Killing a Layover: Good Beer at the Airport – RIC (Richmond International Airport)

The airport in Virginia’s capital is a modest operation.  There are just over twenty gates that are serviced by half a dozen airlines.  The building is shaped like the handlebars on a bike with a separate terminal at either end.  In between the “handles” is a little seating area and a couple restaurants.  One is an Applebee's, and they have a few decent drafts available.  I saw Fat Tire and Yuengling.  They’ve got a couple Sam Adams beers too, including Boston Lager and a seasonal (which was Octoberfest at the time).  It’s also worth noting that this was the only place in the entire airport that I found a truly local beer, which was Brown Ale by Legend BrewingCo.  I liked seeing that.

In the “B” terminal (Delta, Air Tran, United, and JetBlue) there is a fairly large eatery called the Club Level Grill located near gate B5.  It looks like they offer stereotypical pub food like fish, burgers, wings, nachos, and turkey wraps.  All the food appears to be in the $10 range (plus or minus a couple bucks).  They also have eight draft handles.  About half were industrial lagers, but they were also pouring Guinness, Fat Tire, Sam Adams, and Yuengling.  They offered a few crappy bottles too.

Both terminals host a little Samuel Adams Celebrates Richmond cantina.  I visited the location in the “B” terminal, but both of them appeared to be fairly comparable.  They were pouring Sam Adams’ Boston Lager, Cherry Wheat, and Octoberfest (or whatever seasonal was in season).  They also had Newcastle Brown, New Belgium Shift, Guinness, and Yuengling.  The beers you don’t want included Michelob ULTRA, Coors Light, Budweiser, Bud Light, Heineken, and Blue Moon.  It was nice to see that they were also offering one of their newly acquired ciders from Angry Orchard.  The bottle list was Coors Light, Blue Moon, Sam Adams Light, Guinness, Heineken, Corona, Bud Light, Amstel Light, Miller Light, and O’Douls.  There were several wine options and a full spirits bar. 

Their food menu was made up of burgers, sandwiches, a couple of salads, chicken fingers, fries and rings.  They also serve a few breakfast items until 10:30am.  Most of their food items appear to fall in the $7 to $9 range.  Their vegetarian options were limited to a veggie burger and a fresh mozzarella sandwich. 

I hate to report that the service here was awful.  It took nearly ten minutes just to get someone to look at me, and I was sitting at the bar with a credit card laid directly in front of me.  Despite the fact that they appeared to be at around 25% capacity, the staff looked absolutely overwhelmed.  It’s a good thing I didn’t want anything to eat, because I had to ask for a menu and later had to flag down two different people just to get the opportunity to pay for my beer.  I’m not sure what was going on, but I got the idea my patronage was bothering them.  My Octoberfest was served in an “imperial” shaker glass that cost me $8.16 plus tip (which I’m not sure was deserved).

While I was enjoying my pint they were tapping a Sam Adams “limited” called White Lantern.  I asked the bartender what it was, and she had absolutely no idea.  She offered me a little sample, and it appeared to be some sort of citrusy witbier.

I’d like to say that next time I’m passing through Richmond I’ll buzz over to Applebee’s and grab a pint of that Legend beer, but to be honest I’m just not a big fan of Brown Ales.  I suppose that I’ll probably head back into the Sam Adams Celebrates for a little more abuse.  I like most of their seasonals, and maybe I’ll stumble into another “limited” draft that they don’t know about.  They also had their Boston Ale on the menu, which I enjoy but didn’t see a handle for.  I’d probably suffer through more crappy service to get some of that.

 

-Matt