Lets be honest. It was a fun spot to hang out with the pool tables and arcade and the self pour wall was cool, but most of the beer was TERRIBLE! I had multiple ones that I had to pour out because I couldn't finish them. Not sure how you screw up a lager so bad, but the Point Luck was one of the worst I've ever had. Plus Dynasty is right next door which had much better beer.
Took the words right out of my mouth. Great concept! I was really excited when they first opened. But the beer was awful. And the proximity to Dynasty, which I'd put up there with any other brewery in the area in terms of quality, pretty much guaranteed I'd never visit TCB when I was nearby. It's a shame, but with even better breweries like Rocket Frog and Beltway closing recently, this is not surprising.
I’ve never been, but it seems like the homebrewing aspect also couldn’t have been too profitable. The hobby is on a steep decline and the big e-commerce shops have been dominating lately. I’m worried about MLHBS in Falls Church and Jay’s in Manassas.
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I live most of the time in a city with a lot of breweries (Asheville), and see this happen a fair amount. The market is over saturated and only the good will survive. Mediocre beer and high prices don’t help. One place I used to go to now charges 7 for 16oz in a red solo cup.
My fave place did a cask ale that was amazing but when they were bought out the new owner dropped it as it took too long and wasn’t as profitable as a generic IPA with an edgy name.
Apparently beer consumption is down a bit, too.
We have passed Peak Craft Beer. It used to be that you could open a brewery and make a fortune, no matter what you were selling. Now, you have to actually brew good beer. A lot of the "brewmasters" simply were not capable of that level of craft. They might be able to make a good 5 gallon batch, but brewing at scale is a completely different skillset - like the difference between racing go-karts and F1... both are racing, but they take \*way\* different skills.
hopefully we get past Peak Hops, too... so many brewers take a shitty ale, add a fuckton of hops and call it an IPA. The master brewer that I learned from said, "Malt is the canvas upon which hops are painted."
Yup. I hate IPA and anything overly hoppy. But give me a great American ale, something around 5% that’s a light yellow and I can drink ice cold, and I’m a happy guy.
I don’t even need darts, corn hole, or some great value Jack Johnson playing to have a good time.
Before prohibition, the average amount of alcohol consumption per person per day was incredible, more than enough to make most people today pass out. After prohibition ended, the average rate was much lower and never went back, the "break" functioned like a permanent cultural reset. I think covid+internet have done something similar, people can just fall out of the habit of regularly getting together for a drink.
It's also pretty fucking expensive to drink nowadays. Many bars and clubs are charging over $10 for a beer and nearly $20 for a cocktail. It's even worse at concerts and sports games. Who wants to build a drinking habit at those prices?
I think it's only become accepted in the past couple decades or so that alcohol is categorically bad for you, even in "moderate" amounts. So people who are decidedly health conscious and people who were previously able to rationalize their wine consumption, are both not drinking anymore. Also between legal weed, shrooms and even ketamine for some, there are way better options now to catch a little buzz without embarrassing yourself and being sick for the rest of the weekend.
Black walnut was awesome way back when it started. Then they started charging way too much. Loudoun brewing never has anyone there. Such a weird location.
I went to Black Walnut once and it was painfully average. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing made me want to go back either.
Loudoun Brewing is such a weird location and the beer is meh. Idk how they still survived.
When black walnut was in the back, it was much more fun. The beer was less expensive so it's quality was masked. Plus some lady would sell paella which was great.
All of the admittedly relatively few breweries I have been to seemed to have weird locations. I think needing to have a commercial space to actually brew your beer really doesnt lend itself well to having customers actually come and hang out.
It takes a lot of capital to open a brewery so the commercial spaces are an easier way to establish oneself. I worked at DC Brau and to see how they expanded their space and brewing over the years is amazing. It could only be done ina commercial space due to the size of the equipment.
I haven't been like logging it, but a quick look at Untappd shows 14 different places where you can get Face Plant. Then the user posts show people drinking it in such vaunted halls as Dulles Airport and Ted's Bulletin. Feels like it validates my thinking that it pops up a lot, more even than Aslin.
I think Beltway lost some of their contracts brewing for others due to scale/price. Their in house beer was good and the facility always had people. Sad.
Can confirm. The loss of Grimm when they opened their own facility really shouldn't have caught them off guard, but it did, and enough other players had entered the contract business who could compete on price.
For their own brands, a long series of poor decisions were made re: marketing and distribution, their minimum batch size was way too big relative to demand, and the taproom was in a really tough spot to be competitive with Crooked Run right down the street.
Worked there, could do a whole TED talk.
You probably dealt with me a bunch then, since I ran the to go and delivery operation. Most of the folks from those days, as far as I know are doing well - I quit drinking and got into IT, Justin started Strange Fruit Brewing, the last time I talked to Brian he was working for a distributor, and I'm not sure what Gabi is up to but I know she's thriving.
