Sam & Sean Kanipe and Alex & Lauren Glaser talk about the Northside, PBR, and New Year’s Eve!

WARNING: This video is uncut and may contain sensitive or offensive materials. A filtered version of the audio is below.

Published on 12/09/2019

Sam:Welcome to the Why Richmond is Awesome podcast where we talk about what’s going on around town, our favorite things to do and the local spots you need to try. My name is Sam.

Sean:And my name is Sean.

Sam:And we run the Richmond Experience, a digital company that inspires locals to explore Richmond.

Lauren:My name is Lauren.

Alex:And my name is Alex. We’re local realtors that like to live, work, and play in the RVA.

Sam:Welcome back.

Sean:Episode 1000.

Sam:It’s episode six right now, we’re not quite at a thousand.

Lauren:6000.

Sean:6000.

Sam:[crosstalk 00:00:46] at episode six.

Sean:What do you think we’ll be talking about episode 6000?

Alex:Well, how many years is that?

Sam:The same things.

Sean:6000 years.

Alex:[crosstalk 00:00:55], it’s about three years in a thousand so that’s…

Sean:52, seven.

Sam:It’ll be a new decade.

Sean:Carry the four.

Alex:We’ll be talking about our flying cars. Everything that Back to the Future-

Sean:Everyone says flying cars.

Alex:Everything that Back to the Future had 20 years ago will actually happen in 20 years.

Sean:We’re probably going to have two carboning machines instead of one.

Sam:Oh gosh.

Lauren:And instead of coming down the bottom, they’re going to fly out the top.

Sean:Yes. They’re going to fly to your house.

Sam:Whoa! These are our 2023 predictions.

Lauren:You don’t even order it. They determine when you need a car.

Sean:Yeah, they read your mind.

Alex:It just shows up.

Sam:Exactly and you’re like [crosstalk 00:01:32]. This is my life now.

Sean:It charges your Amazon Google account because they’ve combined and taken over the world.

Alex:Yes.

Sam:Yeah, jeez. Goals.

Sean:None of us will mind it because everything will be awesome.

Sam:Yeah, we’ll be like, “It’s fine.”

Lauren:Will they pack my car full of Amazon boxes before they deliver it to my house?

Alex:Yes.

Lauren:Okay, great.

Sam:Probably.

Alex:We’ll save on shipping that way.

Lauren:Yes.

Sam:Jeez.

Sean:All right, that’s a good segue. What are we talking about today?

Sam:Some fun stuff. We’re talking about Northside today. It’s one of the things I think we should talk about today.

Sean:Northside.

Alex:Love Northside.

Sam:Yeah, it’s got it going on. Shout out Northside.

Lauren:It’s kind of underrated.

Sam:Yeah, I agree.

Alex:Scott’s Addition gets all the attention.

Lauren:I was going to say Scott’s Addition has taken over but Northside really has almost it all.

Sam:It’s the people. I really hope that we can save all the people that are there. I don’t want people to be moving out because there’s all this development, because it’s a cool neighborhood. Can you hear me now?

Alex:Yeah, a little better.

Sam:Okay.

Alex:All right, from Richmonder to Richmonder, what do you consider Northside? Because I know Northside Richmond is Belleview, Ginner Park , Brookland Park.

Sam:That’s what I consider-

Alex:A little more north is Lakeside, which I know a lot of people still consider the Northside.

Sam:Part of the Northside.

Alex:And that’s in Henrico . Which part of Northside are we talking about?

Sam:The Belleview, Brookland Park area. That’s seeing a lot of development right now and it’s a cool neighborhood. It’s got a vibe and I hope that doesn’t lose that as things are developing.

Alex:Beautiful houses.

Sam:Yeah.

Alex:I love those.

Sam:Lots of historic.

Lauren:Development as in things are coming or things that are already here.

Sam:Things that are coming and some things that just recently opened, yeah.

Lauren:Tell me more.

Sean:Like what?

Sam:Well, Ninja Kombucha which has long time been a pop up at farmer’s markets around the area and at various markets, they sell in some places currently but they are finally opening a tasting room and production facility on Brooklyn Park Boulevard if I’m not mistaken.

Lauren:Cool.

Sam:Yeah.

Alex:126 West Brooklyn Park Boulevard to be exact.

Sam:There you go.

Sean:Would that be the first one in Richmond? The first kombucha tasting room?

Sam:Kombuchery.

Sean:Kombuchery. I hope that’s the word.

