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(Photo by: Stephanie Breijo)
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(Photo by: Stephanie Breijo)
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Matt Tarpey, a co-founder of The Veil, against a backdrop of the brewery's logo. (Photo by: Stephanie Breijo)
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The Veil's koelschip will allow the brewery to naturally ferment its beer with airborne Richmond yeast. (Photo by: Stephanie Breijo)
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Closed to the public is the brewery's 15-tank system, pictured here. (Photo by: Stephanie Breijo)
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(Photo by: Stephanie Breijo)
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(Photo by: Stephanie Breijo)
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From inside the tasting room, guests can peek into the brewery. (Photo by: Stephanie Breijo)
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(Photo by: Stephanie Breijo)
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(Photo by: Stephanie Breijo)
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(Photo by: Stephanie Breijo)
The koelschip — or coolship, as it has been Americanized — is the only thing at The Veil Brewing Co. that could be considered unsexy, even though it’s one of roughly 40 in the nation according to Matt Tarpey, one of the brewery’s founders. A classic Dutch fermentation system, now here in Richmond with a 450-gallon capacity, it resembles one giant tub. It may create some sexy results, but it's nothing sexy to look at.
Inside the tasting room, however, that changes. Opening this Saturday, April 16, the seating area, lounge and bar are bursting with competing but complementary, provocative visuals. The walls, faux-cemented by local artist Stephanie Green Van Buren, and the logo — a hand waving a veil, created by local designer and illustrator Tim Skirven of Skirven & Croft — are just the tip of the arresting optical iceberg. If you don’t leave with the details etched into your brain, like that logo seemingly appears to have been on the back wall, Tarpey won’t feel as though he succeeded in his mission of individuality in design.
Tarpey and his partners, Dustin Durrance, who will act as tasting room manager, and Dave Michelow, an owner of Barrel Thief Wine Shop & Café, got the keys to the building — previously a church — in June of 2015 and immediately started floor-to-ceiling demolition. Now it’s home to raised ceilings, imposing stone, black leather and white taxidermy in an open space that seats 90 people comfortably. A long cement bar, more than 40 feet long, is the focal point of the room, and it comes complete with an ADA-compliant section, too.
“With this tasting room, there are three things I wanted people to think," Tarpey says, "One, I might not be in a brewery. Two, I might not be in Richmond; I could be in L.A. or Brooklyn or something. Three, wow, they really thought of everything. If I achieve that, then I did what I set out to do.”
Now, after brewing his sixteenth batch of beer, Tarpey and The Veil are ready to open to the public. The grand opening event is elaborate, featuring Stroops, ZZQ and Boka Truck serving up hotdogs, brisket and tacos, respectively, while DJs spin music. A mural artist will be painting the shipping container in the parking lot. Not only will there be beer flowing all day; cans in two separate four-packs will also be available for purchase: Four-packs of tall boys with Crucial Taunt and Master Shredder, both year-round releases, will be available for $13, and a mixed four-pack including Dull Fangs — a one-off with grapefruit juice and New Zealand and Australian hops — and Sleeping Forever, an annual imperial stout, will be found for $16. Limits will be determined on Saturday, based on the length of the lines.
In the future, expect imperial stouts (one is aging in bourbon barrels as I type); a sour IPA; wheat IPAs; an English barleywine and a double IPA. For the non-beer drinker, there's filtered water, non-alcoholic root beer and a nitro Lamplighter cold brew.
“We are trying to brand this whole project as a quality-focused brewery," Tarpey says. "Everything about the brewery and the project is to be with the utmost focus. [If] it was going to cost us $15,000 to have a basic tasting room, why don’t we triple that and have a phenomenal tasting room? I have been to 100 tasting rooms; I wanted to give someone the exact opposite of most of those — a unique experience."
The Veil Brewing Co. is located at 1301 Roseneath Road in Scott's Addition. Its opening celebration, set for Saturday, April 16, takes place at the space from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Regular hours will begin next week: from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; from 4 to 11 p.m. on Friday; from noon to 11 p.m. on Saturday; and from noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday.
