When Basic City Brewing Co. Turned 10
When the Lanman brothers founded Basic City Brewing Co. in Waynesboro ten years ago, Alana Hollister-Bates was there. A Waynesboro native, Hollister-Bates had already put a decade of service into building Crozet Pizza, then joined Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie as it navigated an expansion of its exceptionally busy North Garden restaurant.
“We have come very far,” said Hollister-Bates at Basic City’s 10-year anniversary celebration on October 24, featuring an artisan fair, a new beer, pumpkin cocktails, Skee-Ball competition and a free concert. “There’s a place here for everybody.”
She credited the brewery’s staying power to adaptation and its own expansion, as the Virginia Metalcrafters Marketplace—along with Waynesboro itself—has grown around it.
In the early pandemic months of 2020, Basic City kept its employees working by transforming a 19th-century farmhouse into The Showroom, an old-world style tavern with fine cocktails. In early 2023, it opened The Foundry, a 1,000-person music venue attracting larger acts like Umphrey’s McGee and G. Love & Special Sauce. The brewery also experimented with an Italian eatery called Patina, now closed.
And last October, in response to a national dip in alcohol consumption and the rising popularity of “dirty sodas,” Basic City became home to Sip City Soda Shop, offering unique drinks like the O.G. Dirty Dr. Pepper and the Paradise Pop.
“There’s a little bit of fear in this industry, with folks not drinking as much,” Hollister-Bates said. A Gallup poll last year found a record-low 54 percent of Americans now drink, down from more than 70 percent in the early 1980s. “We’re doing a lot more for non-drinkers.”
Bartenders Natasha Olinger and Kelly Lewis emphasized that Basic City has become a center of community in Waynesboro, an “extra space” where families and newcomers are welcome. They recommended two upcoming concerts, both free and all-ages: a Grateful Dead cover band called Nightfall of Diamonds at 8 p.m. on Saturday, November 7, and rock band Sun Dried Opossum with guest John Shenk at 8 p.m. on Black Friday, November 27.