Sam:Yeah, yeah.

Sean:Oh my gosh, that sounds so cool.

Alex:Four years after founding Richmond’s first kombucha company-

Sam:Kombuchery.

Alex:They’re at least the first company in Richmond. It doesn’t specify it’s the first brick and mortar, but I feel like it is. One of us would’ve heard of another one.

Sam:Yeah, I don’t think there is one.

Sean:Kombuchery.

Sam:A kombucha taproom sounds kind of cool. I’m interested to see what that’s like.

Alex:It specifies they want it to be a hang out spot for people that don’t feel like they need to get drunk all the time.

Sam:Nice.

Alex:Other things in the area at least mentioned in this article is… No, wait. Sorry.

Sean:For Brookland Park?

Sam:Yeah.

Alex:Where you can currently find Ninja Kombucha, Strawberry Street Market, Growlers to Go, Perk in Bon Air and Nate’s Bagels.

Sam:Nice.

Lauren:Whoa!

Alex:Which I’m still swooning over last week’s bagel.

Sean:Yes.

Sam:So good.

Lauren:Why didn’t you bring more?

Sam:I know.

Sean:We should’ve.

Alex:You’re fired.

Sam:Yeah, that’s awesome. But there’s a lot of things. A developer just bought a theater that’s been there that’s super dilapidated, so we’re really excited to see what they’re going to do with that space there. A juice company is opening up, Mrs. B’s, Miss B’s.

Lauren:Ooh, I like the name.

Sean:Miss B’s.

Alex:Miss B’s.

Sam:They’re going to do some fresh juices and all that kind of stuff so that’s really exciting. Big juice fan. Juice Laundry just opened not recently but it’s one of the newer ones in Richmond. Have you guys been over? I think it’s the River Shopping Plaza.

Sean:Is it a laundromat?

Sam:No, it’s just called the Juice Laundry.

Sean:Juice Laundry.

Sam:Yeah.

Sean:Interesting.

Sam:The first one was in Charlottesville.

Lauren:Some money laundering [crosstalk 00:05:03] with a juice bar front.

Sean:We sell juice.

Lauren:Just kidding. That was completely-

Alex:A little off topic but in some cities there’s some laundromats that are bars and clubs.

Lauren:I’ve heard that.

Alex:Do your laundry and hang out and have fun.

Sean:That’s a good idea.

Lauren:It’s 3:00 AM, where are you going? To the Laundro Club.

Sean:Laundro Club.

Sam:Laundro Club. That’s funny. I don’t know, yeah but that would be sweet.

Lauren:For the theater, do you think they’re revamping it as a theater? Is it a movie theater?

Sam:I have no idea.

Sean:Like a bird theater style?

Lauren:Are they going to make it a laundromat?

Sam:When I say that it’s dilapidated, I’m saying-

Alex:It’s bad.

Sam:It looks horrible in there.

Alex:It’s real bad

Sam:Mm-hmm (affirmative), yeah. It’s in bad shape, so not sure.

Sean:Hope they transform it into laser tag.

Sam:Laser tag?

Sean:Yeah.

Sam:That is so random.

Sean:Well-

Lauren:Laser tag is fun.

Alex:I would play laser tag. Is there only one in Richmond, Laser Quest off Midlothian?

Lauren:I think so.

Sam:I haven’t been there since I was 12.

Alex:Used to be an Ultra Zone, I think.

Sean:Yep. I remember that one.

Alex:I remember that as a kid.

Sean:If you made a list of the things that have opened in Richmond in the last year or two, there have been some crazy ones.

Alex:The gasoline golf carts. I can’t remember the name, right by RIR.

Sean:Oh.

Alex:[inaudible 00:06:07]

Lauren:What’s RI… Oh.

Alex:Richmond International Raceway.

Sean:Oh, what’s that called? What’s that called?

Sam:G-Force.

Sean:Yes.

Alex:G-Force Carts. I think they might have laser tag and some other games.

Sean:They have paintball which is pretty cool. Yeah.

Sam:Yeah, but Northside’s got it going on. I think we got off topic there a little bit but yeah-

Sean:You’re welcome.

Sam:Kombucha’s coming in. You’re welcome. Juice bar is coming in. If you’re the developer Cory Weiner listening to this and you want to tell us what’s coming in at the theater, let us know.

Sean:Name drop.

