Väsen Brewing Company

 

Location is in a repurposed industrial building. Street parking. Glass only on the street side, where there is a high patio next to the street. Two overhead garage doors. One half of the interior room has a lower wood plank ceiling and the other half has a very high ceiling with hanging light fixtures. Off white painted walls and a concrete floor. Painted mural on one wall. Large projection TV on the front wall. The bar is mostly for ordering and serving. One area of lounge seating and another area of community tables. At the back of the room there is a view of brewing equipment through glass. About twenty taps offer a standard mix of styles. Cooler has cans to go. Friendly and confident staff. Decorated well to make good use of the repurposed space.

A deceptively moderate-sized inside, given the large, street-side raised patio area outside. One part of the inside is couches and a more comfortable seating, the other half is benches. Outside is a mix is benches and tables, some of which seem they house heating units.

As with most of the places in Scotts Addition, you will have to find parking, likely on the street. You might expect at least a short walk, around a half mile or so, even. But if you’re around, you’ll probably want to walk to a few breweries, anyhow.

The ordering is queue-style, around a central decoration that could cause minor confusion. They had pale ales, sours, lagers, and a couple experimental ingredient beers on tap when we last visited. The outside had a decent amount of shade at this time of year, which made for an enjoyable stay.

The service in this visit seemed a bit green, but was friendly enough. It is perhaps lucky that it wasn’t too busy, but that is speculation. The beers here I’ve always found to be solid. One beer this trip had a slightly off aroma, but the rest were nice. A nice stop while visiting the various spots in Scotts Addition.

 

Dropped in. Very nice Nordic/Country vibe with lots of wooden tables and a nice open feeling. Staff was pleasant and helpful. Serious selection of drafts available,, with my choice being their hefeweizen. Sold beer to go in 4 packs with a few select singles.

Almost a completely different tonal shift from the other nearby brewery (The Veil), but don’t let that influence you. This has a Nordic theme, and a much more outdoorsy, laid-back vibe—light, bright, lively. Wonderful tap selection, with some solid stand-out lagers.

 

 

Stop on my rush through Scott's Addition. Nice large open space, lots of tables, wood and brick. Good service and nice tap selection. Running on empty at this point, so my notes are brief.

 

I don’t give a fuck what anyone says, I’m telling you the Uber driver was trashed. Driving in 2 lanes, no AC in a million degrees heat, the U turn the wrong way and another to correct it that almost nailed that turning pickup truck ahead of us. Well, we survived the ride and Vasen now! Such is day 2 Richmond…

Large cavernous industrial space amongst industrial spaces. ‘L’ shaped cut tree bar with white uneven block base and piping foot rail in the far corner. Seating for a baker’s dozen on tree piece tripod logoed short backed chairs. The barback wall is sugar cube bricked to both sides of a center slate pieced run holding a 20 tap tower with logo handles. Shelves with crowls & growls, bottles, hats, glassware, etc. to both sides with 12oz tulips dangling from the undersides. Mounted horizontal alt colored boards above; cans, bottles, & merch listed to the left, and a pair of beer boards to the right (beer, ABV, IBU, serving size, & cost). Tortoise shell marbled barback counter with crowler storage and coolered glassware below.

Brown pebbled floor, a slat wood ceiling over the bar, and vaulted ceilings off the bar area with paneled windows along the top for some light light. White walls, my notes say ‘the near wall dirty newspapered’ although I don’t know what I meant by that, some what I presume to be VA nature scenes art, and a sprawling mural of a reindeer amongst the greenery on the far wall. Large windows offer brew room views to the rear down the bar, and garagey door doors to the deck up front. Drop fez lamps over the bar, and boxed lamps above the adjacent seating. Dangle single bulb lighting over the seating area up high amidst something that looks like large antler pieces (much cooler than it sounds). Drop projector there, too, for whatever it wants to show on the outer wall. And a large hook on an I-beam should they need to move something about; like oh, I don’t know, brewery equipment, maybe.

A half dozen picnic tables out across the room, a 10 seat bar counter space on the brew room wall of windows (that’s front row Foederville), and a 6 seat one on the front wall. There’s a very large boulder in the center of the room with some bar counter space on one side and seating on the other side. Then there’s the cushy chair & couch set up forward the bar area. I would recline (read: sleep) there, but I need another beer. And an out front deck with light seating but lots of space.

Monthly calendar of food, trivia, music, can releases, yoga, events, etc. in one of the windows. And there’s a strange swag zone in the front corner off the entrance which holds shirts & hats at eye level where you can get at them, and hatchets & rope above where you can’t get at them. I want them. But I can’t get at them. But I want them.

