Saturday morning my girlfriend and I will be waking up early and heading to Richmond to stay the night and experience the town. I've swung through Richmond a few times stopping at a few breweries (Answer, Veil, Triple Crossing, and Hardywood) but don't know much about the town outside that. Does anyone have any suggestions of interesting things to do/see that my girlfriend and I could check out? I know nothing about the city nor have I seen anything it has to offer. We should be getting in around lunchtime Saturday and then leaving sometime in the afternoon/evening Sunday. Also would love to hear any recommendations for breweries outside of the ones listed above. I was definitely planning on Mekong/Answer but none of the rest were really must-stops (unless I find out there's a good chance I can get cans/bottles of an interesting release). Our favorite beers generally are big stouts and sours followed by NEIPAs. Edit: We've got a hotel room at the Graduate.
You'll be close to Carytown and the Fan, both of which are great weekend hangout areas but can also get college-y and hipster-y (which may be your thing, who knows). Stone has a huge facility close to TCB Fulton which is worth stopping at (TCB Fulton is my personal favorite). You may like Vasen which is in Scott's Addition with Veil, Ardent, Isley, and Three Notch'd. Also may be worth checking out Final Gravity, especially if you do any home brewing. Hope this helps.
Definitely make it a point to check out Final Gravity. I put them up there with Veil, TCB and The Answer. They do IPAs very well but also have a nice variety of styles available and do them all excellent. I have not been since just after they opened but I hear Castleburg Brewery (right beside Hardywood) is putting out really good beers. The Graduate is very close to Triple Crossing - Downtown / Foushee St. and Champion so you could easily walk to both of those. You could Uber up to Scott's Addition and spend several hours walking around there hitting several of the breweries, cidery and meadery around there. Also be sure to either print out a Richmond Beer Trail Map or pick one up at your first stop and get it stamped at each brewery you stop at. Get 5 stamps and you turn in the map for a free item at your 5th stamped stop. I believe the item is currently a stocking cap but some locations may still have previously merch as well (sunglasses or hat).
VMFA currently has the Terracotta Army exhibit, which is supposed to be pretty cool - though not beer/brewery related.
I'm definitely looking for some non-beer related things as well! I think right now all we've got is an architecture museum.
Does Final Gravity do anything unique with the homebrewing aspect or is it just a brewery/homebrew store? I do homebrew (although newer to the hobby) and would be definitely be interested if they do anything unique like that. White Labs in Asheville comes to mind as far as a unique experience for homebrewers.
Not sure what you consider unique and Ive never been to White Labs but probably nothing you would think is so. They did recently expand their space so the brewery / tap room is one half then you walk through to their adjoining unit to the homebrew shop. They are releasing a new DIPA on Friday and Yoga class on Sunday. Probably also the earliest opening brewery in RVA as they open at 11am Fri - Sun. 13 beers on tap (taplist is on Untappd) and they will Crowler just about everything they have with some exceptions. Crowlers run b/w $9-$11 for the fill then $1.50 for the Crowler itself. Here's a couple links I found from a quick Google search to give you some ideas what there may be to do beside breweries and such. - Paste Magazine: 24 Hours of Drinking in Richmond - NY Times: 36 Hours in Richmond
I was more curious if the homebrew part was brought up because they're also a homebrew store or if they incorporate it into their brewery as well somehow. I used White Labs as an example as they use the same wort and will separate it into multiple batches and use different strains of yeast on them so you can try samples of several of the exact same beer to experience the difference a yeast can have on a beer. I've been googling some things to see but it seems like a fair amount of them involve being outside. Looking at this weekend's forecast, cold and rainy. So was interested in a local perspective on neat things in Richmond to do indoors.
Class it up and switch your reservation to the Jefferson Hotel a couple blocks over --- or at least try to call and see if maybe there's an opening for Sunday brunch (unlikely).
RVA has a lot of great outdoor attractions - you should plan a return trip in the spring or fall to take advantage of them. For indoors, check here: http://www.richmondgov.com/Visitors/Museums.aspx. Lots of history in RVA. My personal recommendations would be the VMFA (Terracotta Army exhibit) and Valentine. I've heard great things about the Black History, Confederacy, and Holocaust museums. Maymont is also a favorite, but you want to be able to be outside to experience the full breadth of it. If you're interested in a show, there's a number of venues - check the "Cultural Venues" link on the same site. Enjoy your visit and the city!
Weather definitely does not look appealing for outdoor activities this weekend. A couple other beer centric spots you could check out aside from breweries are. - Circuit Arcade Bar: A bunch of old school arcade games (Dig Dug, Asteroids, Pac-Man, NFL Blitz, etc), pinball, air hockey, skeeball along with 50 self-serv pour by the ounce taps. - RVA Draft Room: Another self-serv, pay-by-the ounce place with 50 taps as well. I personally love this type of place as I can try a lot of craft beer (mainly local) that I would have to visit multiple places to try otherwise or end up paying quite a bit more for flights, half pours or full pours at a traditional bar or brewery. I can typically try 8-10 different beers and come away only spending $20-$25.
As we both enjoy the outdoors, this could definitely be a return trip when it's warmer. Neither of us are overly into the whole Valentines thing so instead of doing the typical Valentine's celebrations, we decided to take a weekend trip to somewhere we've never spent much time. We had discussed trying to visit closer to Christmas but things didn't pan out then. Thankfully she enjoys beer just about as much as I do so it's not going to be me dragging her around from brewery to brewery as she rolls her eyes.
Foo Dog has been a new jam for me food wise, buns/bao and Korean/Asian street food type menu. Black Hand or Lamplighter for some great coffee. Goatacado if you dig healthy, fresh bowls of really flavorful food, kinda chipotle-esque, but delicious and randomly good beers on tap. Scott’s Addition, as many have said, is worth spending time in for sure, a whole day is very possible. If I was staying where you guys are and could walk to the Foushee TCB then it’d be bad (sike, good) news and I’d probably only ever go there. Stone should be a quick trip just to check out their massive operation and grab a taste or two, sometimes they have some pretty interesting things available (and think of it as supporting them for their lawsuit against “big beer”). And “if” outside activities are welcomed, the river walk, Browns and Bells Islands, Maymont, Tredegar Iron Works (old civil war munitions facility/new event space) all amazing options! Ok that’s enough! Have a great quick weekend! Mad love for RVA!
