For more on the local beer scene, pick up this month’s issue of Northern Virginia Magazine with beer and brewery awards; stories on Kickstarter funding failures and hop growing; and a directory of breweries both open and almost-open.
Forrest Morgan was surprised.
“We assumed that a few of the adjacent neighbors would be upset,” says Morgan, who with his partner, Mark Silva, decided to no longer open Loudmouth Brewing Co. in Clifton after a meeting with Clifton Coalition.
The group, whose mission statement includes a dedication to “preserving the ecology, natural beauty, and quality of life in the Clifton area,” posted Silva’s note letting neighbors know he was withdrawing the application to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Morgan and Silva, owner of Clifton’s Trattoria Villagio, already purchased land in Clifton and, according to Morgan, were supposed to break ground yesterday.
A Fairfax Times article cited “nearly 200 Clifton residents—about two-thirds of the town—showed up at the meeting to voice their displeasure with the brewery concept.” Reasons include, as said by Clifton resident Kathryn Weller: “My property would be wedged between Paradise Springs Winery and the brewery. Already as it is, we have too much traffic and see drunk drivers far too frequently from just the winery.”
Morgan cites the downfall of the brewery to community rumors. “We tried to maintain transparency from the beginning,” says Morgan, who ticks off some of the gossip he heard: “We were gonna have underground parking, a Ferris wheel, extend the metro line to Clifton and suck all of the water out of the Occoquan Watershed.”
Yesterday, Gut Check posted a letter from Centreville resident and beer blogger Cody Specketer reacting to the Clifton Coalition’s anger over the forthcoming coming brewery, “In praise of Loudmouth Brewing Co.: Breweries are not bars, and other misconceptions of Northern Virginia’s craft beer scene.”
The property Silva and Morgan own in Clifton could now be used for residential housing, or the two could sell the land. “We were hoping that the town would share in that excitement,” Morgan says of their failed attempt at bringing a brewery to Clifton.
Today though, Loudmouth Brewing Co. carries on, as Morgan, a homebrewer who will be the brewmaster, and Silva have a meeting with an economic development committee in Prince William. Tomorrow they meet with a developer in Fairfax. Loudmouth Brewing Co. is currently looking for space in those two counties as well as in Loudoun. They still hope to open by the end of the year.
“The naysayers were the loudest voices,” Morgan says. “Now everyone is coming to our support.”