Sam:Yep. But yeah, I’m excited. I’m excited for that area. It’s really pretty, a lot of the houses are being fixed up and it’s a nice neighborhood. If you haven’t been over there in awhile, definitely stroll on through because there’s a lot of exciting stuff happening.

Lauren:It’s a good change of scenery.

Sam:Yeah. Boho opened up a studio over there.

Lauren:Who?

Sam:Boho, the cycling studio.

Lauren:Oh, Boho. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alex:Nice.

Sam:That’s a nice facility too. They do not necessarily cycling classes but it’s body pump, HIIT classes and yoga and things like that which is really nice.

Lauren:Cool.

Sean:Isn’t Black Hand over there already?

Sam:Yeah, Black Hand’s got a facility over there. They posted on social media a couple weeks ago that they had a really exciting announcement for their Brooklyn Park location but I don’t know if anything has come of that yet or if we’ve heard.

Alex:So, they said they’re announcing something but they haven’t said what.

Sam:We haven’t looked yet in awhile.

Alex:The announcement of the announcement.

Sam:Maybe.

Lauren:Coming next week maybe.

Sam:Yeah. We’ll look in and let you know. Might be something fun.

Alex:The article I read about Ninja Kombucha listed some other cool, new stuff that’s opened up in Northside. You got Fuzzy Cactus. It’s a restaurant, bar, music venue.

Lauren:Is that Mexican food? Because I’m in.

Alex:I’ll have to check.

Lauren:No, it’s not. I don’t think it is. No.

Sam:Probably American.

Sean:American food.

Sam:Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Alex:Manchu, fried chicken food truck turned takeout spot.

Sam:Apparently the wings are bomb. I think it’s a New Orleans style wing. They were a wing truck.

Alex:What makes it a New Orleans wings?

Lauren:Heartburn.

Sam:I’m not sure.

Alex:Actually probably.

Sam:Probably.

Alex:River City Market, a health conscious grocer and the forthcoming specialty food shop, The Little Café.

Sam:Cute. That sounds really cute.

Alex:And then Mrs. B’s Juice Bar which you already talked about.

Sam:The Little Café, is that from the folks from Julep’s? You know they’re opening a market over there right?

Lauren:In Lakeside actually.

Alex:Is it going to be a holiday market that we can go to?

Sam:Lakeside Market, Lakeside Farmer’s Market’s doing holiday stuff.

Alex:I always see that when I go by Final Gravity.

Sam:Yeah, but I think we missed-

Sean:Also underrated.

Lauren:Agreed.

Alex:Very.

Sam:December 9th. I feel like we missed the Northside… There’s an artist, creative artist in the park type ordeal but I think that already passed in Northside, a pop up market. They’re all over the place

Alex:So many markets.

Sam:I know, I know. Have you guys shopped any?

Lauren:A little bit. Not as much as I’d hoped I would.

Sam:You still have time.

Lauren:I know.

Sam:Okay.

Alex:We’re surprisingly busy in December for real estate. It’s usually our slow month but interest rates are so low, inventory’s low, we’re staying busy so no complaints here.

Sam:Yeah, that’s awesome. That’s really good.

Lauren:Also, when it gets dark at 2:00 PM, it’s like…

Sean:Exactly.

Lauren:The last thing you want to do after a long day of work is anything. To be honest.

Sam:Anything, period.

Sean:You’re grateful for Netflix.

Lauren:Yeah.

Alex:Or Disney+. We got that.

Sean:Or Disney+.

Alex:We’re enjoying that. The live action Lady and the Tramp was cool.

Lauren:It was really good.

Sean:Nice.

Sam:Oh yeah, my friend [crosstalk 00:09:40].

Sean:So, it just has all the classics?

Alex:Pretty much.

Lauren:You can watch anything in the vault.

Sean:Ooh. Does that include Hulu too? Or is that-

Alex:I’ve heard there’s packages but they’re still separate.

Sean:Okay, so there’s a package deal.

Sam:Okay.

Sean:How much is Disney+ by itself?

Lauren:I think it’s $5 a month, $6 a month.

Sean:Oh, nice.

Alex:[inaudible 00:09:57]

Lauren:I think if you have Verizon-

Sean:Five, seven, eight, seven.

Lauren:Verizon for your cell phone, if you have some kind of unlimited plan, you get a year free.

Sean:Okay, nice.

Lauren:Is what I’ve been told. I haven’t looked into it.

