The Veil Brewing - Richmond

Damn, I am headed down from Maryland with some buddies on Friday for a Richmond day trip, plan on stopping in to the Veil amongst other places. Even though they said they will have more cans this time around, they also upped limit which kind of makes no sense to me. Oh well, fingers crossed they manage to last until Friday, but not gonna hold my breath unfortunately.

 

I think there's a pretty good chance that Shredder will last until Friday. Last time Shredder came out it was like 115 cases or something, and most people weren't maxing out. Lasted until Friday early evening. Them saying they are canning more than usual, also leads me to believe that it might make it. Additionally, no special release cans this week may hold off the crowds, and Crucial Taunt was released last week so not everyone will need to restock on that.

 

More cans is good, upping the limit not so much. I doubt that they'd ever revolve their activities around my schedule, but Tuesdays are just about the worst day of the week for me to do anything. I will hope that the more can thing allows it to stretch until Wednesday, when I will indeed make it down!

Anyone know what the results were on the great crowler experimentation? They continuing this?

 

It would make sense that if the brewery makes more cases then limits would increase but considering they have sold out within 24-48 hours of releasing cans in the previous weeks then maybe keep them a little more conservative just so those coming into town over a weekend have a chance. I do understand them wanting to make sure cans get to mainly locals moreso than out of towners but also think they want to make sure their cans do not end up carrying from week-to-week so best bet to sell through as soon as possible. Their distributor also just received their VABC License so I expect some cans to hopefully start hitting retail in the next few weeks. Even though Veil says they are not self-distributing the address on the license (from what I saw on the distributors social media post) does match the address of the brewery itself.

The did Crowlers again this past weekend so that's 2 weeks in a row. I expect them to continue but would stay tuned to their posts as it seems if they do it would be posted on Friday.

 

They have had them available the past two Saturdays. I haven't gone, since I get cans after work on Tuesdays, but I assume they sold out fairly quickly based on the low numbers of crowlers available. I think the wording of "experiement" is more to build excitement, but it seems this may become a pretty regular thing. And the plan all along, was to be able to crowler some of the limited releases.

 

I'm not sure cans will neccesarily hit retail (at least not soon), but do expect some kegs to be hitting select accounts in the near future. They are not self-distributing (I don't believe that is an option in VA, though @ncaudle would know more about ABC regulations, than myself), but yes, Reverie for all intents and purposes is basically their distribution company, though technically it's a separate entity from the brewery.

 

Makes sense to tease people who may not be able to make it to the brewery or able to get cans to be able to get kegs out in the wild and that could draw some more people in on their weekly releases. Not like they have an issue with having selling through cans in a couple days anyway I would keep them at the brewery but if they want to model something similar to Lawson's, Alchemist, etc then they will develop a relationship with a very small number of retail outlets who want to deal with the crowds for releases eventually.

And yes, self-distribution is not allowed I don't think but it's a blurred line with how the few in the state do it. Whether it be setting up a separate business in your spouses name, friends name, etc it's basically what's being done. They just have been able to work through a loophole in the system which I have no problem with. Just check out the distributors social media post and you will see the address on the license is the exact same as the brewery. However they do it that's fine by me.

 

@TomCat11
@Shilt

Thank you for the crowler update. As long as they are doing that, cans won't be a huge issue for me. I typically can't spend too much time in town downing a few pints, so any way at all that I can carry it home (other than a Ziploc bag to pour a pint into....) works for me.

I wonder if the distro license was primarily to allow them the ability to sell kegs to other places. I'm guessing that The Answer would be a damn good outlet for them. Kegs turn over there pretty quick, so no chance they'd get too old or whatnot.

*Edit

I think that in addition to their partnership with Brown, Legend self distributes as well..

 

Geez. The cans didn't even make it 3 hours.

 

Nope. Sold out again. Maybe they will can more next week but still keep limits down. Regardless of them canning more of their two flagships I'm guessing they still had about the same total number of cases (180-200) as when they do 3 different beers.

 

I made it out for the crowlers on Saturday, and the whole process was pretty smooth. Got there around 11:50 and there were maybe a dozen people in line. Got a crowler of Crucial Taunt and Broz Day Off, then sat at the bar for a couple pours of Snozzwanger and Bob from Marketing. I was out of there by 1230 or so, and there still weren't that many people in the place. Overall, really impressed with the entire experience.

 

Yeah, those high limits seemed to crush the supply fast, and many were grabbing the limit. Good for them, as I know they are fine selling out in hours. That said, I also noticed and talked to a number of people from out of town today. It wasn't just RVA locals grabbing cans, or even VA people. Line was half way down the building around 415, but had some friends grab cans around 545 with no wait.

