Bringing the Outdoors In at Vasen Brewing
Things are happening at Vasen Brewing in Scott’s Addition.
There’s no beer percolating at Vasen Brewing yet, but a dominant motif is coming into focus at Scott’s Addition’s soon-to-be newest brewery.
On a visit last week, artist Emily Herr‘s half-finished caribou head adorned one wall of the tasting room. And in the middle, a boulder-like structure surrounded the base of a steel beam. The beam itself was wrapped to make it look like a tree. There are places to sit on the faux boulder, rest a beer, maybe even climb it (though maybe not after a high-ABV beer).
“We’re not sure how people are going to interact with that,” said Nathan Winters, Vasen’s marketing and environmental director. “We’re going to have chalk bags and pitons hanging off of it.”
Winters, a Chattanooga native, came from outdoor retailer Patagonia, and he and brewery founders Tony Giordano and Joey Darragh, have been working on making Vasen a reality for over two years. The place is big — it takes up over 17,000 square feet of space in the Hand Craft Building — and there’s still much construction work to be done, but the team hopes to be serving beers to the public by late July.
Mmmm, beer…
In the meantime, the team is trying to build a brand around a love for, and Richmond’s love of, the outdoors. Darragh is a climber; Giordano a trail runner; and Winters enjoys hiking and mountain biking, but none is native to Richmond, and Winters said they quickly found out what a great place RVA is for nature-based pursuits when they moved here over two years ago.
“The more people we ran into, the more we realized this was a huge part of the identity (here),” Winters said. “I was surprised other breweries hadn’t tapped into that culture.”
To that end, Vasen is engaging prominent local outdoors types as brand ambassadors. It also hopes to start an outdoors-focused podcast, though planning is in the early stages. Different animals will be featured prominently on all its beer can art, and it’s partnering with 1% for the Planet to give back to a Richmond-based nature-focused charity.
“The outdoors has always provided us with better versions of ourselves,” Winters added.
Some would argue beer does the same. Vasen is betting it makes sense to join the two.
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Held just 15 miles north of Richmond, this is the 17th consecutive year of the festival and anglers of all ages are encouraged to attend, especially beginners. The goal of the festival is to create a family friendly atmosphere for everyone to immerse themselves in the world of fly fishing, no matter their experience level.
Festival interest has grown so quickly that this year Beasley doubled the space in the convention center to accompany all of the vendors and expected visitors. He also added a second pond for fly casting instruction and the newest attraction, a kayak demo pond for guests who would like to try out kayaks and standup paddleboards from the likes of top brands NuCanoe and Bote.
“Thanks to the support of long term sponsors like the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, Temple Fork Outfitters, Green Top and Orvis, among others, we’ve grown into a real powerhouse in the fly fishing community. We’ve introduced fly fishing to thousands of new folks who might not otherwise ever go into a fly shop. We’re also pleased to have the support from vendors from all over the county, and some international vendors as well,” he added.