WayGone Brewery owners Tim Powell, Nancy Powell, Richard Myers and Nicole Myers. The West End brewery was one of five new breweries to open this year. (BizSense file photos)
Despite having more closures in 2023 than any previous year, the region’s beer scene still came out of 2023 with more breweries than it had when the year started.
Openings and closures
The city and the big three surrounding counties got a new brewery in 2023.
Chesterfield got two new spots with the long-awaited Hidden Wit Brewing Co. in Moseley and Local Pizza & Brewery in Chester. Intermission Beer Co. opened a second, arcade-style taproom on Lakeridge Parkway in Hanover, WayGone Brewery opened in Henrico’s West End, and The Veil Brewing Co. completed its expansion and relocation within Scott’s Addition in the city.
Another brewery may be inbound to the city as contract brewery Capsoul Brewing Collective is looking to secure a home of its own.
Choosy Mother debuted in 2014 and had been among Isley’s most-acclaimed brews.
Isley Brewing Co., one of the pioneers of the Scott’s Addition brewery scene, said goodbye in October after 10 years in business.
Fans of its flagship peanut butter porter Choosy Mother need not fret, though, as Isley has since sold the recipe for the popular beer to Callao Brewing Co., an outfit in the Northern Neck that’s looking to bring the beer back into distribution.
The other two breweries that poured their final pints this year were Castleburg Brewery and Taproom and Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, which closed up near The Diamond and in Short Pump, respectively.
Beyond beer
In the cider world, Blue Bee Cider was sold to longtime employees Mackenzie Smith and Taylor Benson, who are now in the process of relocating the cidery to a storefront near Libbie Mill.
Blue Bee owners Taylor Benson and Mackenzie Smith
Meanwhile, Blue Bee’s old home in Scott’s Addition is now being transformed into a restaurant and market from the owners of fishmonger Yellow Umbrella Provisions. That project is also set to house a tasting room for local distillery Cirrus Vodka.
A new wine bar opened in the city this year as well, with Gramophone opening its doors at the corner of Forest Hill Avenue and Westover Hills Boulevard.
From the statehouse to the taproom
With 2023 came perhaps the biggest legislative change the state’s craft beer industry has seen since 2012, when the passage of Senate Bill 604 made it legal for Virginia breweries to sell out of their own taprooms and set off a brewery boom.
This year, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Beer Industry Limited Distribution (BILD) Act, a measure that allows breweries to self-distribute a limited amount of their beer.
The legislation, which Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed into law over the summer, created the Virginia Beer Distribution Co. (VBDC), an entity within the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that will allow breweries to side-step the current “three-tier system” that requires breweries to sell their beer to distribution companies which then sell it to retailers and restaurants.
Breweries are capped at self-distributing about 1,400 kegs of their beer annually, making the new legislation targeted more at small breweries that are looking to get their products on the shelves of local bottle shops and restaurants.
The legislation received support from both the state’s beer and distribution trade associations.
The new law also closed a loophole in the state’s beer laws. While brewery owners aren’t legally allowed to own distribution companies, their family members could. It became common for small, so-called “arms-length” distribution companies to be set up by brewery owners’ spouses, but the BILD Act closed that loophole and made it illegal for spouses of brewery owners to own distribution companies. Existing arms-length distributors were grandfathered in.
With funding in hand from the state, the VBDC is being set up and could be operational by 2024.
WayGone Brewery owners Tim Powell, Nancy Powell, Richard Myers and Nicole Myers. The West End brewery was one of five new breweries to open this year. (BizSense file photos)
Despite having more closures in 2023 than any previous year, the region’s beer scene still came out of 2023 with more breweries than it had when the year started.
Openings and closures
The city and the big three surrounding counties got a new brewery in 2023.
Chesterfield got two new spots with the long-awaited Hidden Wit Brewing Co. in Moseley and Local Pizza & Brewery in Chester. Intermission Beer Co. opened a second, arcade-style taproom on Lakeridge Parkway in Hanover, WayGone Brewery opened in Henrico’s West End, and The Veil Brewing Co. completed its expansion and relocation within Scott’s Addition in the city.
Another brewery may be inbound to the city as contract brewery Capsoul Brewing Collective is looking to secure a home of its own.
Choosy Mother debuted in 2014 and had been among Isley’s most-acclaimed brews.
Isley Brewing Co., one of the pioneers of the Scott’s Addition brewery scene, said goodbye in October after 10 years in business.
Fans of its flagship peanut butter porter Choosy Mother need not fret, though, as Isley has since sold the recipe for the popular beer to Callao Brewing Co., an outfit in the Northern Neck that’s looking to bring the beer back into distribution.
The other two breweries that poured their final pints this year were Castleburg Brewery and Taproom and Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, which closed up near The Diamond and in Short Pump, respectively.
Beyond beer
In the cider world, Blue Bee Cider was sold to longtime employees Mackenzie Smith and Taylor Benson, who are now in the process of relocating the cidery to a storefront near Libbie Mill.
Blue Bee owners Taylor Benson and Mackenzie Smith
Meanwhile, Blue Bee’s old home in Scott’s Addition is now being transformed into a restaurant and market from the owners of fishmonger Yellow Umbrella Provisions. That project is also set to house a tasting room for local distillery Cirrus Vodka.
A new wine bar opened in the city this year as well, with Gramophone opening its doors at the corner of Forest Hill Avenue and Westover Hills Boulevard.
From the statehouse to the taproom
With 2023 came perhaps the biggest legislative change the state’s craft beer industry has seen since 2012, when the passage of Senate Bill 604 made it legal for Virginia breweries to sell out of their own taprooms and set off a brewery boom.
This year, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Beer Industry Limited Distribution (BILD) Act, a measure that allows breweries to self-distribute a limited amount of their beer.
The legislation, which Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed into law over the summer, created the Virginia Beer Distribution Co. (VBDC), an entity within the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that will allow breweries to side-step the current “three-tier system” that requires breweries to sell their beer to distribution companies which then sell it to retailers and restaurants.
Breweries are capped at self-distributing about 1,400 kegs of their beer annually, making the new legislation targeted more at small breweries that are looking to get their products on the shelves of local bottle shops and restaurants.
The legislation received support from both the state’s beer and distribution trade associations.
The new law also closed a loophole in the state’s beer laws. While brewery owners aren’t legally allowed to own distribution companies, their family members could. It became common for small, so-called “arms-length” distribution companies to be set up by brewery owners’ spouses, but the BILD Act closed that loophole and made it illegal for spouses of brewery owners to own distribution companies. Existing arms-length distributors were grandfathered in.
With funding in hand from the state, the VBDC is being set up and could be operational by 2024.