Quick follow-up to my Week 0 preview (#118): Saturday, August 29, my UVA-fan friend and I are headed to Scott Stadium for the 3:30pm ET kickoff between NC State and Virginia. Whatever the scoreboard says by the time the clock hits zero, we're both landing downtown afterward — so I did the same thing I do before a trip and actually verified where we're going, rather than just wandering the Downtown Mall and hoping. Four stops, each checked directly against the venue's own site for hours, address, and what makes it worth the walk: a beer hall built specifically for watching games, a brewery running out of an old art park, a whiskey bar with real Southern food, and the historic bar where a guy named Dave once poured drinks for a living before he started a band you may have heard of.
4. Kardinal Hall — an Alpine-Style Beer Hall Inside a 1939 Art Deco Coca-Cola Building, Built for Watching Games
First stop leaving Scott Stadium, and the closest of the four — about 1.7 miles, roughly a 7-minute drive, per a routed check against OSRM. Kardinal Hall runs out of a repurposed warehouse and bottling plant that its own site describes as “the historic art-deco Coca-Cola building built in 1939,” sitting on Preston Ave in what Kardinal Hall itself calls Charlottesville’s Midtown — “between Downtown and UVA,” not literally on the Mall, but the natural first stop on the way in. OpenStreetMap independently lists the same building simply as the “Coca-Cola Building,” which lines up. Source: Kardinal Hall, About.
The reason it's on this list at all: Kardinal Hall explicitly markets itself as a place to come “watch live sports, especially UVA, American college football and International football matches,” with TVs on throughout the space, plus two regulation bocce ball courts and board games if the late games get out of hand. Per their own site, Saturday hours run 11am to midnight — plenty of runway to catch the late kickoffs after the 3:30pm ET NC State-Virginia game wraps. Source: Kardinal Hall, Hours.
3. Three Notch'd Brewing Co. — the Original Taproom, Running Out of a Working Art Park
Three Notch'd has grown into a multi-state chain since it started (locations now run as far as Richmond, Roanoke, and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware), but the Charlottesville location at 520 2nd St SE is, per the brewery's own site, “our original home and main production brewery,” located “in the heart of Charlottesville inside IX Art Park” — a converted industrial complex turned public art space a few blocks southeast of the Downtown Mall. It's about 2.3 miles and roughly an 8-minute drive from Scott Stadium, per OSRM. The taproom itself has a lively indoor dining room, a spacious covered patio (leashed dogs welcome), a full bar, and fresh beer straight from the on-site brewhouse. Saturday hours run 10am to 11pm. Source: Three Notch'd Brewing Co., Charlottesville.
2. The Whiskey Jar — “Nothing Fancy,” Right on the Pedestrian Mall
Now actually on the brick pedestrian mall: The Whiskey Jar sits at 227 W. Main St., which its own site describes simply as “Charlottesville's historic downtown pedestrian mall.” The tagline says it plainly — “Nothing Fancy: Classic Southern Food and a Fine Selection of Whiskey” — and the bar bills itself as the home of the Whiskey Society of Central Virginia, with a seasonally rotating menu built on locally sourced ingredients. No reservations taken, so it's a walk-in. Friday and Saturday hours run 11am to 2am. Source: The Whiskey Jar.
1. Miller's Downtown — Open Since 1981, Where Dave Matthews Tended Bar Before There Was a Dave Matthews Band
The anchor of the night, and the one with an actual verified piece of music history behind it. Miller's sits at 109 W Main St, right on the Mall, and per its own homepage has been running under the banner “Eat. Drink. Listen.” since 1981. The history part: per Wikipedia's own account of the Dave Matthews Band's formation, in November 1990 Dave Matthews was working as a bartender at Miller's when a lawyer named Ross Hoffman convinced him to record a demo of the songs he'd been writing — the demo that led him to approach drummer Carter Beauford and eventually form the band. Source: Wikipedia, Dave Matthews Band.
Miller's still runs live music most nights (its own site lists a standing Wednesday slot, among others), a full food and cocktail menu, and Saturday hours of noon to 2am — late enough to catch every kickoff on the Week 0 slate and still have a nightcap after. Source: Miller's Downtown.
Four stops, all checked directly against the venue's own hours and address rather than a generic “best bars in Charlottesville” listicle — and all an easy loop on foot once you're parked downtown. If NC State loses, at least the whiskey selection at stop #2 is solid. If Virginia loses, well, my friend knows where to find me.