The craft beer boom has hit Delmarva, with local breweries popping up in small towns all across the peninsula. Burley Oak Brewing Company is one of those breweries.
Bryan-Brushmiller-Burley-Oak-Brewing-Co-photo-from-Burley-FB2
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The down to earth guys at Burley Oak started selling their beer in 2011, but their story starts 4 years earlier, when owner Bryan Brushmiller started brewing in his garage for fun.
Bryan, who has a biology and chemistry degree from Salisbury, says brewing was one of his outlets, “(it) was a way for me to keep being into science through fermentation, and brewing beer was one of my ways to geek out.”
However when the recession hit in 2008, Bryan was left with out a job, “yeah it was horrible it was the Friday before Christmas in 2008. You know Christmas presents were already bought, but like anything sometimes somebody makes a decision for you and that pushes you into the next step of your life, and like anything in life you just have to roll with it and just try to make lemonade out of lemons.”
Or in Bryans case beer out of barley. With a lot of extra time on his hands Bryan says he began experimenting, “being unemployed I (could make) all the beer that I wanted, so the more I may beer the more I gave it to people the more people liked it, the better of a gratification I got from it and then it became okay this is really good.”
That eventually led Bryan to the realization that he could make a career out of brewing, so he scrapped together money and opened Burley Oak Brewing Company.
“Yeah it was a big risk and I feel like I’m still taking risk today. I think that initial risk kind of prepped me to take these bigger risk now that I’m going forth with,” says Bryan.
And now, as Burley Oak enters it’s 4 year of operation, they continue to expand and grow as they supply great tasting beer to Delmarva.
Take a tour through the brew house with Bryan every Saturday at 3 p.m.
Check out events going on at Burley Oak!
Check out Burley Oak’s recent Kickstarter project which raised over $50,000 to start canning their beers!
Burley Oak Information:
Phone: 443-513-4647
Address: 10016 Old Ocean City Blvd. Berlin, MD 21811
Hours: Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. Friday – Saturday 11 a.m. – 2 a.m. Sunday 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Follow Burley Oak Online:
https://www.facebook.com/burleyoak
http://instagram.com/burleybryan
Check out other local breweries popping up in small towns:
Breweries on the Eastern Shore
Take a Beer and Wine Trail:
Toast Our Coast- Delmarva’s Wine and Ale Trail
Delaware Beer Wine and Spirits Trail
