Beer News: Weird beer, massive quantities of beer, analysis of beer, and just a lot of beer

The word “beer” was just said too many times, and now it looks bizarre.

Photo by: cizauskas

Hardywood conquers Goochland

This week’s Big Beer News™ comes from Hardywood, who announced that they’re expanding to West Creek in Goochland. They’ll move their main production facility out there, host what will probably become the most popular happy hour in all of the West End, and will continue using the downtown location for specialty brews and, presumably, raucous 4th of July parties.

Hardywood currently brews on a 20-barrel system and is on track to brew 15,000 barrels of beer this year. Some quick math tells me that they’re brewing two full batches of beer every. single. day. This seems like a daunting amount of work. The new system is a 60-barrel deal, which puts them on target for more than 40,000 barrels–and that’s just at the new location. Similar daunting amounts of work for sure, but three times the amount of beer.

Robey Martin over at Richmond Magazine has some more secret details about the whole situation, including their plans for souring beers the old fashioned way (a.k.a. just leaving them to sit out in a giant tub).

Attention beer-ravenous Richmonders

August is Virginia Craft Beer Month. It is, currently, not August. But! Hardywood is celebrating a little early with some “serious specials” on their stock of Reserve Series and Barrel Series bottles. Hit up their Ownby Lane location and grab some fancy beers–they make great gifts! The deals run through the end of August, or until beer-ravenous Richmonders overrun the facility and deplete 100% of their stock.

Beeranalysis test

Page Hayes goes on a tour of all of the Richmond breweries, giving them a personality test along the way. If you’ve got out-of-town beer nerds coming in for a whirlwind weekend brewery tour, read this article and then plan accordingly.

<District 9 joke>

Last night District 5 opened up on Main Street in the weird “once a brewery, then a martini bar and some other stuff, now a beer bar” spot. You know the one1. They’ll have their grand opening tonight, July 24th. Sounds like I may need to happy hour my way down there…

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Elsewhere…

Brewers, stop. Just stop.

The Raleigh Beer Garden has 366 taps, taking the record for The Most Taps of Any Place in the Entire Known Universe. How they keep that many taps stocked, I do not know.

Here is the truest and best thing I’ve ever read: Shitty Beer Is the Best Beer, and Miller High Life Is Best of All.

SIP: Cucumbers Eve

I know, I know. I keep talking about how I don’t like to put weird crap in my beer, but people keep putting these things in their beers that sound so interesting. This week’s edition of Hardywood’s Berliner has 200 pounds of Hanover cucumbers shoved in there. CUCUMBERS! Sometimes it is just so freaking hot out that all you can do is drink a cucumber, you know?

Other releases, takeovers, and things

‘Gram: The Cask Cafe


  1. That’s 1911 W. Main Street if you don’t know the one. 
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Ross Catrow

Founder and publisher of RVANews.

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