Pizza and cocktails at Hardywood, tacos with a bottle of bubbles at The Veil, charcuterie and cider at Ardent and a mimosa with biscuits and gravy at Three Notch'd.

Richmond breweries are all grown up and starting to look a lot like — what's the word we're looking for? Ah, restaurants.

Why it matters: Brewery taprooms are still a relatively young business in Virginia, but the evolution of their business model shows they're here for the long haul.

State of play: Last year marked the 10th anniversary of the landmark legislation that allowed Virginia breweries to start selling beer for on-site consumption, which led to the explosion of craft breweries across the state.

• At the start of 2012, there were 44 breweries in Virginia. Today, there are nearly 300.

What's happening: In recent years, more than half of Richmond breweries — once bare-bone operations with a few taps and a food truck in the parking lot — have added in-house restaurants and wine or cider to meet consumer demand and keep up with an increasingly competitive scene.

"When we started, there was only one other brewery in the city. Now there are 40. We needed something more than just tanks to draw people in," Hardywood co-founder Eric McKay tells Axios.

In 2021, Hardywood partnered with Richmond chef and restaurant owner Joe Sparatta to develop Hardywood Pizza Kitchen — a six-option artisanal pizza menu made in their Ownby Lane taproom.

• Sparatta helped develop the menu and hire and train the staff before handing over operations to Hardywood. And Hardywood is working with him again on a brat-focused restaurant concept for their West Creek location.

"It's less money making and more guest experience," Hardywood co-founder Patrick Murtaugh tells Axios.

The 2012 law allowed breweries to sell their own beer on site, but once breweries added food, they could apply for a separate ABC license as a restaurant.

• Virginia ABC only requires a $2,000-per-month minimum in food sales for a wine and beer license for any restaurant, including one inside a brewery. If spirits are served, it goes up to $4,000 and requires a minimum of 45% of sales to come from food.

Keep reading to see what Ardent is doing

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House Republicans are advancing a ban on transgender girls and women competing in K-12 women’s sports.

Why it matters: The legislation is part of a nationwide push in the GOP to roll back transgender rights.

What’s happening: The Virginia bill cleared its first subcommittee on a party-line vote earlier this week.

• The bill’s sponsor, Del. Karen Greenhalgh, called it a matter of fairness.
• “Today, even the strongest, fastest girls in Virginia must step up to the starting line and know, ‘I can’t win,'” she said, per WRIC.

The other side: Opponents called the measure mean-spirited and a nonissue in Virginia.

• “We have had transgender youth living in the commonwealth, and there has been no takeover of women’s sports,” said Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, a Fairfax County Democrat, per the Virginian-Pilot. “I just don’t understand why this conversation continues.”

The big picture: The Virginia High School League already has regulations in place addressing the issue, making decisions on a case-by-case basis.

• Since the rules were implemented in 2014, 28 students applied to play on teams aligning with their gender identity and 25 were approved, WRIC reports.

What’s next: The measure is expected to clear the House but unlikely to make it past Democrats in the Senate.

Meanwhile…

🌿 House Republicans look like they’re going to block any effort to legalize retail recreational marijuana sales. (Virginia Mercury)

🤑 A House panel voted down a bill that would have prohibited lawmakers from spending campaign money on personal expenses. (AP)

• “I would suggest that donors need to not donate to the people they don’t trust,” said GOP Del. Wren Williams.

⚖️ Lawmakers in the Senate rejected a proposal by Gov. Youngkin’s administration to relieve pressure on the state’s unemployment insurance program by cutting the time applicants have to appeal claims. (AP)

✏️ Gov. Youngkin’s appointees to the Board of Education advanced his administration’s second attempt at rewriting the state’s history and social studies standards over opposition from Democrats on the board. (Times-Dispatch)

• The document now moves to a public comment process.

🏛 A symbolic resolution condemning socialism split Democrats from Virginia’s congressional delegation, with Rep. Bobby Scott opposing it on grounds that many U.S. allies identify as democratic-socialist nations. (Twitter)

• Rep. Abigail Spanberger backed the measure, framing it as a condemnation of the “world’s worst dictators.”

🎨 A city review board ordered a Jackson Ward homeowner to remove a massive new mural painted by a Swiss artist on the side of his house because the neighborhood is a historic district. (NBC12)

Tomorrow is National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, perhaps the most important holiday you didn't know existed.

• Here's how Richmond shops are celebrating.

Gelati Celesti is handing out free Country Style Donuts with all ice cream purchases to customers who show up wearing their pajamas from 9am-noon.

• The ice cream shop is also scooping a new, limited-edition flavor: Cereal Milk, a Fruity Pebbles-infused ice cream.

Ruby Scoops Ice Cream & Sweets will have eight breakfast-inspired flavors Saturday, plus breakfast sundaes and cereal shakes at its Northside shop.

• They're opening up at 8am, and the first 15 customers wearing PJs will get a free gift.

And Richmond's own Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches has a brand-new, limited-edition flavor out: Cinnamon Roll.

• It'll only be available through March, so you best get on it.