Alex:Everything’s changing up. They’re pulling all the NBC shows off Netflix. I know The Office people are pretty upset about that. I imagine Parks and Rec, we watch that way too much so it’s going to end up being like you’re going to need seven different streaming services and now it costs the same as cable.

Sam:It sounds exactly like cable.

Lauren:We got you back. You thought you were slick for the past couple of years. Serves you right. Nice.

Sean:All right, back on Richmond.

Sam:Yeah, let’s talk about it. A couple weeks ago, an article had come out. I guess every year PBR does a list of bars and restaurants that have sold the most PBR in the entire country.

Sean:The most, huh.

Sam:Alex, you said that PBR was really big in Richmond back before craft beer time, right?

Alex:It was.

Sam:Tell us about that.

Alex:It’s also known as the People’s Beer of Richmond.

Sam:I see.

Alex:It’s just a fun little nickname.

Sam:Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Alex:At least this year, at the top of the list, for Richmond, GWAR Bar made it for the first time. They were number 64 in the country and they were saying that it’s extremely impressive because it only has a 59 person occupancy.

Sam:Wow.

Alex:And they’re not open for lunch during the week.

Sam:Holy cow.

Alex:For how big it is and when they’re open, that’s a lot of PBR.

Sam:That’s a lot of PBR.

Sean:They’re just [crosstalk 00:11:25].

Lauren:Do they sell anything besides PBR?

Sam:I know, maybe it’s like you can only order PBR at this bar.

Alex:I’ve heard cool stuff about it. I’ve never been.

Lauren:Same.

Sam:It’s like a heavy metal bar.

Alex:Completely random story. We sold a house and the other agent that was buying my listing was like, “You know who the owner is, right?” I’m like, “No.” He actually does the costumes for Gwar.

Sam:Oh, wow.

Alex:That’s kind of cool, random, crazy fact.

Sam:Yeah.

Alex:They consider him part of the band because have you seen their costumes?

Sam:No.

Sean:No.

Sam:Well, yes. Yes, we did. At the Institute for Contemporary Art, they had an exhibit. This was months ago now but they had a Gwar exhibit and it was insanity.

Lauren:Yeah.

Sean:Really?

Sam:The costumes and the props and everything that was incorporated into it-

Alex:They’re legit.

Sam:… was really cool. It was really cool. Wasn’t a huge exhibit though.

Lauren:They look like action figures I would play with as a child but in real life. That’s crazy.

Sam:Mm-hmm (affirmative). It looks awesome.

Alex:Yeah, that looks really cool.

Lauren:Did Virginia get… Who was the number one selling state? Do we know that or we just narrowed it down to Richmond’s top ones?

Alex:We are number three in the country in terms of a city.

Lauren:Got it.

Alex:Between Gwar Bar and Sticky Rice, we placed third.

Lauren:Okay.

Alex:The top ones were, and I don’t know which one was first or second because I didn’t write it down, Portland, Oregon and Asheville, North Carolina.

Sam:Okay.

Alex:And then Richmond was third.

Sam:Asheville’s a neighbor.

Alex:In terms of the city and volume of PBR.

Lauren:That’s about what I would expect. Did you guys see that PBR came out with a-

Alex:They’re all very hipster cities.

Lauren:Yeah, they are. PBR came out with a 99 can case of PBR.

Alex:Like a holiday pack?

Sam:What?

Sean:How would you carry that?

Lauren:Okay, it’s very long.

Sam:How do you drink that?

Lauren:I’ll see if I can pull up a picture.

Sean:You just go above your head and…

Sam:Do you have to use a cart?

Lauren:No. Two people can hold it.

Sam:Oh.

Sean:Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious.

Sam:Like a ski.

Lauren:Mm-hmm (affirmative). It looks like it’s about six feet long.

Sam:Interesting.

Lauren:It has three different types of PBR, PBR Easy, Extra, and Original.

Sam:Wait, there’s more than one type of PBR?

Lauren:Right, right. But it’s got 99 cans. Who wants to guess how much it costs?

Alex:$99.

Sean:$75.

Lauren:Okay. Alex, 99.

Sam:56.

Alex:Are we playing Price is Right?

Sean:Price is Right rules, can’t go over.

Sam:56.99.

Lauren:Well, Alex won the jackpot because it’s $99.

Alex:Booya!

Sean:A dollar a beer?

Alex:Wait, don’t you get an extra spin on the wheel when you guess it exactly?

Lauren:I don’t know.

Sam:Are they typically a dollar a beer?

