Old Dominion beer will no longer be brewed in the Old Dominion.
Coastal Brewing Co., which brews Old Dominion and Fordham beers in Virginia and Delaware, will close its Ashburn branch next year and move its operations to Dover, Chief Executive Officer Garry Williams said.
Williams said no date has been set for the move, but they hoped to complete the transition by the end of the first quarter in 2009.
“Basically, the brewery’s closing for financial reasons and the company’s moving it to their factory in Delaware,” said Favio Garcia, the Ashburn branch brewmaster.
“Obviously, it will be much more cost-effective for us,” William said, adding it would benefit the “long-term health of the company.”
“It just makes sense for us operationally to combine the two branches,” he said.
The Ashburn facility’s 15 full-time employees will be offered jobs in the Dover brewery, Williams said.
He met with employees Tuesday to let them know about the company’s plans, and already received several commitments from them to move.
“We’re willing to take every employee from Ashburn if they’re willing to move,” he said. “It’s going to be a big move for everyone.”
Coastal Brewing Co. employs a small staff of fewer than 50 full-time employees, which includes both brewing and administrative employees.
Williams estimated that Ashburn has approximately 15 full-time employees, and the Dover office has about five full-timers, with most of the administrative staff in Annapolis.
He said the Old Dominion brand would not change once the brewery moves into the First State.
“As a matter of fact, we really don’t intend to change the recipes, or the way the product is brewed,” Williams said. “The only difference is the location.”
He did say the company would change the label of the beer to “founded in Ashburn, Va., in 1989.”
Old Dominion Brewing Co. was the Washington area’s first microbrewery. In 2007, Coastal Brewing Co. bought the company, and its popular Old Dominion Brewpub, which opened in 1990.
Coastal closed the pub on Aug. 25, which the company said would allow it “to focus on its primary objective — producing authentic, high-quality craft beers and sodas,” and that the decision would “have no impact on other operations of Coastal Brewing Co.”