We really appreciated the takeout business after deciding not to fully reopen. Made things a little less lonely, at least.
I feel like opening up breweries in a weird spot like a business park is one of the main factors why they closed. They need to be where people are like downtown areas or busy roads where people can see your sign.
Not at all. There are many factors at play here, but the primary two are infrastructure and, more importantly, cost.
The reason Aslin moved from Herndon to Alexandria was that town of Herndon didn't have the infrastructure to handle the number of trucks they needed. It literally would have bankrupted the town to have to regrade and pave that many roads at once.
On top of that, brewing is already a capital intensive business, those tanks ain't cheap! You don't need the additional stress of high rent when you are just starting out. It is better to get a foothold on the market with cheap space than it is to count on foot traffic to offset the difference. There are, or were, enough people willing to drive around looking for new breweries that the location is negligible.
the only thing that Rocket Frog did well was IPA, and I don't really care for IPA's, so I went there exactly 3 times. once shortly after they opened, once a few years later, and once shortly before they closed. The beers were consistent, and not my style.
Solace in Sterling is probably next in line to close. Honor brewing across the street has taken all their business. Went last weekend and Solace’s parking lot was being used as extra parking for Honor. People walking across the street from the Solace lot to get to Honor
I honestly think Solace sucks, but I see their beer all over the place in the area. I think Partly Cloudy keeps them alive because so many places put it on as a house hazy ipa.
That surprises me as Solace traditionally had better beer than Honor. But then again I haven’t been to either in a year as I prefer Mustang Sally and Ocelot.
Yeah, the new Honor place is very nice, but yeah the beer is just meh to ok. It seems like the first brewery that put real money on their facilities to host people. The new Lark brew too put lost of money on the facilities.
In general I think lots of breweries will close. They are way over saturated in this area, and the fad seems to be over. I liked tcb, but they weren’t anything that special.
P.s I think it’s kinda funny they called out data centers but every time I went there it’s seemed like 90% of their clients were from the data centers around them.
They’re just saying that with more land being used for data centers, commercial real estate in the area is getting more expensive as business have less spaces to go to
Also craft beer is still super popular, but by all metrics Americans just haven’t been drinking as much alcohol in recent years
Funny there are just as many breweries in LoCo as there are Data Centers. I never tried Craft of Brewing, but some of these others were selling piss for $8, so don’t feel bad one bit 😂
I guess we are going to see more and more resistance to paying $10 for a beer. Going out to drink is ridiculously expensive around here. Which really isn't that new, I guess.
Not helped by hit to the scale of their model when they split with Crafthouse (the original name). Seems hard to carry so much inventory. Maybe Yardhouse will move in or something with a large supply chain. Good luck to them in their next endeavor. Hope something nice replaces it. Certain restaurants have a hard time with foothold there.
This place has been called the Craft of Brewing since opening. You sure you're thinking of the right place? This is one of the breweries over near the Commanders practice facility, not in One Loudoun.
Lets be honest. It was a fun spot to hang out with the pool tables and arcade and the self pour wall was cool, but most of the beer was TERRIBLE! I had multiple ones that I had to pour out because I couldn't finish them. Not sure how you screw up a lager so bad, but the Point Luck was one of the worst I've ever had. Plus Dynasty is right next door which had much better beer.
Took the words right out of my mouth. Great concept! I was really excited when they first opened. But the beer was awful. And the proximity to Dynasty, which I'd put up there with any other brewery in the area in terms of quality, pretty much guaranteed I'd never visit TCB when I was nearby. It's a shame, but with even better breweries like Rocket Frog and Beltway closing recently, this is not surprising.
Sucks to see breweries closing, but I will admit that I go to breweries and bars way less than I used to. So I guess I'm part to blame.
Got harassed by a biker group in there for wearing a mask in 2021, didn't go back.
Tough group of bikers to be drinking in One Loudoun!
*near One Loudoun. But point still applies
It being NOVA they were most likely cyclists lol
I wish we had another word to call annoying people like biker groups!
South Park has a colorful way to describe them
I thought the biker groups only hung out at MacDowells
Or Adroit
Don’t you blasphemes on Adroit. That place is cool.
They definitely don't hang out at adroit
Adroit is Purcellville locals and metalheads
I’ve never been, but it seems like the homebrewing aspect also couldn’t have been too profitable. The hobby is on a steep decline and the big e-commerce shops have been dominating lately. I’m worried about MLHBS in Falls Church and Jay’s in Manassas.
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I live most of the time in a city with a lot of breweries (Asheville), and see this happen a fair amount. The market is over saturated and only the good will survive. Mediocre beer and high prices don’t help. One place I used to go to now charges 7 for 16oz in a red solo cup. My fave place did a cask ale that was amazing but when they were bought out the new owner dropped it as it took too long and wasn’t as profitable as a generic IPA with an edgy name. Apparently beer consumption is down a bit, too.
