FAQs
We sell retail kegs for personal use out of our Norfolk location. Our online shop is updated each week and kegs are first come first serve. No holds.
Category: Kegs | Benchtop Brewing Online Shop
We do not sell kegs out of our Richmond location.
We are so glad you asked!
We get questions like this often so here is the answer for all of you. We change beers often so we have a live, real time menu on our website. Isn’t technology cool? Meh, most of the time anyway.
From our main page, just click on Tasting Room, and then on the dropdown, you will see “on tap & to go”.
Just click there and it will take you to the “beer on tap”. That is actually what beer is on tap at that moment.
We hope this is helpful for those of you seeking out that certain Benchtop fave of yours. We certainly love to hear people looking for the one they loved so much.
If you want to see what beers are to go, just click “shop” and there they are. Most are available for online shopping or in the tasting room.
For RVA: our menu is now live!
For NFK:
**The parking lot beside our brewery is not ours but we are allowed to use it after 5 Monday-Friday and anytime during our open hours on the weekends. IF IT IS BEFORE 5 PM, DO NOT PARK IN THIS LOT!!
USE THE STREET OR MHI LOT (entrance from Orapax St) any time after 4pm on weekdays! This lot is in the center of the neighborhood just 1 block away that can be used after 4 on weekdays and anytime from noon till we close on weekends. No overnight parking there or car may be towed.
There is plenty of parking on the street in the neighborhood to use when the lot isn’t available. We encourage responsible drinking and ride share options. You could also take the Elizabeth River Trail from Downtown which is actually a pretty nice walk.
For RVA:
There is street parking in the neighborhood (please read signage). There is also a paid parking structure located behind our building (on 5th St) that is accessible via Decatur St.
Gift cards are available for purchase in the tasting room at either our NFK or our RVA location. At this time our point-of-sale partner does not offer E-gift cards.
*Note: We recently transitioned to a new point of sale. If you have a gift card that was aquired prior to Dec 31, 2021, please email [email protected] and we can get that balance transferred to our new point of sale system.
** At this time, gift cards are only redeemable in the tasting room since we use a different merchant for our online shop**
Do we make Vegan beers?
- We absolutely make some Vegan beers! We have made it a policy to never use animal products as processing aids (such as finings) in our beers. Our only beers that aren’t Vegan are the beers that clearly declare the ingredients of animal origin in the beer description. Those ingredients we have used in the past are oysters, grasshoppers, lactose, marshmallows, agave worm salt, and honey. You will see these ingredients listed when they are used. Please also feel free to reach with questions about a specific ingredient declared if you aren’t certain of it’s origin: [email protected]
“I have a dietary restriction (lactose, gluten, wheat, etc), help!”
- If we ever use lactose in a beer, it will be declared as either lactose or milk sugar.
- We do use wheat in many of our beers. Chances are, if it is hazy we used some wheat. Please do feel free to reach out with questions about specific beers and we will gladly answer your questions: [email protected]
- When we kicked off our lager program, we decided to make all of them gluten reduced. We add an enzyme that specifically targets all proline containing amino acids during fermentation drastically reduces gluten in the finished beer. By calculation, these lagers are all less than 20ppm Gluten. However, in order to label them gluten removed in the US we would have to test via R5 ELISA and we simply can’t afford to do so. With all of that said, if you have a Celiac allergic reaction to gluten we are not suggesting you consume these beers.
For NFK: We have 2 patios and well behaved, leashed pets are welcome inside or outside. Keep the unpredictable pets at home please.
For RVA: We have a sidewalk seating area and dogs are welcome inside or outside. Please mind our dog visitor expectations.
No! Per ABC law, packaged beer is for OFF premise consumption, meaning, take that good stuff home and enjoy. If we see you with an open can of beer, we will need to take and dispose of it. There will be no refunds. Plus we really like our ABC license. It’s kind of our livelihood. Don’t be a Karen.
