USA, VA: Strangeways Brewing preparing to open its fourth location in Williamsburg

Strangeways Brewing, a Virginia-based microbrewery, is preparing to open its fourth location this summer at the Shops at High Street in Williamsburg, Wydaily reported on May 21.

At a recent Williamsburg City Council meeting held May 12 at the Stryker Center, the business received unanimous approval for a special use permit to operate a microbrewery at 1430-1103 High Street.

During the same vote, the city council also unanimously approved a text change amendment to allow a “‘micro-brewery, micro-distillery, micro-winery and/or micro-cidery, with a capacity of not more than 15,000 barrels per year’ with a special use permit in the Economic Development ED-2”.

“15,000 barrels is generally the industry standard,” said Williamsburg Interim Planning and Codes Compliance Director Erin Burke while briefing the city council. “It’s kind of the cut-off point from going from a micro-brewery, in this case, to a major distributor. That number is kind of seen universally, not just in Virginia but across the country. It doesn’t indicate that the applicant will be producing that much, that’s just the limitation that’s placed on the property.”

The Williamsburg location will offer a brewery tasting room on the corner of Richmond Road and High Street. The tasting room, according to Strangeways Brewing, “[W]ill be open 7 days a week.”

The 4,000-square-foot location will also feature outdoor spaces for patrons to use. This will include “a huge brick patio with walkways in the front of the space, and a spacious brick courtyard in the rear of the space, all set amongst well-manicured landscaping and topiary,” according to Strangeways Brewing.

The location will feature 300 seats and 48 draft lines. The company says it will serve “a diverse line-up of beer, cider, flavored spiked sparkling seltzer, wine, and non-alcoholic offerings.”

The microbrewery’s various beer offerings include IPAs, Lagers, Pilsners, Ales, Stouts, Porters, Belgians, Sour and Wild beers, and Barrel-aged beers.

“We’re just excited about the location. I’ve got a lot of ties to Williamsburg,” said Founder/Owner of Strangeways Brewery Neil Burton at the city council meeting. “We think it’s ideal for this shopping center which has a lot of restaurants in it currently.”

In addition to brewing its own beer, Strangeways Brewing will serve nachos, pretzels with beer cheese and mustard, chips and beer queso, and other hot and cold snack foods. Additionally, the microbrewery welcomes patrons to bring food from the surrounding restaurants to its location.

The surrounding dining options include Plaza Azteca Mexican, Aticha Thai Cuisine, Subway, Five Guys Burgers, Le Yaca French Restaurant, Revolution Golf and Grille, Tipsy Beans Cafe’, Fat Tuna Grill and Oyster House, and Manhattan Bagel.

“We have an outdoor area coupled with the indoor area, we think it will allow people to bring food from the local restaurants over to enjoy a beer at our place,” Burton said at the City Council meeting. “I think this particular center kind of showcases a lot of things around town that people can come visit and have fun like Revolution Bar and Grille which is a unique space where you can go in and play indoor golf. These types of uses I think are really interesting. I think we kind of really couple with this shopping center.”

Strangeways Brewing does not have an exact date set for its grand opening.

23 May, 2022