Lauren:I don’t know.

Sam:That’s more expensive than I was expecting.

Lauren:Oh wait, hold on.

Alex:Six dollar six pack.

Sam:I said $56 for a hundred beers.

Alex:It’s free.

Lauren:But it’s PBR. I mean, I would probably pay four dollars.

Alex:For a six pack? I don’t think you can get any beer for four dollars for a six pack.

Lauren:For 99, for 99 pack.

Sam:Okay. So, no PBR fans here but there’s a lot of PBR fans in Richmond apparently.

Lauren:There are.

Sam:[crosstalk 00:14:20]. Miller Hi-Life is currently selling beer in champagne bottles.

Alex:We were Natty Lite people at Tech.

Lauren:Who is?

Sam:Miller Hi-Life.

Lauren:Of course. Champagne and beer.

Sean:Champagne and beer, that’s awesome.

Sam:You can get it at the Grill at Patterson.

Lauren:That sounds like a classy New Year’s Eve party.

Sean:Yes.

Alex:Some other things I learned about Sticky Rice, I think a lot of the reason they sell so much PBR is because they do specials.

Sam:What number were they? You said Gwar was 60, what?

Alex:64. Sticky Rice was 82.

Sam:82, okay.

Alex:With Sticky Rice, they have $2 PBRs from 4:00 to 7:00 everyday. $1 PBRs if it’s raining-

Sean:That’s awesome.

Alex:Until 9:00 PM.

Sam:Nice.

Alex:$1 if it’s 100 degrees or more until 9:00 PM.

Sam:So, that’s everyday in the summer.

Alex:$1 if you have a Sticky Rice tattoo.

Sam:Oh.

Sean:I would wait until it rained.

Sam:Yeah.

Alex:Or it was 100. If it’s raining and over 100, is it…

Sean:Free.

Alex:Yeah, I don’t know how that would all set.

Sam:Unsure.

Sean:It’s got to be free at that point.

Sam:Interesting.

Alex:But yeah, Sticky Rice sells a lot of PBR. Gwar Bar sells a lot of PBR. I don’t know. When I was younger, I was too young to drink but I always heard about PBR being big in Richmond. When I turned 21, I wasn’t here. I was in Blacksburg and now when I came back and all the craft breweries, I personally don’t know people that are huge on PBR, but obviously it is.

Sam:It is, it’s a big deal.

Lauren:I know at least one person that is huge on PBR.

Alex:[inaudible 00:15:46]

Lauren:That is all they drink.

Sam:Nice.

Alex:I know we ended up with a bunch after our Halloween party.

Lauren:Exactly.

Sam:Okay, that’s a result. All right. Well, moving back toward some local craft beer, Paste Magazine did a round up of the 50 best breweries of the decade in the United States. Yep, dun-dun-dun.

Sean:Thank you, [inaudible 00:16:07].

Sam:I present to you number 16, Triple Crossing.

Lauren:Oh, cool.

Sam:Yes, it was really cool. It was a really nice article. They wrote up about Triple Crossing, they said that there are some other… Richmond obviously, their craft beer scene’s gotten a lot of attention over the past couple of years and you usually see some major props going towards Veil and Final Gravity Brewing Company is a kind of underrated brewery, but they said tried and true in their opinion, Triple Crossing is the cream of the crop in Richmond. I have to say, I agree.

Lauren:I kind of agree with that.

Alex:They’re my top three IPA places to go.

Sean:Yeah.

Sam:Triple Crossing makes a really great product and it’s consistent.

Lauren:And you can get it out at restaurants and stuff too which yeah, the Veil’s great but there’s not many places I can go have dinner and also get a Veil beer.

Sean:You can count them.

Alex:Falcon Smash.

Lauren:I can pretty much get Falcon Smash at almost-

Alex:Most places.

Lauren:Almost all restaurants which is-

Alex:I had a Veil at Jack Brown’s the other day so they do get it out-

Lauren:Right, right.

Alex:But it’s much, much less.

Lauren:Correct.

Sam:Mm-hmm (affirmative). Final Gravity you really don’t see out anywhere but they make fantastic beer.

Alex:Yeah, I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten a Final Gravity not at Final Gravity.

Sam:Yeah, I don’t know that they distribute but their beer is really great and definitely-

Alex:They’re also probably the smallest brewery in Richmond and I’d love to see those statistics. I bet they outsell some of the bigger guys.

Sam:Probably. I don’t know.

