Giving Back
Community
Tucked away between the beautiful, bike and pedestrian friendly Elizabeth River Trail and city’s Plum Point Park, our brewery has become a hub of community activity.
Community Partners
We focus our efforts on beautification projects to help make our neighborhood and our city a better place to call home.
Click on a community partner to learn more!
The Elizabeth River Trail is a 10.5 mile urban biking and pedestrian trail along the Norfolk waterfront, maintained and marketed by the Friends of the Elizabeth River Trail Foundation with support from the City of Norfolk. The Foundation aims to enhance and expand the trail as a recreational, social, and educational destination that improves environmental awareness, neighborhood connectivity, and innovative economic development in Norfolk, Virginia.
Learn More
The Chas Foundation is a non-profit resource for the mentally ill and their families. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in every four American adults is affected by a mental health disorder. That’s one of the four people in line in front of you, one of the four people playing doubles on a tennis court, and one of the four people on your double date. If these statistics surprise you, they should, because the subject of mental illness rouses such uncomfortable feelings in people, that it has long been swept under the rug. It is our hope that through this organization, we can show those who are suffering that they are far from alone, as well as provide information and support for their family members and friends.
Local First
Being a family owned local business, we strive to give back to other small local businesses as often as possible. We source as many ingredients as we can locally. We also put an emphasis on partnering with local businesses to source things such as coffee, bread, peppers, fruits, vegetables, and oysters. We even use local artists for the artwork for some of our can and bottle labels.
Thank you to our local supply partners:
- Eastern Shore Coffee Roasters
- Chelsea Bakehouse
- Yorgo’s Bageldashery
- Cullipher Farms
- New Earth Farm
- Ann Horton’s
- Agriberry
- Videri Chocolate Factory
- Epiphany Craft Malt
Sustainable Practices
We strive to make sustainable choices whenever possible. These things might be small individually but together make a big difference.
- We give our spent grain from each brew to a local farmer to feed to his animals.
- We double batch our brews in the same day as much as possible so we can recapture our hot water rather than heating it up again the next day.
- We use motion activated lights in our lab, office, and our restrooms in order to reduce energy use
- We no longer keep disposable cups by the drinking water fountain. We have replaced them with reusable, washable cups.
- We no longer purchase bags for merchandise and packaged beer. Instead, we re-use our cardboard case trays. We also allow staff to bring in plastic bags they have collected at home.
- Previously, we used plastic 4 pack holders that were made of recycled material, however, we found they had to be specially recycled and the service was not offered locally. We shopped around at some eco-friendly options and found some cost-effective and much more environmentally friendly compostable 4 pack holders.