We are a family owned and operated brewery and have children of our own that have joined us at the brewery on occasion. We love to see families spending time together and many customers like to bring their children. Well behaved and 100% supervised kiddos are always welcome. Your child must be seated at the table with you and must be supervised 100% of the time they are on premise.
We don’t appreciate when customers allow their children to run around the tasting room and patio climbing on railings, swinging on ropes, and such. Yes… that really happens. It’s not safe and it’s disturbing to our other guests. We also work very hard to have our landscaping look nice and it really bugs us when we see kids destroying our hard work.
Check our Jobs page to apply. Please be sure to include both a cover letter and a resume to be considered. Weekends and some Holidays are required. No phone calls or drop ins please.
For NFK: We do not close the brewery or rent for private events. We do not have a private event space.
For RVA: Available by the hour and by the day. Please email the Richmond GM/Taproom Manager at [email protected] for information and booking.
No! It’s against ABC laws and we really really like our ABC license. It’s kind of our livelihood, so don’t be a Karen. Keep that stuff at home.
We currently operate on a first come first serve basis for tables and seating. If you would like to bring a group of people, please do, just shoot us a message to [email protected] so we have a heads up in the event that we may need extra staff to ensure better serving of our guests. We will try our best to reserve seating for your group if you are coming closer to when we open, but we cannot hold tables if our space is filling up and our other guests need tables and seating. Thank you for your understanding.
It depends. We participate in community events throughout the year such as beer festivals where proceeds go to local charities in the Hampton Roads Area.
- Because of the volume of requests we receive, we cannot give to everyone or have the time to respond to each inquiry.
- We also only donate to organizations who have non-profit status with the IRS.
- We will not consider phone calls or in-person requests.
- We cannot give away or donate beer.
- One donation per calendar year per organization.
- Applications must be received 6 weeks in advance. We will not consider any requests that are submitted less than 6 weeks in advance.
To apply for a donation, please fill out our donations form on the community page.
No we don’t give tours, but you can come to the brewery and look through the storefront window into our production area which is full to the brim of stainless tanks, barrels, and even a couple of foeders. You will often see our brewers working til 6 on a weeknight. Founder and President checking on his beer early on a Saturday or Sunday.
For NFK: Sometimes we partner with local restaurants and food trucks. Check our social media posts and stories. We usually post our weekly schedule.
For RVA: We have a kitchen with vegan and non-vegan options. We do not allow outside food or beverages. We are working on getting our menu on the website. For now, please follow us on social media for some content on our food options.
All online orders are final once submitted. Please review your order carefully before submitting it. Check that your mode of receiving the beer is correct, if it is not how you want it received, do not submit since we cannot make changes to that. It’s also very important to read the “pick up/delivery/shipping details” each time you place an order.
Please pick your beer order at least in the same week it’s ordered. We often need the cooler space. If you are unable to do, please reach out to us and let us know and we can make a note of it. Thank you.
You can find our beers through our Beer Finder!
If you are within our shipping zone (most of VA, and to DC), you can get beer shipped directly from us. How cool is that? Visit our shop and chose the category “Beers for Shipping”.
We have a small brewing system and double batch nearly every day to keep up with demand. We use Pretty Ugly Distributing in the Hampton Roads Area, Specialty Beverage in Richmond, NOVA and parts of Western VA on occasion.
We also send a very limited amount of beer to the NC Outer Banks (Pretty Ugly), and the Piedmont, and Triangle Areas (Proof Wine and Spirits).
We recently have been sending some beer to SC as well via Proof Wine and Spirits as well.
We do get a lot of requests to get our beer in various locations, but just can’t put it in all of them. We sell most of our beer out of the tasting room itself and have to ensure we have enough to go around.
Please complete a contact form to request our beer and we will do our best, but just can’t make promises.
If you are a retailer or a restaurant, you will need to obtain beer from the distributors listed above. Virginia ABC does not allow us to self-distribute at this time.
We ship to most parts of VA and to DC. As long as your location is on the UPS one day shipping map, really depends on your zip. Orders out of the zone will not process.