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Courtney and Justin White, owners of Intermission Beer Company (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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The new Intermission Beer Co. storefront at 10180 Lakeridge Parkway in Ashland (Photo courtesy Intermission Beer Company)
A once-thriving shopping mall and a shuttered pizza shop are not how many brewery origin stories begin, but for the owners of Intermission Beer Company, it’s simply a part of their sudsy journey.
Open since 2017, the pint-sized Glen Allen brewery is helmed by husband-and-wife duo Courtney and Justin White. Soon after its debut, they began renting a space at nearby Virginia Center Commons for extra storage. After receiving news that the mall was going to close and contemplating their next move, the duo noticed a “For Lease” sign in the window of a shuttered Cicis pizzeria in Ashland. Perhaps they’d found their answer.
“We reached out to our broker and made a decision to go big,” says Courtney, a Powhatan native. “We are doing a restaurant with retail, a brew pub and arcade.”
Aiming for an end-of-June opening, Intermission will introduce its second taproom in Hanover County, complete with a fast-casual eatery and gaming center, at 10180 Lakeridge Parkway.
“There’s so many breweries around, I think it’s gotten to the point where you can’t just be a brewery anymore,” Courtney says.
The couple say the 5,100-square-foot space will allow them to amp up production, expand their brand and add an extra layer to their growing brewery business. The Ashland location will feature 20 taps, some dedicated to guest breweries, in addition to offering cider, wine and mocktails.
While their original space, located off a main road near an auto shop, attracts beer drinkers in the know, Courtney says she’s looking forward to having a taproom in the thick of activity.
“At the new space, there’s so much traffic between Green Top [Sporting Goods] and Home Depot, we’re going to get a whole different clientele than what we have now,” she says, noting the forthcoming sports arena and new hotels and housing in the area. “Our current space is kind of tucked away, people coming want to go to the brewery. Here we’re going to get passerbys and people who just stop in for a quick lunch bite.”
Upon opening, the Ashland location will become the home base for Intermission’s production, with 2,000 square feet of brewing potential. The Glen Allen taproom will remain open but transform into a space for the brewery’s dedicated barrel-aging program.
“At our current space, we’re very limited to how many beers we can have,” Justin says. “We’ll be able to expand what we can do with it by quite a bit, and [we’re] really excited to reach out to that new brand of possibilities.”
Inside the Ashland space, a separate walled-off room with windows will house the token-run arcade, stocked with old-school classics, pinball machines and newer games.
“Operating a small taproom over the years, what we noticed is when kids get bored, [everyone’s affected]. … Let’s give them something to do so that everyone is a lot happier,” Justin says.
Another offering known to spark a smile: pizza.
“We actually managed to find a pizza oven that was pretty much the exact same configuration they had before at the old Cicis,” Justin says, noting that the menu will be simple and streamlined. “We’re going to do everything from scratch because we have the space to do it.”
Courtney and Justin — the sole brewer — originally met at VCU as theater majors; hence the name of the business. During college, Justin began home brewing, and 18 years later, he hasn’t stopped.
Despite their expansion, the pair promise that they’re holding on to Intermission’s mom-and-pop roots that have helped build a loyal fanbase.
"We started small and intended to start small. We don’t have investors, it’s just the two of us, and we did what we could do with what we have, and now we can level up. It’s a great feeling,” Courtney says.
