Tap Handle #844: Virgin Islands Brewing

November 17, 2024

Tap Handle #844: Virgin Islands Brewing - Blackbeard Ale

Tap size: 11"

Rarity: 10 or less seen, hand-made, small scale

Mounting: 3/8" ferrule on 5/16" anchor bolt

version 2

From the Bill Gibson wing of the Museum comes this great pirate-themed tap. There are 2 versions of the Virgin Islands Blackbeard tap. The first features a cutlass running through a scroll and stuck in a wood plank - which I refer to as version 1. To further complicate matters, the first version has 2 paint variations: a dark scroll with white lettering (profiled in this post); and a light-colored scroll with black lettering. The second version features a cutlass running through a sign that is probably supposed to be a pirate flag, and is stuck in what I think is a cannonball, which I call version 2 (see photo inset). Version 1 was produced right at the very beginning of the St. Croix Chop House era (note the name Virgin Islands Ale Company). Version 2 was produced right after brewing started at the Chop House and the name of the brewery was changed to Virgin Islands Brewing Company. Version 1 taps poured beer only for a short time, mostly likely until the version 2 taps with the new name were manufactured and received, after which version 1 was retired. In an interesting design choice for version 1, the cutlass is not sculpted in the back where it "runs through" the scroll; instead, the back of the scroll is painted in a wide silver line to give the illusion that the sword is passing through it. Overall, this is a fun, pirate-themed tap from the Caribbean and was never produced for stateside use, making it pretty hard to find. At the time of this writing, I've only seen 5 of the version 2 taps, with a price in 2007 around $15 that has climbed over the years, with the last one appearing in 2022 and selling for $150. For version 1, only one of the light-colored scroll has appeared; that was in 2017 and sold for about $100. The dark-colored scroll that I am profiling here is the only one I've ever seen. The low quantities are to be expected for the version 1 taps; due to its limited use before the brewery's name change, very few of these exist.

Virgin Islands Brewing Company (also known as Virgin Islands Ale Company) was founded in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands in 1996 by Matt Razook. At 26 years old, Razook was working as a sales manager for a chemical company, first in Los Angeles, then in Seattle. When he took a trip to St. Croix in 1994 to do some scuba diving, he wanted to try a local beer, but to his surprise there was no draft beer on the Virgin Islands. Bartenders told Razook they were constantly being asked for draft beer and constantly having to tell customers that there wasn't any. Sensing an opportunity, Razook looked into starting a brewery, but his own savings would not be nearly enough. He focused instead on finding a contract brewer. The Minnesota Brewing Company in St. Paul agreed to take on brewing and bottling for Razook. After making contact with two distributors in the Virgin Islands, Razook got on a plane to give them a taste test of the final formula of his "Blackbeard Ale". One of the distributors was so impressed, it gave Razook an order immediately, but there was one minor problem: Razook had a 1,200-case order for a brand that did not exist yet.

Razook immediately created the Virgin Islands Ale Company (VIAC), and turned to friends and family to borrow funds. The order deadline arrived and Razook had the 1,200 cases ready to go, just in time. Not only was Blackbeard Ale a quickly accepted and well-liked brew, it won the advertising industry's ADDY Award for its label. But while bottles were fine, it was a lack of draft beer that had led Razook down the road he was on. It was time to move to the next phase of his plans: open a brewery on the islands. At around the same time, Frank Day was starting up a restaurant & brewpub on the waterfront in Christiansted, St. Croix called the St. Croix Chop House. Razook proposed to tie the two companies together through a marketing agreement, but Day declined. So Razook went to the one person who in many ways would matter as much as any investor: Tim Mason, the brewmaster of the new brewery. The two of them instantly hit it off, and both saw a lot of potential in working together to become the only brewery in the Virgin Islands. After countless calls and a lot of persistence, Day agreed to allow Mason to brew beer for Razook. Renamed to reflect the new venture, the Virgin Islands Brewery Company (VIBC) was born. The name Virgin Islands Ale Company was still used to identify the bottling operations in Minnesota.

The first batch of Blackbeard Ale was brewed in the islands in 1997. By 1999, VIBC had 3 beers on tap: Blackbeard Ale, Foxy's Lager and Foxy's Stout. "Foxy" was Foxy Callwood, of the legendary bar "Foxy's" on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands, who infused his own brand of island humor into the songs and stories he used to entertain sailors and visitors from around the world. Razook felt Foxy would be the perfect representative for his company. A commemorative beer was brewed especially for Foxy's 2000, a celebration touted in Time Magazine as one of the best places to be on New Years Eve 1999. Bottled beer from VIBC was distributed in the U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Florida, Texas and North Carolina, while kegs brewed by the Chop House were distributed in the U.S. Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands.

In 2000, Day sold the Chop House to Richard Mahurt and Gary Lee Brumback, and it became the Fort Christian Brewpub. Mason stayed on to assume duties as brewmaster for Fort Christian, and the brewpub continued to brew Blackbeard Ale and Foxy's Lager for VIBC for local draft distribution, although Foxy's Stout was dropped. In 2002, Mason left Fort Christian to brew for Foxy's bar on Jost Van Dyke. New brewer Bob Davis was hired on to brew Fort Christian beers, and agreed to continue to brew VIBC's Blackbeard Ale and Foxy's Lager. At the same time, VIBC's contract brewer, Minnesota Brewing Company, filed for banckruptcy, and VIBC switched contract brewing over to the Cold Spring/Gluek Brewery, finally sunsetting the Virgin Islands Ale Company name. Fort Christian continued to brew VIBC beers through 2009, but sometime shortly after that, brewing for VIBC was discontinued. VIBC became a bottle-only operation.

In 2014, due to quality issues with their bottled beers after switching from Cold Spring Brewing to Minhaus Brewing, Razook and John Kichton, CEO of U.S. operations for VIBC, began looking for a location in Florida to brew VIBC beers for stateside consumption. According to a brief interview with Kichton, a Wisconsin brewery (Minhaus) had been brewing VIBC since the VIBC brewery burned down; however, there are no records anywhere of a physical VIBC brewery, much less one that burned down. Regardless, moving brewing operations to Florida would have made their beer price more competitive, helped the local economy, cut down on shipping costs and improved quality control. A location in Punta Gorda was decided on and a Twitter account was created. However, there are no further records of the company anywhere, except for a pair of administrative dissolutions issued by the state of Florida in 2016.

An administrative dissolution is where the Secretary of State (SOS) dissolves a corporation if it has failed to pay fees imposed by the SOS, failed to have a registered agent for 30 days, its period of duration has expired, or more commonly, the corporation has failed to file its annual report 120 days after its due date. It's likely the company was unable to raise enough capital to move forward with their own brewing operations in Florida, but the bottling operations would remain viable if the quality issues could be solved. That must have happened, because VIBC beers can still be found today in bottles in the Virgin Islands; contract brewing is still being done in Monroe, Wisconsin (presumably by Minhaus Brewing but could be a different brewery). Current ownership of the brand is unclear.

(Editor's note: much of this article includes speculation...trying to find information about this brewery that wasn't a physical brewery for its entire 30 year existence, in the far off Virgin Islands, was incredibly difficult - this is perhaps the most difficult profile I have ever done research for. Some source material contradicted each other, some presented information as facts that could not be substantiated, and some made obscure references which caused me to make a "best guess" to puzzle out and make sense of the information given. When reading the material written in this profile, please apply equal amounts of "somewhat factual" and "somewhat speculative.")

Virgin Islands Brewing's Blackbeard Ale is a full-bodied amber ale with a smooth, crisp finish. Recommended food pairings are steaks on the grill, pizzas, ribs or any snacks.