoming a destination” where people can spend the day.

But with the amount of breweries there are to visit, maybe it is better to call a cab or Uber, or one day hop aboard the BRT Pulse — or perhaps — to sign a lease.

Local breweries/cideries/and a meadery (see map below)

    1. 7 Hills Brewing Co.
    2. Ardent Craft Ales
    3. The Answer Brewpub
    4. Black Heath Meadery
    5. Blue Bee
    6. Buskey Cider  ***
    7. Castleburg Brewery and Taphouse ***
    8. Center of the Universe
    9. Extra Billy’s
    10. Final Gravity Brewing Company
    11. Garden Grove
    12. Hardywood
    13. Isley
    14. Kindred Spirit ***
    15. Lickinghole Creek Craft Beer
    16. Legend
    17. Midnight Brewery
    18. Rock Bottom Brewery
    19. Rusty Beaver
    20. Strangeways Brewing
    21. Steam Bell Beer Works ***
    22. Stone Brewing
    23. Three Notch’d ***
    24. Triple Crossing
    25. Vasen ***
    26. The Veil Brewing Co. ***

***To open this year

Did we miss one? Is there one that will open this year? We will update this list throughout the year, so send us an email.

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