Sean:One thing that was cool about… Sorry to interrupt you. One thing that was cool about Veil is they just created their own distributor, so they didn’t even go through Brown or what’s the other one?

Alex:Huh. That’s kind of smart.

Sean:What’s the other distributor called? Rebel?

Alex:Brown’s and Loveland’s.

Sam:Yeah, Loveland’s.

Alex:Are the big two in town.

Sean:I just thought that was kind of cool. We’re just going to make our own.

Sam:They just kind of do what they want. They’re getting away with it. I mean…

Alex:Let’s open a really small brewery, not brewery, tasting room.

Sam:Yeah.

Sean:Satellite tasting room.

Alex:I’m sure it’s packed.

Lauren:Satellite tasting room.

Sean:Yeah, little satellite tasting room. It’s a little living room with people with beer in it.

Alex:I did learn a very interesting fact last week.

Lauren:Tell me.

Alex:Richmond had the very first canned beer sold in America. January 24th, 1935.

Sam:And did you know it came from New Jersey?

Alex:I did not know that.

Lauren:What beer was it?

Alex:I didn’t really read the whole article. I just read-

Sean:Was it [Ridge Brow 00:18:16]?

Sam:It was something with a K. I want to say it was Kruger’s and it was a beer company I think in Newark, New Jersey.

Alex:Kruger’s Cream Ale.

Sam:Kruger’s Cream Ale. It was from Newark and they were like, “We can sell canned beer,” and then people were like, “No, you can’t.” So, they drove down to Richmond and they started knocking on people’s doors basically and was like, “Hey, do you want to buy this?”

Alex:They gave it a 91% approval rating.

Sam:Yeah.

Alex:That’s pretty high.

Sean:Wow.

Sam:So it was meant to be that Richmond is a beer city.

Sean:Yeah.

Lauren:Is Kruger’s Cream Ale still around, Sam?

Sam:I don’t think so.

Lauren:Have you ever had it in New Jersey?

Sam:Mm-Mm (negative).

Lauren:Okay.

Sam:I can’t say that it is but that’s not to say it’s not.

Sean:Yeah.

Lauren:I bet back then it was one of those cans where the whole top comes off like a can of sardines.

Sean:You drink it out of a Mason jar looking thing, huge top.

Sam:Very possible. That’s very interesting though. Thanks for sharing that.

Alex:I knew we were a big beer town, but-

Sam:Major shout out to Triple Crossing too. That’s a huge accomplishment.

Lauren:Yeah.

Sam:One of the top 50, it’s number 16. The 16th best brewery of the decade in America.

Lauren:That’s a pretty-

Sam:That’s heavy.

Lauren:Yeah. That’s pretty awesome.

Sean:Yeah.

Lauren:And we agree.

Sam:Go to Triple Crossing, get a beer. Tell me cheers.

Alex:The full location has brick oven pizza.

Sam:Yeah.

Alex:Which we also had a few weeks ago.

Sam:So good.

Sean:Yes, it is very good. [inaudible 00:19:31] bread.

Sam:Garden and Gun, too. If you missed this, this was a good article. Garden and Gun had come out with a beer drinker’s guide to Richmond. That was a really fun one. It kind of went through some breweries that you should check out and what you should order.

Alex:Wasn’t it [An 00:19:47] from the [inaudible 00:19:48]-

Sam:It was.

Alex:Kind of gave what he would do if he wasn’t from here.

Sam:Yep, it was kind of his opinion. Where do you go and what do you order? He gave-

Sean:I trust him.

Sam:… very specific. Yeah.

Alex:I do too.

Sam:He was like, “Go to Triple Crossing and get this beer. Go to Ardent and get this beer.” Very specifically, which is great. Sometimes it’s nice to get a specific recommendation so you know what to order when you get there. Check out that article.

Alex:Speaking of Ardent, one of their cool unique beers is a sweet potato beer.

Sam:Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Alex:I don’t know if you’ve ever had it.

Sam:Yeah, the sage. The sweet potato sage [Cezanne 00:20:15].

Alex:I think it is.

Sam:Yeah. I think An recommend their honey ginger though at Ardent which is also highly impressive beer.

Sean:They have a good pumpkin beer too, I think.

Sam:Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.

Alex:Lauren loves pumpkin beers.

Lauren:I do love pumpkin beers. I didn’t drink that many this year. I don’t know. It just kind of-

Sean:Have you had the Ardent one? Is it pumpkin Cezanne? That what it is?

