Skjald Meadworks – C-VILLE Weekly

Style points: Vitae Spirits scores design award

Vitae Spirits just added another accolade to its pile of awards, but this one is for its design, not for its excellent craft liquors. A converted schoolhouse, Vitae’s tasting room and production facility on Henry Street is half laboratory and half chic cocktail lounge. This combination earned Vitae’s design/build contractor, Charlottesville’s Alloy Workshop, the award for best commercial interior of 2019 from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. Pitted against 350 other contestants, Alloy took the top spot in NARI’s southeast region. Vitae founder Ian Glomski praised Alloy for “creating a space with clean contemporary floating lines transfused with the welcoming organic warmth of wood and botanical art.”

On the grapevine

Local wine power couple Will and Priscilla Martin Curley have purchased The Wine Guild of Charlottesville, where they were both already on staff. In fact, Will had been running it since his recent departure from Brasserie Saison on the Downtown Mall, where he was the general manager and wine director. Priscilla, a certified sommelier, is the wine director at tavola in Belmont. Also located in Belmont, at 221 Carlton Rd., the guild is a small wine and craft beer shop that’s open to the public, but where members ($200 a year) enjoy a 20 percent discount and other perks.

Nice to meade you!

Skjald Meadworks, Charlottesville’s first and only meadery, celebrated its grand opening on March 30 with a birthday bash for meade-maker Jerome Snyder, who co-owns the business with his wife, Gwen Wells. After operating for five years in Altavista, south of Lynchburg, Skjald joins a downtown food-and-beverage boomlet, opening its doors (and tasting room) at 1114 E. Market St. Local meade heads are already familiar with Skjald’s honey-based brews, which retail at Market Street Wine, Beer Run, and Rebecca’s Natural Food, and are served at Firefly and Renewal.

In the mix

Rebecca Edwards of tavola’s cicchetti bar has advanced to the regional finals of the prestigious USBG World Class bartending competition, placing her among the top 50 mixologists in the nation, and one of 10 in the contest’s Southern region. That group faces off April 28 in Minneapolis, where “we will be competing in a series of challenges judged by technical skill, style, creativity, hospitality, and product knowledge,” Edwards says. The ultimate goal is to reach the 11th annual global finals, in September in Glasgow, Scotland, where a single winner will be crowned. Speaking of crowns, Charlottesville’s top bottle slinger will earn one at the Tom Tom Festival’s inaugural Bartender’s Ball, on Monday, April 8. For more information, go to tomtomfest.com.

We’ll toast to that: New cidery set to open in September

Bryant’s Cider will open a production and tasting room Labor Day weekend in Roseland. Set amidst the Blue Ridge Mountains in a rustic, all-original 19th-century barn with hand-carved logs and original architectural features, the tasting room will feature Bryant’s hand-crafted hard ciders, which are produced using fresh-pressed Nelson County apples from the cidery’s own farm.

The small-batch ciders are crafted using traditional methods, with natural carbonation; the premium cider is non-filtered, non-pasteurized, and uses no artificial ingredients. The ciders are fully dry, with no added sugars.

To celebrate the opening, four bands will play music throughout the weekend, and there will be food from 151 BBQ and other local vendors. Bryant’s will also tap two limited release ciders: The Ol’ Lady, a bourbon barrel-finished cider with organic ginger using barrels from Charlottesville’s Ragged Branch Distillery; and Red Eye, a cold-brew coffee cider using fresh coffee from Nelson County’s Trager Brothers Coffee.

Worth the drive

For those interested in a Labor Day weekend day trip, the Inn at Little Washington will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a food and music street festival in the streets of Little Washington, Virginia, on Sunday, September 2. Annette Larkin, the Inn’s director of public relations, says the event pays homage to talented chefs who have worked in the kitchen of the Michelin-starred restaurant (the Inn has earned two).

“This event was created to highlight the next generation of culinary stars,” she says. “Twenty-five of our former sous chefs will be returning to cook their finest offerings, which will be served along with fried chicken, barbecue, local wine, and beer.”

Many of these chefs have gone on to esteemed careers as executive chefs at top restaurants in both the region and the country.

Larkin says there will be bands, Janis Joplin, Cher, and Elton John impersonators, hot air balloons, and fireworks, too.

On the half shell

Ivy Inn chef and owner Angelo Vangelopoulos will participate in the premiere Commonwealth Coastal Classic on the Norfolk Waterfront September 15.

The event—an expo-style festival modeled on other popular Southern culinary festivals held in such locales as Charleston and South Beach—will feature small plates from more than 30 Virginia chefs; interactive demonstrations; Virginia wine, beer and spirit tasting stations; original artisan work; and live music.

Mead your maker

Mead, an alcoholic beverage with roots in ancient history, is brewed from honey, water, and yeast, and has long played an important role in the mythology of various cultures. Soon Charlottesville’s cup will be overflowing with the nectar of the gods, when Altavista-based Skjald Meadworks launches its Charlottesville tasting room at 1144 E. Market St. in the next few months.

Gwen Wells, wife of meadmaster Jerome Snyder, says Charlottesville was a natural extension for their product.

“I’ve had a crush on Charlottesville for years,” she says. “I love the mountains, the outdoors, the music, restaurants, and people. We are outgrowing our space in Altavista, and I was ready to close my business and do something different, so we decided that I would take over the daily operations of the meadery, set up a bigger and better tasting room with a gift shop, and why not here? Here we found ‘our people’—curious, open-minded, adventurous, and friendly. There are so many craft breweries, so many music venues, that we feel right at home.”

She says they currently offer several varieties of mead, including one with lavender and vanilla and another with Earl Grey tea and lemon, and soon will have meads with strawberry, heather, ginger, and fig.

While the couple awaits ABC permission to open the tasting room, they’ve decided to open the gift shop, which features work by local artisans, by September 15.

In the meantime, Skjald Meadworks mead is available locally at Market Street Wine, Beer Run, and by the glass at Firefly, which has even started “Mead Mondays” with special prices for their meads.