The Cask Cafe

The Cask is a perfect place to come when you’re not quite in the mood for a full meal in a crowded restaurant, but you also still wanna snack on something and indulge in some delicious craft beer. The Cask fulfills all of those requirements, and it quickly has evolved into my «lazy Saturday afternoon» hangout. The format here is simple:
1. A solid selection of great craft beer that you can’t normally find around town (that’s saying a lot for RVA).
2. Locally made Sausage Craft sausages paired with excellent cheeses.
3. Other finger foods to keep you occupied while you try all the excellent beer.
The location is off the beaten path – so to speak – a little bit off of W Cary. It’s still a fan location, but I like how it’s not in the middle of all of the hustle and bustle of Carytown and W Main. The interior is a nicely finished wood look, a modest bar, and a decent amount of tables to accommodate most groups (I once saw a group of 15 show up, and they somehow sat them no problem). I love sitting by the window, especially when they have them open when the weather is nice. I also love love love the fact that they don’t have a TV. Sometimes it’s nice to get away from the noise, and The Cask is the perfect place for that.
The beer selection isn’t overwhelming, but they always have something solid on tap. They order a lot of small batch stuff that you probably won’t find most other places, and it is really exciting to show up and see what they have going on tap that day. I have noticed that they have had a lot of dark beer selections, which is fine, but I found the amount of dark beer to be a bit much for those who aren’t big dark beer fans. I also came during the winter months, which probably explains that trend.
The food is good! I usually grab a beer and a sausage and cheese plate. It’s $ 10, you choose your own sausage and cheeses, and it also comes with Billy Bread and olive oil. Definitely a good afternoon «snack», if you even want to call it that. The Saturday Nite Sausage is soooo good. They marinate it in Devil’s Backbone Vienna Lager, and it has a perfect texture. Their Cheddar cheese is also fantastic.
The service is solid. Every time I have gone, there has only been one server taking care of the whole place (it usually doesn’t get that busy), but she never seems stressed, is friendly, and always takes great care of me.
A perfect place for the afternoon beer and light bites, come here when you’re in the mood for a relaxing environment and good conversation. A place to escape the crowds and chill, I would strongly recommend coming here.

Visited the The Cask Café during Storm Jonas this past weekend, I loved that they were open, friendly service, and great beer during a terrible snow storm. The space isn’t huge, so it’s comfortable and busy all at the same time. Beer selection was great, had several beers that I wanted to try so that was excellent. Definitely a spot to grab a beer with friends, not a meal/​dinner place. I will be back!

My hubby and I love The Cask! It’s a little gem on the outskirts of the Fan with amazing beer, cheese, and sausage! Also great service!

Love this spot. Good food and service. It’s not a «dinner spot» per se. The food is mostly cheese plates and sausage. The paninis and sandwiches are good, just not a full meal.
The biggest downside? Their beer selection changes all the time. Great right? Well, I fall in love with a beer and it’s gone the next week. If that’s the worse thing I can say about a bar, then it gets five stars from me.

Great atmosphere, but the selection is kind of limited in terms of beer. The wine selection, however, is large and respectable.

Although their taplist isn’t as extensive as other beer bars, they have a very unique selection. Both the draft list & atmosphere have a European influence. Will is a ton of fun to chat with too

Great neighborhood bar. Excellent beer selection that’s always changing. Good friendly crowd at the bar. Fantastic bar staff.

My wife and I stopped in after Dominion RiverRock to feta beer and some dinner. It looked like a pretty cool place when we pulled up. Indoor seating with an outdoor atmosphere. Garage doors open up to the outside. Not much on the menu but a decent beer selection. Service was great and friendly. Atmosphere really made this a cool spot.

Great, cozy environment slightly off the beaten path to enjoy one of the many carefully selected craft beers on tap as well as their savory locally sourced sausages and international cheese boards. Friendly staff and it’s especially nice when the weather’s pleasant as they can open an entire wall with their large garage style windows… it makes for a patio experience without having to worry about possible rain falling on your head. Another source of respect is the fact they serve Basque or Asturian style cider of Spain in the traditional way of the long pour (escanciar).

Well if you’re in the mood for a sausage roll with onions and peppers go no further, it was delicious. The menu is small and the place is typical Fan funky which is charming. There’s a strange juxtaposition of food with a concentration on world cheeses and beers. It’s a niché place but has a pleasant neighborhood pub feel.

Great staff and cosy spot with garage doors that open up for an awesome atmosphere to have a beer in. Good selection of specialty beers and growlers options to-​go. Didn’t eat the food but a selection of sausages were available. Small type bar food to meet your snacking needs, but we went for atmosphere and beer.

Great find off the beaten path. Really cool vibe; simple interior. Definitely worth a pint and peek. Never tried the sausage but let me know how it is.

This is a good place with great sausage and cheese, however some of the beer portions are short, I ordered a beer and the female bartender tells me it comes in a 10 oz glass because they’re «trying to keep cost down»… I don’t get it either, though the beer still sells for regular price.
The place has a great atmosphere and some of the chairs came from quiznos, Don’t ask me about that one. In conclusion this is a nice place, with a nice atmosphere, and good food it’s worth a shot.