Lauren:I’m sure I have.

Sam:Farmhouse Ale, maybe. I don’t know.

Lauren:I’m sure I have.

Sam:Okay. Well, I wanted to talk with you guys because I know we’re still only in second week of December but people have already started asking what everybody’s doing for New Year’s Eve and I’m like, let’s get through the holidays first.

Lauren:Oh my gosh, it’s almost 2020.

Sam:Everybody’s so excited. I know.

Sean:Yes, 2020.

Sam:The ’10s are over as a decade just about.

Alex:How many perfect vision jokes will there be?

Sam:I don’t know.

Sean:Clear eyes.

Lauren:Alex started us out.

Sam:There’s going to be a lot, I feel.

Alex:Do y’all have plans?

Sam:We do not yet. I will say we’ve done a couple different things in Richmond. Probably one of our favorites was [inaudible 00:21:14] Tobacco Company. We did their upstairs. They have the downstairs club which is really fun and if you’re looking for more of a club scene, that’s really fun. I think we probably did that a couple of years prior to that, but Tobacco Company does DJ and band and they do the countdown and that was really fun.

Sam:You had some lounge areas where you can sit and hang out. You can stand up by the bar. You can go listen to the music. We’ve done that before, but there’s a lot happening. Whether you want to do a themed dinner or you want to go dancing, I know RVA [Bachata 00:21:53] which is a huge group in Richmond, they’re doing a bachata night at Table Brewing.

Lauren:What is bachata?

Sean:No idea.

Sam:It’s kind of like a salsa, it’s a type of style of dance.

Lauren:Got it.

Sam:Bachata, yeah. There’s all kinds of stuff going on. What are you guys doing? What do you like to do for New Year’s Eve?

Alex:We’ve done a lot of different stuff. We normally, I would say most frequently do some sort of concert, whether it be in Richmond or out of town.

Sam:Okay.

Alex:I don’t know. Got in the habit of doing concerts for New Year’s.

Lauren:We had a party here-

Alex:Last year.

Lauren:… last year and we still find confetti from New Year’s. It’s the middle of December now, we still find confetti in our house.

Sam:Nice.

Lauren:We probably won’t do that again.

Alex:Or at least the confetti part.

Lauren:Yeah, I don’t know. We typically-

Alex:Didn’t you used to do where they would do the ball drop in [Carytown 00:22:37]?

Lauren:Yeah, I’ve been to Carytown but that was probably at least a decade ago. I don’t even know if they still do that, but they did a whole ball drop and stuff. It was very cold and very crowded.

Alex:A miniature Times Square type vibe.

Sam:Yeah, I haven’t done that for about three years now. Maybe even longer.

Lauren:I feel like at this point in our lives, to try and deal with the crowds and the Ubers, I don’t know, sometimes there’s just something special about staying home and not-

Alex:Doing anything else.

Lauren:… getting caught up in the hustle and bustle.

Sam:Yeah.

Lauren:I mean, I don’t know.

Alex:No one told me I’d feel this old at 35.

Sam:Yeah. We hear you there, we hear you there. We’ve done a couple of dinners. Those are always kind of fun. We enjoy I think kind of getting in the spirit of getting dressed up and celebrating the end of the year and celebrating the new year but I think it’s more our speed to get dressed up early, have a couple cocktails, go out to dinner and then be home by 8:00 or 9:00 and then if we want to hang out in our PJs and watch the ball drop, we do some of those things.

Sam:But there’s plenty of places. [inaudible 00:23:41] having a huge party.

Lauren:Ooh, I bet that’d be fun.

Sam:Did you say that The National was doing something?

Alex:Yeah, they’re having the ’90s cover band for New Year’s.

Sam:Nice. That’ll be a great time.

Lauren:That sounds amazing too!

Sam:Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Sean:Yeah, we’ve been to that, the Saved by the ’90s.

Lauren:Have you?

Sam:Yeah. Bayside Tigers, man. That was a good time.

Lauren:Is it so fun?

Sean:They just play all the classics.

Lauren:Does everybody dress up in ’90s stuff too?

Sam:Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I went in a denim skirt. Yep, mm-hmm (affirmative). It was awesome.

Sean:I went in jean shorts, like longer, way too long jean shorts.

Alex:Did you make them yourself?

Sean:No.

Sam:He had a white shirt that was unbuttoned and a t-shirt-

Sean:I looked ridiculous.

