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Enrichmond Foundation and Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery teamed up for the release of Shockoe Stout, which benefits the 17th Street Farmers Market. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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From left: Enrichmond Executive Director John Sydnor and LCCB co-founder and CEO Lisa Pumphrey check out the cedar used for the Shockoe Stout. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Maggie Pearson will celebrate her one-year anniversary as head brewer at LCCB on Halloween. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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LCCB has a six-tank system. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Over 900 pounds of base malt were used to make Shockoe Stout. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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The Shockoe Stout label features a map of Shockoe Bottom, and a portion of proceeds from beer sales benefit Enrichmond and the 17th Street Farmers Market. (Image courtesy Enrichmond)
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LCCB is one of the only farm breweries in the state, located in Goochland on 290 acres. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Photo by Eileen Mellon
“We had just opened the Shockoe Bottom location, and they came in to drink beers," says Chris Kotiza, brand handler of Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery (LCCB), a 290-acre farm brewery based in Goochland led by a woman brewer and CEO. "They're a farmers market, we're a brewery, let’s dance."
The Enrichmond Foundation, a nonprofit responsible for managing and activating Richmond public spaces including the 17th Street Farmers Market, had been looking for a way to get community members excited about the revitalization of the 236-year-old market. What better way than through Richmond’s booming craft beer industry?
On Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Brunswick Stew & Stout Festival, LCCB, in partnership with Enrichmond, will release Shockoe Stout, a 5.5 percent ABV stout brewed with hops and red cedar from the farm, dedicated to the reopening of the market.
“The idea was to build awareness around the market reopening, and [the festival] was a great opportunity to sweep that all in with the opening of businesses and support people coming down here,” says Jessica Maffey, assistant manager of operations & TreeLab for Enrichmond. “It was a serendipitous connection.”
The farm connection wasn’t the only serendipitous match for the release and reopening of the market.
Lickinghole head brewer Maggie Pearson reveals she was born and raised in Brunswick County, the birthplace of the comforting Virginia staple (though Brunswick, Georgia, also claims the recipe), while the Enrichmond group and I help her dump 55-pound bags of grain into mills for the beer during a trip to the brewery in late September.
“She’s perfect,” says John Sydnor, executive director of Enrichmond Foundation, about Pearson, laughing. “The key was they're a farm brewery; it was a perfect match.”
Pearson, one of the few female head brewers, made her start at Breckenridge Brewery in Colorado before moving on to Midlothian's Steam Bell Beer Works. She will celebrate her one-year anniversary at LCCB on Halloween.
Lisa Pumphrey, CEO and co-founder of LCCB, was pleased to collaborate with Enrichmond, particularly on a project that combines two of her passions in life: beer and farming. But, she explains, beer is where it all began.
“We were brewers first, farmers second,” says Pumphrey, a graduate of the University of Montana. “That was where I got into beer; in the '90s it was booming in Montana.”
Upon graduation she worked in an animal sanctuary with grizzly bears and wolves before heading to South Africa to work with elephants.
Pumphrey returned to Virginia in 2011, and when the brewery opened in 2013, it was the only farm brewery in the state, something she helped push into action. Pumphrey worked with the commonwealth to pass Senate Bill 430, allowing LCCB to brew beer on the farm and utilize the hops, barley, wheat, rye, figs and bitter oranges grown on the property, along with well water.
“Water waste is the biggest environmental impact with beer,” she explains. “It’s part of the reason I wanted a farm brewery in the beginning, and there is no water waste [here].”
During the hands-on trip to the Goochland brewery, everyone took turns adding grain to the mill, a few of us munching on the toasty, crunchy grains, which Kotiza revealed is a favorite snack for him.
For the brew, 900 pounds of base malt are used, along with 14 pounds of chocolate malt, which resembles roasted coffee beans and exudes a bitter taste that contributes to the beer's rich flavors and dark color.
Earlier in the year, the Enrichmond group picked hops that are incorporated in the brew. One of the last steps of the brewing process was adding red cedar staves from Virginia trees for an extra woody character.
Shockoe Stout will be available on tap at area restaurants and the LCCB taproom at 1717 E. Franklin St. in Shockoe and offered in 16-ounce cans at local shops and grocers such as Trader Joe’s, Costco and Whole Foods. The label features a map of Shockoe Bottom with a Google Maps pin highlighting the 17th Street Market’s location.
A portion of proceeds from sales of the beer will go toward the market, which the Enrichmond team hopes will be embraced upon reopening as an accessible public space.
“It’s really meant to be a community space of Shockoe Bottom,” says Maffey. “Our goal is to make it a reflection of what the Shockoe Bottom community wants to experience. The market was a great opportunity for us to do that, and it’s also a historical space, and that means a lot in terms of the overall story of Richmond.”
The Brunswick Stew & Stout Festival takes place at the 17th Street Farmers Market, 100 N. 17th St., from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 27. The event is free, but there is a $1 suggested donation to enter. Samples and quarts of stew will be available for purchase. There will also be a competition for Best Stew.