Vegetarians, don’t fear the sausage, we can come here too – the tempeh Reuben is among the best I’ve ever had (I find myself an unexpected connoisseur of this weird corner of the sandwich market.) Billy bread, smoked maasdam cheese (Gouda-​like, but better), a delicate pickly kraut, and *not* a thick slop of thousand island dressing, grilled tight and crisp. It’s delicious, sizable, and terrific with a beer.
Cheese selection also very good. Salad generous and more thoughtfully constructed than you’d expect from a little bar. A modest but delicious and interesting draft beer list, and wines as well (I haven’t tried the wine but this place has ties with the beloved and shuttered River City Cellars so I trust them.) They sell it for offsite consumption too.
As everyone else has said, the interior is open and nice and especially pleasant when they roll up the glass garage doors on a good day. Panoramic views of the GRTC street art under a wide blue sky.
So glad this place is here! A transformative presence on South Robinson.

I really enjoy the addition of this simple pub in the fan. The food is semi-​German themed: sausages, sauerkraut, red potato salad, cheese plates etc. They use local sausage makers, Billy bread (a personal Fan fan favorite) and other quality ingredients. The food is really delicious and a huge leap up from your typical pub fare. I would describe their draft drink menu which changes frequently as craft beers/​ciders.
The best part of this pub is that you get quality food and drink with a European flair without any fuss. The people who work there are very good at fully explaining anything on the menu and making excellent suggestions. It’s a beer garden type of environment with garage door windows opening up providing an excellent porch feeling when the weather is nice.
With all the new bars opening up in the fan, I would like NOT to recommend this place, because I’m planning on making it my new spot. It’s a relaxed, local, non-​commercial watering hole that offers quality food that’s not offered anywhere else.

This is a small place with a bar and a separate room on South Robinson, just below Acacia. They have garage-​style doors that will make this place perfect to frequent in the spring.
They had a solid draft beer selection. I was not completely blown away because that is supposed to be their specialty, but it was good and had a couple of abnormal and pleasant surprises.
Food-​wise, they have cheeses, sausages, and some sandwiches and sides. We had a cheese and meat plate. It was a little underwhelming in size and food quality, but it was fairly reasonably priced. We also took a sausage sandwich home, which was a highlight, though they didn’t send or offer any mustard or other toppings besides what was offered on the sandwich.
I would say this is a place worth going to drink beer when the weather is nice and the windows are rolled up. They say that they will be offering their draft list online soon, which would be a big help.

Came here for a midday snack and some beers and was very pleased. Ended up having some kielbasa and a cheese plate, the latter of which was pretty generously sized for what we paid. Kielbasa was tasty and all of their sausages were locally sourced.
More importantly they had an amazing list of beers. Everything from pale ale to gueuze lambic and all reasonably priced. I want to say they had at least 16 items on tap covering a wide array of flavor profiles. If you’re a big time beer person like me you won’t be disappointed.
Service was friendly. They were playing Philip Glass over the speakers which made for an interesting ambiance and I’ll take that over most cafés music selections. Also they do meat and cheese to takeaway if you felt so inclined and a growler station which I’m sure I’ll utilize one of these days.
I’ll definitely be coming back here again I only wish I still lived nearby. But if you’re close you definitely need to try it. Especially now because it’s somewhat off the beaten path so it wasn’t as packed as I would have expected. You could easily get a light lunch and a beer here for $ 10 – 12 plus tip. But considering my wife and I ate a bunch and had three Belgian beers a $ 40 bill is nothing to be upset about either.

I heard about The Cask from a bartender at another beer joint in Richmond. It is is an unusual space but really casual and comfortable. They have a nice assortment of craft beer and an interesting wine list. What I really like is that they are featuring food items from other local favorites, sausage from Sausage Craft and bakery products from Billy Bread and Flour Garden. A good place to start is the meat and cheese board. For $ 10 choose 3 items from and extensive list and it is accompanied by bread and olive oil.
Great service, quality food and beverage are all reasons to stop by.

What a wonderful little spot for a small bite to eat and some amazing craft beers. Locally sourced sausages from Sausage Craft, cheeses, and sandwiches made on billy bread and that’s about it for the food menu.
Thoughtful and well curated beer selection. Space has a huge garage door which is going to be awesome in the summer.

Soft opening week was great! It was a lovely Sunday afternoon and we sat by the open air doors. Great atmosphere, beer choices, pub fare, service and music. We had the Sausage Plate and the Sausage Craft choices were great. I’m not a super fan of German food (colors are blah, flavors are typically meh, sauerkraut has never done it for me) but this was great! The sausage was very good, the bread was wonderfully robust, the potato salad was fresh with red potatoes and fresh herbs, the beer mustard is YUM but the big surprise for me was the (home made?) sauerkraut — I’m a convert and fan.
The other food choices are great (see the photos), beer selection is wonderful, they do growlers and sell meats and cheeses by the pound as well as other market items (bottles of wine, chips, etc.).