
DATE: Tuesday, November 11, 1997            TAG: 9711110238

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE ABRAMS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   94 lines

TAPPING INTO THE SOUTHSIDE

Soon after the famous Weeping Radish Brewery opened in Manteo, N.C., it was credited with jump-starting the modern brewpub craze on the East Coast.

Hundreds of similar pubs have opened in the 11 years since, dispensing winter ales and rich porters straight from ornate storage tanks. And many of them are celebrated almost as much for their food as for their beer.

Despite the presence of microbreweries, Hampton Roads hasn't joined the brewpub trend in earnest - until now.

Less than a year after the Peninsula welcomed its first such tavern, the Old Virginia Brewery & Smokehouse in Newport News, two Beach groups are hoping to make an impact on the Southside.

The Hilltop Brewing Co. & Restaurant opened this fall off Laskin Road.

A few miles away, near the intersection of Shore Drive and Great Neck Road, the Taphouse Brewery and Grill opened Friday. The owners also run two non-brewpubs, Norfolk's Taphouse Grill and Richmond's Commercial Taphouse.

The same factors are driving both groups.

``The demographics are right,'' said Karl Dornemann, general manager of the Taphouse eateries. ``Virginia Beach, pardon the pun, was an untapped market.''

Modern brewpubs - defined as restaurant-breweries that sell most of their beer on site - have a limited history locally.

In 1991, the 19th St. Brewery Pub and Festival Hall, modeled after the Radish, went out of business, despite mild success with the tourist crowd.

According to the Institute for Brewing Studies in Boulder, Colo., nearly 800 brewpubs operate nationwide. More than 200 opened last year alone. Just 20 have closed.

At the Hilltop, owners Diane Dukes, Kurt Fuhrich and Dale Klug blended old and new to create a classic, upscale 120-seat tavern.

They refurbished belt-run ceiling fans, which swirl high above a restored brass-and-wood bar. Modern suspended lamps dispense a soft glow.

Dukes, a former teacher, decided after a trip last year through Princeton, N.J., that she wanted to create her own pub.

``I wanted one with a dynamic atmosphere,'' she said.

Fuhrich, her friend and partner in the project, was on that trip through New Jersey. He hails from Germany, where as a young man he worked on a catering team during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

He ended up at the Beach by accident.

On a boat trip from the Bahamas two years ago, a storm forced him off course. He stayed with a friend and decided he liked the area enough to stay.

``Some cities have eight or nine of these,'' he said. ``People identify themselves with the beer at the one where they go.''

Klug, a native of Boise, Idaho, is the pub's brewer. Among the brews he'll serve during full production: Sir Walter Raleigh Porter, Beach Brown Ale and Lighthouse Lager.

It takes about four weeks to make a batch, and, if successful, the pub will produce about 500 barrels the first year.

The owners also hope their menu earns repeat business with such items as a Thai seafood pot, fresh grouper and three-onion stout soup.

At the Taphouse Brewery, co-owner James Talley is confident both brewpubs can succeed by serving good beer.

``We will have to work really hard to make ours as nice as theirs,'' Talley said.

Initially, the Taphouse will serve microbrews from outside distributors. The team intends to brew its own by January.

The Taphouse will seat 75 patrons in a nightclub-like eatery, framed by bright painted walls and a black ceiling.

The menu will feature typical pub fare such as burgers and chicken sandwiches. But the eatery's chef, John Rennau, has some intricate specials planned.

A graduate of New York's French Culinary Institute, Rennau worked at New York's Russian Tea Room and with his boss, Talley, at the Big Apple's Hard Rock Cafe.

Talley is a restaurant business veteran, as is his partner, Jim Dickerson. Their Richmond restaurant recently celebrated its fourth birthday, and the Norfolk location is two years old.

Talley is optimistic local brewpubs can develop loyal customers.

``We need to learn our audience here and tweak what we do,'' he said. ``Virginia Beach deserves a brewpub, and now it's got two.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

STEVE EARLEY photos

The Virginian-Pilot

Kurt Fuhrich, Kari Dornemann, James Talley...

Brewpubs Facts

Virginia will have brewpubs once the Taphouse Brewery and Grill

begins producing its own brews. States with the most brewpubs of 799

total:

1. California, 101

2. Florida, 52

3. Colorado, 50

4. Oregon, 45

5. New York, 40