 

Yeah, there goes the plan to grab cans on Friday! Oh well.

So unless you make it there on Tuesdays or Saturdays, guys like us coming down on a Friday have no ability to buy cans, no ability to buy growlers, no ability to buy crowlers (even though they have a crowler machine that they choose to only use on Saturdays, for specific beers they decide and put limits on amount they release), and to top it off no tasters when you are there? It is what it is I suppose.

 

Right now Matt Tarpey is the only brewer, he is literally brewing every ounce of beer with no help, so I am not surprised that they have been limited in production. They have a pretty big facility so I would expect production to increase once they hire some shift brewers. I talked to one of the owners and he thought they would increase production around July.

 

They opened a little over a month ago. I don't get the impression that the reason they don't have takeaway beer options is because they "don't care about customers" or anything of that nature... they just appear to be very mindful of the quality of their beer (which is even more understandable given their unfiltered IPAs). I am by no means a short drive away either, but I would much rather have the issues you listed with the brewery than have quality issues with the beer.

Maybe there will be a time in the future when they have much more significant canning abilities, or are comfortable enough to fill crowlers on a more regular basis. In the meantime, I think their mindfulness and slow pace is perfectly understandable, and I appreciate the level of thought that they're giving the quality of their beer. It's certainly paying off, and I don't see any need for them to rethink it.

 

Regardless of how many brewers they have there's still the fact that they only have so much equipment now so can only make so much in any given week. And even if they were able to produce more I think the turnout each week would still probably cause them to blow through product with a few days at most. Even though it's only been a month since they opened I think Veil knows there will not be a problem being able to sell through product. I was surprised at how quickly yesterday's release sold through considering it's their flagships with nothing new. Just goes to show how strong the RVA scene is. There will never be a solution to satisfy everybody and knowing Veil's mindset is to drink with hours of the beer being canned but maybe they would think about release a certain amount of product each day throughout the week. Or at least drop the limits to a max of 2 or 3 4pks pp. Lots of options and ideas out there on how they could stretch out availability (if they actually wanted to do that).

At the end of the day, Veil is a business that wants to sell product and that's exactly what they are doing. It's not that they "do not care" about customers. All of their beers are on draft so anyone can easily make the trip any day they are open and still have the exact same thing others are able to get canned. And the people getting limits each week are most likely flipping it for trades. Nothing wrong with that in moderation but I'm not about the person who is going to keep a small amount for themselves while trading most of the rest away. This is why, regardless of the beer, I am always for lower limits for releases. So more of the people who make the effort to show up can have a chance and not the person waiting for their porch bomb to hit.

 

Ya, pretty much disappointed that they blew through the increase already. I would have liked for them to see how an increase in production without increasing limits would have done for more availability later in the week instead of creating a hoarding opportunity. I probably have no right to feel bitter about it, but it still irks me that they probably blew out everything to folks who as a majority were just as interested in getting trade bait while I can't seem to get one can (DUI laws and all - not going to belly up ion the city and drive out to the counties...). It's my own fault for being busy with work and kids and such, but it's like seeing a swimming pool but not being able to swim! One of these days......

Ok, rant over. I'll stop by tonight and get a crowler from The Answer instead.

 

I could be wrong, but I assume that the increase was less because of their plan going forward and more because it was two of their flagships and they expected less turnout. They've repeated over and over how much they value "getting beers to as many different people as possible" and it makes sense that they would care much less about that when those beers have already been released 2 or 3 times.

 

I agree with stuff you said. One point in particular regarding bellying up to the bar, then having to drive around after. I know I am somewhat in the minority, but my buddies and I are heading down just for the one day, plan on hitting 8 or so breweries, just doing tasters at each place and pacing ourselves throughout the day, banking on ability to grab stuff to bring back with us to enjoy after the trip. Here, no ability to do tasters, combined with no ability to being home cans, growlers or crowlers? Strange to me. But like you said, I get it, and one of these days they will increase production and will be a moot point. Rant from me is over too...

 

In terms of number of brewers, Taprey has been working his tail off since before they opened, and he will not put out a beer he's not satisfied with. It goes to show his talents, that he has yet (at least to my knowledge) had to dump any batches of anything. That said, there is another brewer in the works to help out, and I believe he will start in a matter of weeks. I absolutely love the creatiivity both Tarpey and he have, and I see this being a really good partnership.

Onto the cans, they still have only been doing these can releases for a little over a month, and last week they lowered the limits and beers lasted longer than they did yesterday with less avaiable. It's obviously a process that they will continue to tweak, but at the end of the day there will always be someone who doesn't get cans. I have never personally purchased the limit, but I understand that this is a hot new brewery, and RVA has a BUNCH of peopee who trade beer nationally, and even locally.