16 taps up now (BA Grapefruit Tripel, 10%; Sommer Saison, 6.2%; Raspberry Sour Saison, 7.9%; Figue Rustique Saison, 7.3%; Norse Pale Ale, 7.6%; Sugarbear Quad, 12.1%; Smoked Farmhouse, 6.9%; The Otter, Kettle Sour Gose, 5%; The Anejo Otter, Kettle Sour Gose, 5%; The Cranbiscus Otter, Kettle Sour Gose, 5.3%; The Tangerine Otter, Kettle Sour Gose, 5.3%; Smoked Blood Peach Sour, 7.3%; Everything Floats, Wild Ale, 6.5%; Everything Floats on Passion Fruit, Wild Ale, 7.4%; Everything Floats on Soursop, Wild Ale, 6.7%; Foeder Blend Farmhouse, 7.5%).

It’s an interesting mix. I mean, there is no IPA here and only a single Pale Ale as the hoppy goes (awesome in and of itself). The rest of ‘em are Saison-y and Sour. Heart! We have agreed that the quad is very good. I have deemed The Tangerine Otter, Raspberry Sour Saison, Sugarbear Quad, Smoked Blood Peach Sour, & Foeder Blend Farmhouse to be bests of show.

Amandatending today. She’s fun and she doles out samples for the ask. All in all, very well done. I could definitely do some time here. Would much rather be here than, um, elsewhere in the neighborhood. Why didn’t I get one of them cool beer horn glasses? Idiot! Next time…

 

 

 

 

 

Liking the flavor. 3 for 3.

 

 

V: This is a big space, coolly designed and laid out. It has a long bar and a few tables and chairs scattered around the floor. There's a patio area raised just above street level (which would be great in the spring). Overall, it's a crowded spot, but not to the point of claustrophobia.

Q: A high level of quality - everything's brewed on site; nothing stale to be found.

S: Like a lot of brewpubs, the service can be a little spotty. Much of this boils down to the decision to make everyone line up like they're getting tickets to a concert. If you're sitting at the bar, you will be ignored. The staff was friendly once they served you, but that takes awhile.

S: A solid selection of beers from an array of about 20 taps: IPAs, sours, stouts, saisons, and few others. A wide-ranging lineup.

As a Swede, I obviously had to come to the place with the Swedish name!

Space is large and airy with very high ceilings and lots of seating. Bar is in the back corner, and seats about 12-15 people. Lots of plants make it feel less industrial. Very nice place, that swallowed noise very well.

The beer here is a bit different. They didn't have a single IPA on tap among the 12 or so taps. Instead, they have lots of quirky sours and saisons that stand out in Richmond. The quality of everything was very good and variety was plentiful. Anyone looking for hazy IPAs are in for a surprise.

The main reason the place stood out to me, and what made me come back two days in a row, was the service. Rosie and Jesse who worked the bar on the first night were some of the best people I've ever met behind a bar. Friendly, interested, knowledgeable and wicked funny. When I mentioned I like beer weird, they just started slinging samples to get me going, and I don't think they charged me for anywhere near the amount I got to drink. Night number two, Rosie isn't working but hanging out, along with Connor, one of the co-owners. We talked about beer for a good long time, drank even more, and I was even given a tour of the brewery. When it came time to leave, I left the biggest tip I've ever given.

Overall, Väsen is the place to go if you want, quirky, original beer and also get superb service.

Very cool spot. They did a great job dressing up the typical modern warehouse/office park space with plants and furniture. Beers leaned towards belgian styles. We enjoyed the sours in particular. Nice outside deck space and good service. I'm glad we heeded advice of locals to check this place out.

 

 

 

 

 

Great vibe with lovely pints!

 

Visited on a Saturday right after lunch. Sat at the bar. It was a bit cool, but the big doors were open and the place was moderately busy.

V - First thing you notice is the openness and the big glass wall looking into the brewery with the foeders right up front. Then there is the nice wooden bar (I like to ask places about their bar top, quite often there is a story behind it). Industrial, but bright clean and obviously very new with the standard chalk board of beers. Corn hole outside. In the same neighborhood as Veil and Isley. 4.25

Q - I've only had two of their beers so far (the session saison was a huge disappointment). Richmond is full of great breweries - maybe I've not chosen the right beers, but Vasen better pick-up their game or it might be left behind. 3.75

Ser - Excellent service at the bar. Both tenders were friendly, engaging and most importantly knowledgeable about their beer. 4.25

Sel - A wide selection. Everyone should find a beer they want to drink. 4.25

 

 

Went on a Saturday afternoon and was crowded but still able to find some standing room (big place) and service was quick. The beers I had weren't bad at all although when I went the selection wasn't the greatest; I say this b/c they had 13 beers on tap and 12 were stouts or sours (I don't mind stouts or sours but a little variety is nice). Worth checking out if you're in the area (especially w/ the other breweries right down the street).

Stopped here to see what they has going on here. They had some Belgian inspired stuff on tap that may be hit or miss for some people. The beers I tried were decent but nothing mind blowing. The vibe of the place seemed pretty chill, but there was a big soccer game on that they had on their TV's so some people were getting loud watching that. Hung out most of the time outside actually. The place is much larger than I expected though. Not a bad spot, but not my favorite in the area.

 

 

 

Love the fact they stick to Belgian styles and do them well. Well crafted, well balanced brews. They feel no need for an IPA.