Bull Island Brewing:
Chris Jones
Hampton’s Newest Craft Brewery
By Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones
L
ast March, Doug Reier was on vacation out west, in the Reno/Sparks area of Nevada. Perhaps he went to Reno,“the biggest little city in the world,” for a little R&R before he started a new venture, building a new brewery on the Hampton,VA waterfront. So Doug, interested in the Nevada beer scene, ambled into the production brewery for Great Basin Brewing Company, Nevada’s oldest and most award-winning craft brewery, and asked a young guy he meets if he can buy some a beer. The guy tells him nope, can’t, because of a Nevada law that prohibits breweries above a certain size from direct sales, but if Doug sticks around until the guy finishes some work, he’ll give him a beer. Free beer, now that’s a winning hand in a town crawling with casinos, so Doug waits, then finds himself drinking Great Basin beer, with the 27-year-old head brewer for Great Basin, Thomas Lee. The two of them taste and talk, and Doug tells Thomas of his plans to open a seven-barrel brewery in Hampton,Virginia. Thomas, intrigued, asks Doug if he’s hired a head brewer yet, and Doug said no. Thomas says he knows someone who might be interested. A bit later in the conversation the identity of the prospective brewer is revealed, and it’s Thomas himself! In a gambling town, Doug and Thomas had placed their bets, on each other. In the next few weeks, Doug flew Thomas “back east,” to check out the 757’s beer scene and the Hampton riverfront location where Doug was building a brewery. Something clicked, and in early October, Thomas Lee left the - 42 -
DECEMBER 2016
Bull Island Owner Doug Reier and writer Diane Catanzaro
Truckee River and the Silver State for the Hampton River and the Old Dominion, and is now head brewer for Doug Reier’s Bull Island Brewing Company located on the Hampton, VA waterfront. Bull Island Brewing Company is located on the Hampton waterfront at 758 Settlers Landing Rd. Driving or walking over, it is not easy to see from the street, being tucked away in the office/parking garage building across the brick courtyard from the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The beauty in the brewery’s location jumps out at you if you approach it from the river, as a gaggle of friendly marauding pirates did at Bull Island’s grand opening party in late October. One of the best sights a salty sailor or plundering pirate can see as they pull up to the dock and step ashore is a brewery and tasting room beckoning like a suds-soaked siren. Or, is it a malted manatee? There is no better port call for a malt-starved mariner after some aweigh time than a brewery. Landlubbers will feel just as welcome, and can even venture out on the Miss Hampton II for a harbor cruise, which has daily cruises that depart from the waterfront just a few steps from the brewery. Other activities within
short walking distance are the Virginia Air and Space Museum with its NASA-related exhibits and IMAX Theater and the shops and restaurants on Queens Way and Wine Street. Beer hunters may wish to visit Venture, the Taphouse on Queensway, Marker 20, the Conch & Bucket, or La Bodega Hampton. As soon as you enter the brewery, brewer Thomas Lee’s sense of humor is evident, with pop culture names given to the mash vessel, fermenters and bright tanks.Your beer got started in the Monster Mash vessel, and at some point either fermented or was clarified and carbonated in Hawkeye, Kramer, Rosie, or Ziggy, and other such names. There’s also malted musings in their somewhat eclectic beer list. For their soft opening they had their five flagship beers on tap: Dare Double Stout; King Street Kolsch; Laura’s Favorite Belgian Tripel; Queen’s Way IPA; and Waterman’s Wheat. For their grand opening on 29 October, they added an Oyster Jalapeno Porter and a Pumpkin Brown Ale. By mid-November the plan was to have nine different things on tap, and by January, an even ten. Their beers are tasty. The Double Stout is an English Imperial Stout, a bit bitter,