Vasen Brewing President and co-founder Joey Darragh (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
According to Vasen Brewing Company co-founder Joey Darragh, Richmond has a strong reputation as the beer capital of Virginia, and, along with his cousin, head brewer and co-founder Tony Giordano, the brewers are more than happy to make their distinct mark on the scene. Named one of the Best New Breweries in the country by Beer Advocate in May, Vasen brings the funk with its range of barrel-aged, fermented flavors including farmhouse, sour and gose style brews.
This weekend they are bringing the party as they celebrate one year of business and host an all-day festival in Scott’s Addition on Saturday, July 28. Touted by Darragh as "a massive throw-down," the event promises special beer releases from Vasen; guest appearances from more than 10 breweries (and cideries, a meadery and a distillery); food from ZZQ and Goatocado plus Rappahannock oysters; mini-golf and shuffleboard from the forthcoming Tang & Biscuit; live music; and speakers from local environmental groups.
In anticipation of this milestone, we sat down with Darragh, Vasen’s president, to reflect on the past year and discuss the craft beer movement.
Richmond magazine: How did this journey with beer begin?
Joey Darragh: We both, my cousin and I, for a long time have had a love for craft beer, and we were living near meccas of craft beer in California and Colorado. [Tony] got a job at Boulder Beer Company on the packaging line and worked his way up to [being] essentially the head brewer over the course of a couple years. We were ready for change, and the next logical step for me was to start my own company. He wanted a place to spread his wings as a brewer and make the beers he wanted to make, and opening a brewery is kind of the way you have to do it. The stars aligned in both of our lives, and we were both ready to take a jump, and craft beer made perfect sense for us.
RM: Why the name Vasen?
Darragh: Back in 2014, we took a bit of a pilgrimage to Europe, primarily to go and experience all of the various traditional European beer styles to see what resonated with us. The ... trip culminated in Sweden — a whole side of our family is Swedish/Norwegian, so one of the things we agreed upon is we wanted to incorporate our Scandinavian background into the brewery and brand. We wanted a connection to nature and wanted a mystical/ spiritual element to it. My buddy’s wife was the one who suggested Vasen, and literally a month later we revisited it, and it was like, "Are you cool with that? I’m cool with that." It means your inner essence, kind of also connotes a spirit animal, and we’ll be introducing more Vasen spirit animals as more beer releases go on.
RM: Why did you and Tony settle on Virginia as Vasen’s home?
Darragh: Virginia just made sense, and, besides having family here, we saw it as an opportunity to take a lot of the beer styles we had really gotten into and saw taking off on the West Coast and bring them to the East Coast. Sour beers in Virginia have become popular pretty recently, and we love those beers and want to be one of the breweries in Virginia known for sours and farmhouse-style ales — wild, funky stuff — and push that to the forefront of the craft beer movement in Virginia.
RM: Why are beer drinkers so attracted to the sour style of beers?
Darragh: For a lot of people, sour beers at least share a lot in common with other beverages they are already drinking, whether it’s wine or cider or other craft cocktails. There’s a lot of flavor overlap, and a lot of sours these days have fruit additions, so it’s crossing a lot of different beverage areas that people are comfortable with. With sours you can immediately taste the difference, and it’s easy to appreciate what is different about it.
RM: You’re on a desert island and only have one beer. What would you want to drink?
Darragh: Is it going to be lame if I name one of my own?
RM: No, no.
Darragh: Man, I mean, I’m on a desert island, so it’s going to be hot. I may have to go with our Guava Gose. It kind of checks all the boxes for me — nice flavor complexity, a good amount of acidity but not overly done. You can drink a few of them and not have the lining of your cheeks start to get burned off, and it’s perfect for a hot day.
RM: When you first opened Vasen, did you know that sustainability would be a Vasen value?
Darragh: Definitely. From the start, even before the brewery, sustainability, green energy and renewable energy were important. I used to work for Tesla. From the start there’s always been a strong emphasis on how we can make our brewery more efficient and less wasteful and how can we use the brewery to give back to the community and focus on environmental nonprofits. Especially with the outdoor treasures Richmond has in terms of the James River and park systems, there’s a lot worth protecting.
RM: Were you nervous about opening a brewery in this area, specifically Scott’s Addition, because of the number of breweries that already existed?
Darragh: I don’t know about nervous. We looked at RVA and compared it to other places that had high concentrations of breweries, and if you look at Asheville or Portland the number of breweries per capita is beyond where we're at in Richmond. I just hope that everyone contributes to the craft beer scene in a way that continues to elevate the beers that are made here.
RM: Do you think the craft beer movement will hit a point of saturation?
Darragh: I don’t think saturation is a real thing. I don’t think you can point and say, "We’re saturated now," so it’s really a matter of maintaining quality and maintaining a kind of special experience for the people that come into your brewery. Richmond’s craft beer scene is starting to get on the national map, and Scott’s Addition is becoming its own tourist entity, and you’ll see more and more of that out-of-town tourism growing here that will only increase the foot traffic going into breweries in the area.
RM: Looking back at the past year, what was one of the most special moments for Vasen?
Darragh: Opening day was pretty special; just the sheer number of people interested enough to come and check us out was surreal. All of the partnerships we’ve developed over the past year through nonprofits, too. We’re hosting events in the taproom and getting a diverse cross-section of people in here that you wouldn’t expect. It’s satisfying to see.
RM: What made Vasen decide to do it big for the one-year celebration?
Darragh: Well, we enjoy a good party, and Scott’s Addition hasn’t really seen a big party, or at least a party we consider big yet, and the fact that this building has a giant parking lot across the street from us seemed like the perfect venue for a massive throw-down. We definitely got in over our heads in terms of the scale, but we think it’ll be worth it. But we're a glutton for punishment when it comes to stuff like that.
RM: Word on the street is there’s going to be some special releases at the festival. Can you confirm?
Darragh: We’re going to be releasing some new beers that day, and we’ve got some new goses lined up that we’ll do a sneak preview of. We’re also trying to get beers from around the Richmond area and some friends up in NoVa and Virginia Beach that you don’t ordinarily see down here.
RM: What are some future goals of Vasen Brewing?
Darragh: Releasing bottled beer and the foeder beers. We have a bunch of barrels in the back that have been sitting there. We’re going to start blending those beers that are finally starting to come of age. They’ll be special release bottles and small runs. We’ll employ the solera method and pull a few barrels and then put fresh wort on top afterward to kind of keep it rolling. Since day one we’ve wanted to get our beers in cans. We have our crowler system set up and running, but people are hungry for cans. We want to get the beers in cans because it aligns so well with taking beer and going on a trip or adventure, so it makes perfect sense.
Vasen's 1 Year Anniversary Festival takes place Saturday, July 28, from noon to 10 p.m. at 3331 Moore St. in Richmond's Scott's Addition. Tickets