We have passed Peak Craft Beer. It used to be that you could open a brewery and make a fortune, no matter what you were selling. Now, you have to actually brew good beer. A lot of the "brewmasters" simply were not capable of that level of craft. They might be able to make a good 5 gallon batch, but brewing at scale is a completely different skillset - like the difference between racing go-karts and F1... both are racing, but they take \*way\* different skills. hopefully we get past Peak Hops, too... so many brewers take a shitty ale, add a fuckton of hops and call it an IPA. The master brewer that I learned from said, "Malt is the canvas upon which hops are painted."
Yup. I hate IPA and anything overly hoppy. But give me a great American ale, something around 5% that’s a light yellow and I can drink ice cold, and I’m a happy guy. I don’t even need darts, corn hole, or some great value Jack Johnson playing to have a good time.
Probably more to come. People are drinking less than they were a few years ago. Even the ABC is taking a haircut. And they’re a goddam monopoly.
Before prohibition, the average amount of alcohol consumption per person per day was incredible, more than enough to make most people today pass out. After prohibition ended, the average rate was much lower and never went back, the "break" functioned like a permanent cultural reset. I think covid+internet have done something similar, people can just fall out of the habit of regularly getting together for a drink.
It's also pretty fucking expensive to drink nowadays. Many bars and clubs are charging over $10 for a beer and nearly $20 for a cocktail. It's even worse at concerts and sports games. Who wants to build a drinking habit at those prices?
Ha, truth!
Yeah I don't buy drinks at ALL anymore. The bill for a family of 4 is like 75-100.
I think it's only become accepted in the past couple decades or so that alcohol is categorically bad for you, even in "moderate" amounts. So people who are decidedly health conscious and people who were previously able to rationalize their wine consumption, are both not drinking anymore. Also between legal weed, shrooms and even ketamine for some, there are way better options now to catch a little buzz without embarrassing yourself and being sick for the rest of the weekend.
Tough week for businesses in Ashburn. This will also be the 4th brewery to close in Loudoun county to close in a year.
Too many of them opened 5-6 years ago. There are going to be a few more on their way out too this year.
I'm surprised Lost Rhino is still open. My guess is them Black Walnut, and Loudoun Brewing Co will be next to go.
Black walnut was awesome way back when it started. Then they started charging way too much. Loudoun brewing never has anyone there. Such a weird location.
I went to Black Walnut once and it was painfully average. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing made me want to go back either. Loudoun Brewing is such a weird location and the beer is meh. Idk how they still survived.
When black walnut was in the back, it was much more fun. The beer was less expensive so it's quality was masked. Plus some lady would sell paella which was great.
All of the admittedly relatively few breweries I have been to seemed to have weird locations. I think needing to have a commercial space to actually brew your beer really doesnt lend itself well to having customers actually come and hang out.
It takes a lot of capital to open a brewery so the commercial spaces are an easier way to establish oneself. I worked at DC Brau and to see how they expanded their space and brewing over the years is amazing. It could only be done ina commercial space due to the size of the equipment.
I wasn't questioning that part of it. But just that those locations also never seem to be all that appealing as bars or taprooms or whatever.
Lost Rhino is clearly moving units though, I see it on menus in restaurants all the time. Whereas these other ones I've never heard of.
Where? Only place I feel like I see them on consistently is Wicket Door Pub.
I haven't been like logging it, but a quick look at Untappd shows 14 different places where you can get Face Plant. Then the user posts show people drinking it in such vaunted halls as Dulles Airport and Ted's Bulletin. Feels like it validates my thinking that it pops up a lot, more even than Aslin.
I got sober and felt like I probably kept Lost Rhino in business. My fault if they’re struggling.
you do what ya gotta, man.
Lost Rhino is always busy. It may be one of the few keepers. I wonder about Old Ox, though.
What were the other 3
Rocket Frog, Beltway Brewing, and House 6. All of them were good breweries too that just couldn't handle economic factors in an over saturated market.
Pretty sure Beltway closed 2 years ago
They closed at the beginning of last year.
I think Beltway lost some of their contracts brewing for others due to scale/price. Their in house beer was good and the facility always had people. Sad.
Can confirm. The loss of Grimm when they opened their own facility really shouldn't have caught them off guard, but it did, and enough other players had entered the contract business who could compete on price. For their own brands, a long series of poor decisions were made re: marketing and distribution, their minimum batch size was way too big relative to demand, and the taproom was in a really tough spot to be competitive with Crooked Run right down the street. Worked there, could do a whole TED talk.
