The rumors on facebook and Twitter over the weekend seem to be true – South Street Brewery has been sold to Blue Mountain Brewery. If Blue Mountain, who are already killing it, replicate what they’re doing in Afton, they’re going to continue their massive success.
Five Guys on the Downtown Mall closed the other day – there are now no chain restaurants on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall; if you need your Five Guys fix, they’re still open in Barracks Road and Hollymead Town Center. Ironically, the first commercial I saw this morning on NBC29 was one for Chaps Ice Cream with him saying, “you don’t need five guys to make a good burger!”
Update 3 July – Blue Mountain is buying South Street, but they’re not changing the name from South Street. Good stuff.
I wouldn’t say that I’m happy that a local business is shutting down, but I’m stoked to hear that BMB will have a downtown presence. A few odd pints aside, I was never a fan of South Street’s beers and had always thought better brews belonged in such an amazing location.
The thought of their Bratwurst Pizza and a pint of Full Nelson is some good news indeed.
I have to disagree with you there. South Street’s JPA set the standard for a Virginia pale ale (tho’ Full Nelson is an excellent beer). I hope Taylor Smack keeps the best of the South Street recipes and adds new ones (not BMB beers, good as they are, _new_ ones).
food for thought (pun intended): five guys didn’t start out as a chain, but only one shop then got success and was able to spread. so if blue mountain does the same thing, will other cities not want them in their downtown area because they are now a “chain”. so when a place get success do we now look down on them for being a chain when they just didn’t start in our locality?
That’s a great point, Meg, an answer to which I don’t know.
I know more about the winery side than the brewery side, but no, I do not believe that this is an issue. The alcohol industry’s regulations prevent a brewery from having more than a very small set number of tasting facilities in addition to their primary production facility. After that point, they have to follow the three tier distribution model.
it was more of a rhetorical question about when does a restaurant that started local become a “chain”. and when do we (the public) start looking down at that. i just picked the brewery as an example, but there are others, say bodos.
I don’t think I could make it a month without Five Guy’s fries! 🙂