Chester’s Dancing Kilt Brewery calls it quits after 4 years in business – Richmond BizSense

Another local brewery is going out of business.

Dancing Kilt Brewery at 12912 Old Stage Road in Chester will cease operations this weekend. 

The brainchild of longtime homebrewer Thomas Pakurar Jr., Dancing Kilt debuted amid the pandemic in 2020 and added a wine spinoff a year later. It’s located in a strip center near the Old Hundred Road-Interstate 95 interchange, and Pakurar said in its four years in business, Dancing Kilt drew a strong crowd of regulars. 

“We were building community. We didn’t have TVs so people came in and started talking to one another,” Pakurar said. “My staff was supposed to call everybody by name so that when they came in, it made them comfortable. People got to know each other.”

Thomas Pakurar Jr.

Pakurar said 2024 started strong for Dancing Kilt, with its best-ever first quarter of sales. In the second quarter, things were going well enough for him to expand operations to include a kitchen to serve a menu that included German staples like schnitzel and Bavarian pretzels. 

But things have since taken a turn and Pakurar said he thinks broader economic headwinds led to a change in consumer habits. 

“Customers don’t have money to spend because inflation’s eaten into their pockets and they have to pick and choose where they go,” Pakurar said. “Going out and having fun takes second place.” 

He also noted increased expenses on Dancing Kilt’s operations, like a 50 percent rent increase and 300 percent price increase on raw materials.

While Dancing Kilt kept a few IPAs on its taps, the brewery focused on more European-style brews like its Banshee Irish Red Ale and Headless Horseman Oktoberfest. Its most popular beer, Pakurar said, is its Cauldron Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout. 

“It was a novelty. Right when I took it off tap to put something else in its place, the customers dragged me in the parking lot and flogged me until I promised to put it back on tap permanently,” he said, laughing. “I’d love the opportunity to sell the recipe to a bigger brewery that could take it nationally.”

Dancing Kilt’s last day will be Oct. 19. Pakurar said they’re holding an Irish Wake-style send-off party for the brewery through the weekend with $5 pours as they try to sell the remaining kegs in its fridge. 

“We were having fun, but then people quit coming out,” Pakurar said of Dancing Kilt’s run. 

Dancing Kilt will be the fourth Richmond-area brewery to close this year. Steam Bell Beer Works ended a nearly 10-year-run in Chesterfield in late summer, Holy Mackerel Small Batch Beers closed at Jordan Point to make way for a new restaurant, and Goochland’s Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery closed indefinitely at the start of the year.