Vermont brewmaster heading to RVA to open The Veil in Scott’s Addition

Matt Tarpey plans to have the Roseneath Road brewery open by November.

July 30, 2015; 9:15 AM • by Trevor Dickerson

A specially trained brewer is about to take the phrase “taste of Richmond” to a whole new level at a Scott’s Addition brewery now under construction.

A year ago, at the small, family-run Cantillon Brewery in Anderlecht, Brussels, American brewer Matt Tarpey and fourth-generation brewer Jean-Pierre van Roy were walking around a barrel warehouse discussing spontaneous fermentation.

It’s a challenging process that involves making beer from wild yeast strains floating in the air — and it’s one of Tarpey’s favorite subjects. It also inspired the name of the new Veil Brewing Co. “There’s a protein-based membrane that grows on top of the beer in the barrel called the pellicle,” Tarpey says over coffee at Urban Farmhouse in Scott’s Addition. “Natural wines develop them as well, and Jean has friends in Italy who told him natural winemakers there call pellicles ‘the veil.’”

Fast-forward to 2015, and Tarpey, 30, is head brew master and co-founder of the new operation at the former Unity Baptist Church, on Roseneath Road across from an old Coca-Cola bottling plant. Although the renovation has been held up by asbestos removal, he and co-owners Dustin Durrance and Dave Michelow plan to open in November.