Northside’s Anytime Beer Co. preparing to sell building, relocate

Before being converted into a brewery, the building on Dawn Street was a glass fabrication shop. (Mike Platania photo)

Fresh off a rebrand, a Northside brewery has some other major changes on tap.

Anytime Beer Co., formerly known as Tabol Brewing, is under contract to sell its production and taproom facility at 704 Dawn St. to an undisclosed buyer and is searching for a new home. 

With the deal set to close soon, the brewery will close out its time on Dawn Street this weekend. A final day, May 10, will feature live music and $3 beer.

Co-founder Travis Dise said the business will then be on hiatus until it secures a new property but may temporarily farm out beer production in the interim. 

Dise said the brewery has loved being in Northside and wouldn’t hesitate to jump into another spot in the neighborhood. 

“However, when you’re on the hunt you can’t rule anywhere out. We’ll be looking all over Central Virginia,” he said, noting that Anytime Beer would prefer to buy another building but won’t rule out renting. 

Travis Dise

Dise and the brewery’s ownership group bought the 7,900-square-foot Dawn Street property the same year it founded the company, in 2017. They paid $288,000 for the property, and its value has more than doubled in the brewery’s eight years in business: The most recent city assessment was $625,000.

They listed it for sale last year with that rising value in mind.

“We had seen the value of the property rise considerably since we had purchased it, and, at the time we had listed it (for sale), I was the only person really involved in running the brewery side – which can burn you out really quick,” Dise said. 

“We had all decided that there was a price we would accept for the building, and only turn it down if the brewery had hit major targets in sales,” he said. “The timing might be the most frustrating part – we were a gnat’s wing away from those targets. But, promises were made, and we agreed to stand by our plan.”

The property is listed by 1st Class Real Estate’s Mindy Bandy with an asking price of $1.2 million. It sits on 0.4 acres and is zoned for light industrial uses.

Upon opening as Tabol Brewing in early 2019, the brewery focused on barrel-aged beers made with wild yeast on a five-barrel brew system. Over time, Dise said, the Czech pilsner has become its most popular, flagship beer. The owners eventually signed on with Reverie Distribution to distribute beer around the state, and also struck a deal to make Get Tight Light the house lager for Fan eatery Get Tight Lounge. 

Last year Tabol rebranded to Anytime Beer Co.

The pending move comes about a year after the brewery shed the Tabol name in favor of Anytime Beer Co.  

The Tabol moniker (pronounced table) originated from a joke the brewery founders made years ago – that there were so many craft breweries, no names in English were left – so they had to make up a word. Dise said they gradually felt a disconnect with the name and decided to rebrand last summer. 

“Our tasting room was seeing more and more families, and live music. Anytime Beer Co. feels more like who we are now after six years. It suits us,” Dise said. 

With its final-day bash on Dawn Street approaching, Dise said it’s bittersweet to be leaving the brewery’s home of six years. 

“We’re mostly excited about the future and excited to go out with a big event. A lot of businesses don’t get to choose when they close their doors and throw a party, so we feel lucky,” he said. 

The neighborhood around the brewery has continued to evolve as well. Up the block is 711 Dawn St., a half-acre site where a four-story, 41-unit apartment building has been planned for years. The existing building on the site has been fenced off, but construction of the 41-unit development has not begun.