Sam:Collared shirt that was unbuttoned over it.

Sean:Deleted scene from Saved by the Bell.

Sam:It was awesome. Yeah, so that was really fun. But there’s a lot. There’s a lot going on so it just kind of depends on what you’re happened. Perch is having a nice themed dinner which is fun.

Sean:It’s a nice venue.

Sam:[inaudible 00:24:29] for a dining.

Lauren:New Year’s Eve is on a Tuesday this year.

Sam:Yep, mm-hmm (affirmative).

Alex:New Year’s Day usually is off no matter what.

Lauren:Most people have it off, so it should be fine.

Alex:That’ll mean Monday will be a wash.

Sam:Yeah.

Alex:It’ll be like a six day weekend.

Sean:Yes.

Sam:Kind of.

Lauren:I think people still have to go to work.

Alex:Right.

Lauren:Monday and Tuesday.

Sam:2020 apparently is going to be pretty crazy in terms of holidays. On Taco Tuesday is when Cinco de Mayo is.

Lauren:I saw that.

Sam:Yeah.

Alex:That’s the first thing to come to mind.

Sam:Yeah.

Sean:There’s two Friday the 13ths.

Sam:Yeah, there’s two Friday the 13ths and Fourth of July falls on a Saturday in 2020. There’s a lot of really good-

Alex:It’s a good year.

Sam:Yeah.

Sean:It’s going to be a good year.

Lauren:It’s a leap year.

Alex:Well, it’s Halloween on a weekend in 2020.

Sam:Yeah, Saturday.

Sean:Saturday. Wow, it’s going to be a…

Sam:No wait, Halloween was on a Saturday this year, wasn’t it? No, no.

Alex:No.

Sam:It’s on a Saturday this upcoming year.

Sean:It’s going to be a great year.

Alex:Is it a leap year too?

Sam:Happy birthday to all those February 29th people.

Sean:It is a leap year.

Alex:What?

Sean:Yeah.

Alex:2020.

Sean:Yeah.

Alex:I’m excited now.

Sam:Showing off.

Sean:I’m so pumped about it.

Sam:Showing off. I can’t wait for all the lists to come out. Maybe on this podcast, we’ll review some of the stuff because I know there’s going to be tons of end of decade lists, top lists for-

Alex:Special…

Sam:Yeah, things that happened and all those fun things.

Alex:Half off at LensCrafters, perfect vision.

Sam:So funny.

Sean:So funny.

Sam:Good, well, I’m glad. I’m glad we caught up about some Richmond stuff that’s going on. Northside seems like it’s got a lot of development happening and there’s some fun New Year’s Eve plans, so we’ll have to have you guys tell us what everybody ends up doing for New Year’s Eve and what plans we make and it should be really fun.

Alex:Are we going to keep going or are we going to take a mid-season break, pick back up after New Year’s? I know we [crosstalk 00:26:17] talked about this.

Sam:Yeah, I think so.

Sean:Probably pick up after the holidays.

Alex:Yeah, because you guys are going to be in Jersey

Sam:We got some travel coming up.

Alex:Maybe me, Lauren and [Meiko 00:26:25] and David will kind of do a guest side project.

Lauren:Those are our dogs.

Sam:It’ll probably be better anyway.

Alex:I know. We could do the dog voices and make a little comedy show.

Sean:There’s some money to be made with the dog voices thing. That’s hilarious.

Alex:I love the dog videos where it’s like the dog head and then the human arms eating.

Sam:Yeah.

Sean:Did you show Alex the one where the guy narrates the pitbull?

Sam:No, I’m going to send it.

Sean:Oh god, it’s hilarious.

Sam:You sent it to me and I was like, “I’m going to send it to you,” and then I forgot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we will.

Sean:It’s hilarious.

Sam:Well, good times, guys.

Lauren:Great. This was awesome.

Sean:Cheers.

Lauren:Fun as always.

Alex:Until next time, whenever that may be.

Lauren:See you, until next year.

Alex:Bye! Thank you so much for listening. Why Richmond Is Awesome podcast is hosted by Sean and Sam Kneipp of The Richmond Experience and Lauren and Alex Glazer of the Glaze Group Realtors. It’s produced and edited by Miles Agee Productions. Our theme song is “RVA All Day” by No B.S. Brass Band. Please rate us and leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Alex:Listen to more episodes at whyrichmondisawesome.com and follow us on Instagram @therichmondexperience and @whyrichmondisawesome.