aboard last fall when Canon & Draw was originally scheduled to open. Citing concrete removal and paperwork/licensing issues dealing with the historic aspects of the building as the major delays, Canon & Draw still opened a mere five months beyond the original target date. As anyone with even the slightest knowledge of the Virginia beer scene knows, this is well above average and may even be regarded as “early” on a comparative basis. The first floor space is more than big enough to accommodate two bars, one of which has 16 taps while the other currently houses a two-keg kegerator. Expansion of this is expected in the near future. Canon & Draw has opened using a seven barrel system, slightly smaller than Steam Bell’s ten barrel system. However, Canon & Draw also features 14 seven barrel bright tanks in the back, allowing the brewery to directly pump up to 14 different beers at a time directly to its taps, completely bypassing the keg stage. Canon & Draw opened in March with 8 original offerings, the first of which was a Plum Ginger Gose. Like all new breweries, Canon & Draw continues to experiment and create, abandoning some of its initial beers and replacing them with others. Among the initial beers still being offered as a regular six weeks after opening was the Tsunami Stout. The name is a throwback to Steam Bell’s Tiramisu Stout which, Lillard admitted, was being mispronounced by customers and staff members alike at the original site. Billed as a tropical stout, it should be noted that the word tropical refers to a specific style and should not influence any taste expectations. Stout lover or not, it’s worth a try on your next visit. To satisfy the hopheads, beers available in late April included the Glass Case of Emotion APA, and the Accidental Sessions, an interesting lactose session IPA. The lactose is used to give this beer a little more heft and bite while keeping the alcohol content down at 4.6 percent, but it’s still identifiable as a session. If you’re looking for heavier hitters, there were two double IPAs available: Sole Accomplice DIPA at 8 percent alcohol and Monday DIPA at 8.2. Lacking in all of this, of course, was the presence of an actual true IPA, but Lillard assured me this would be a temporary situation. He pointed out that by the end of April, Canon & Draw would have 13 different beers up and running which is not bad for any brewery let alone one that had only been open for six weeks. With so many options, Canon & Draw is well suited to satisfy a variety of beer palates. Bartender Ryan Mather, who hails originally from Nottingham, England, prefers the Stone the Bloody Crows, an English brown ale. Notwithstanding his possible bias in that he got to help brew it and help name it, he noted that it’s “like a true English brown.” At 4.1 percent alcohol, it seems a good fit for the warmer summer months ahead. Adrienne Roberston, a customer at the bar, sampled the Tsunami Stout and the Sole Accomplice. “They were both good,” she said, “but it’s closer to summer so I took the Sole Accomplice.” Just as Steam Bell can lay claim to being the first in Chesterfield County, Canon & Draw has become the first in the Fan. With its new demographic, new customer base and new line of beers, Canon & Draw is similarly poised to make new waves in its previously untapped neighborhood. Tapping the Cooper family’s experience in having gone through this process once before, Canon & Draw seems likely to take hold as it offers its new neighbors a new drinking destination. And, that’s a good thing. Again. VIRGINIACRAFTBEER.COM
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