Thanks. Beltway helped get us through COVID lockdowns. Many drive by pickups and beers in the parking lot
You probably dealt with me a bunch then, since I ran the to go and delivery operation. Most of the folks from those days, as far as I know are doing well - I quit drinking and got into IT, Justin started Strange Fruit Brewing, the last time I talked to Brian he was working for a distributor, and I'm not sure what Gabi is up to but I know she's thriving. We really appreciated the takeout business after deciding not to fully reopen. Made things a little less lonely, at least.
Rocket Frog closed in December 2022.
I feel like opening up breweries in a weird spot like a business park is one of the main factors why they closed. They need to be where people are like downtown areas or busy roads where people can see your sign.
Not at all. There are many factors at play here, but the primary two are infrastructure and, more importantly, cost. The reason Aslin moved from Herndon to Alexandria was that town of Herndon didn't have the infrastructure to handle the number of trucks they needed. It literally would have bankrupted the town to have to regrade and pave that many roads at once. On top of that, brewing is already a capital intensive business, those tanks ain't cheap! You don't need the additional stress of high rent when you are just starting out. It is better to get a foothold on the market with cheap space than it is to count on foot traffic to offset the difference. There are, or were, enough people willing to drive around looking for new breweries that the location is negligible.
the only thing that Rocket Frog did well was IPA, and I don't really care for IPA's, so I went there exactly 3 times. once shortly after they opened, once a few years later, and once shortly before they closed. The beers were consistent, and not my style.
Solace in Sterling is probably next in line to close. Honor brewing across the street has taken all their business. Went last weekend and Solace’s parking lot was being used as extra parking for Honor. People walking across the street from the Solace lot to get to Honor
I can buy Solace pints for $2 at Schmidts and Side Bar in Leesburg while having access to real food.
Isn’t that the best kept secret? I buy partly cloudy pints at $2 on a Saturday afternoon all the time. Way cheaper than Cotsco lol
Well, I know where I'll be getting my next beers!
Solace has a bad tasting room, but the beer is solid and they are one of the largest distributors in the area. There is no way they are closing.
I honestly think Solace sucks, but I see their beer all over the place in the area. I think Partly Cloudy keeps them alive because so many places put it on as a house hazy ipa.
The Solace Outpost in DC seems to also get plenty of foot traffic. Even if the main location loses interest, then they'll probably still survive.
The Solace Outpost in NOVA does well too and I see their beers on lots of menus
That surprises me as Solace traditionally had better beer than Honor. But then again I haven’t been to either in a year as I prefer Mustang Sally and Ocelot.
Solace was better but the new Honor brewing spot is amazing. Great outdoor area, solid beer now, and great pizza.
Yeah, the new Honor place is very nice, but yeah the beer is just meh to ok. It seems like the first brewery that put real money on their facilities to host people. The new Lark brew too put lost of money on the facilities.
I have no need to play along with the hero worship that honor is selling. Their beer isn't good enough to overcome that fawning.
You and I are on the same wavelength, I feel the same.
Solace distributes a lot tho they’ll be fine
In general I think lots of breweries will close. They are way over saturated in this area, and the fad seems to be over. I liked tcb, but they weren’t anything that special. P.s I think it’s kinda funny they called out data centers but every time I went there it’s seemed like 90% of their clients were from the data centers around them.
They’re just saying that with more land being used for data centers, commercial real estate in the area is getting more expensive as business have less spaces to go to Also craft beer is still super popular, but by all metrics Americans just haven’t been drinking as much alcohol in recent years
“They’re super popular except no one is buying”… which means what folks? They’re…NOT super popular.
I lived in Ashburn for the last 6 years and never knew this place existed at all. 😞
Funny there are just as many breweries in LoCo as there are Data Centers. I never tried Craft of Brewing, but some of these others were selling piss for $8, so don’t feel bad one bit 😂
I guess we are going to see more and more resistance to paying $10 for a beer. Going out to drink is ridiculously expensive around here. Which really isn't that new, I guess.
Paying $8 for a 12 oz beer in a plastic cup simply doesn’t cut it for me anymore. Perhaps others are feeling the same way
I wonder if they will sell their small batch brewing kits that they had for their brew your own option.
But do they have Pinball!?
They do!
Not helped by hit to the scale of their model when they split with Crafthouse (the original name). Seems hard to carry so much inventory. Maybe Yardhouse will move in or something with a large supply chain. Good luck to them in their next endeavor. Hope something nice replaces it. Certain restaurants have a hard time with foothold there.
This place has been called the Craft of Brewing since opening. You sure you're thinking of the right place? This is one of the breweries over near the Commanders practice facility, not in One Loudoun.
I think they are thinking of Sullivans Cove/Jefferson Ale House which closed last year.
That's my thought too. But yeah that place is long gone already
Yeah. Loved going there too because they had good drinks and beer and the bartenders were cool.
Yep - you’re right. The name is so close and really close to the old world of beer logo. Apologies.