RICHMOND, Va. — Tom Ellington and Jon Schott join Robey and Scott to discuss the evolution and growth of Cirrus Vodka and the recent opening of its new tasting room in the Scott's Addition neighborhood of Richmond. The space, known as Ballast, also houses Yellow Umbrella and Slack Tide Fish Co.
The tasting room's drink menu, created by Jon, includes a variety of vodka-based cocktails, with a focus on local products.
"I love working with local stuff. That's why I met Tom. I get into a lot of these projects and people don't really care about boosting anybody else around them necessarily," Schott said. "I think that we're working with upwards of like eight or maybe like maybe 10 local places in their distillery, including Virago [Spirits] in one of the drinks, which is like a distillery across town."
Ellington said the tasting room's move across Ashe Boulevard into its new location will help improve the overall atmosphere at Cirrus.
"We felt like we were not living up to our full potential with our current space. We would have to get food trucks. Sometimes we'd have to have pop-ups with food. Food is such a key component with cocktails and with drinking. And again, we're a tasting room. We can only serve three ounces a person, two drinks, but we still wanted food to play a big role at Ballast. And so we're going to have a lot of items in our refrigerator in the space. You can grab smoked fish dip, it's all coming from Yellow Umbrella, pimento cheese, salty snacks like that, tapenade. But then we'll also, starting in May, we'll have a QR code menu from Slack Tide. So there'll be anywhere from six to eight options. Fritters, fried oysters, the whole raw bar will be available so you can get oysters and a martini. It's going to not be large plates, but small, shareable plates. All done by Caleb [Shriver] that is geared towards our cocktail menu," Ellington said. "We think we're going to draw a lot off just the business of Scott's Addition, having a wait at Lucky AF or Lunch Supper. We want to be a spot you come before dinner, after dinner, grab a martini, hang out with your friends. We want to be third space for people to just come and enjoy cocktails in a beautiful environment."
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