The Burley Oak Brewing Company is gearing up for its 5th Anniversary! From its humble beginnings to brewing more than 2500 barrels of specialty beers each year, Burley Oak has become a mainstay in the local craft beer movement! The 5th Anniversary is more than a milestone for owner Bryan Brushmiller, whose once fledgling dream to open a brewery started as just that, a dream fostered in his garage during an unexpected period of unemployment. Fast-forward five years and Burley Oak has expanded beyond his wildest dreams. “Our 5th anniversary has so many different meanings on so many different levels” said Brushmiller. “to me, it’s representative of the fact that our commitment to quality over quantity has been recognized and adopted by not just our staff and local supporters, but throughout the entire MidAtlantic region.”
While the crew at Burley Oak will definitely celebrate the milestone, Fridays events are about the entire community. “It’s a powerful reminder and I feel this way every year that without the support of the local community members, we absolutely would not be here,” said General Manager, Nicky Chavis. The all-day celebration will feature limited beer releases, 5th Anniversary merchandise & live entertainment. Food will be available at the Rosenfeld’s Food Truck and from Swell at Urban Nectar.
Friday’s anniversary celebration is about more than looking to the past however, with Burley Oak also gearing up for what the future holds a wide variety of beverages, currently on tap, including cold brew, handcrafted sodas, and sparkling flavored waters, along with kombucha to come! Fridays festivities will also set the stage for the brewery’s new “Funk Factory”.
The Funk Factory is a natural extension of the brewery’s passion for hand crafted quality beer and will serve as the perfect vehicle for honing our focus on culturing wild yeast, utilization of sour producing bacteria, and the age old use of oak in maturing beer. Located in an existing building on the property, The Funk Factory will include over 100 barrels ranging from white, red, whiskey and bourbon to produce mixed fermented and woodaged beers. “By utilizing a storage building on our existing property and capitalizing on the louvered windows, natural wind currents, and the collection of wild yeast, we will be able to spontaneously ferment beer through the use of our koelschip,” explained Brushmiller, adding “this is our quest to continue while pushing the boundaries of beer making without compromising quality.”
The Burley Oak 5 Year Celebration kicks off this Friday, August 26, from 11am until 2am. Parking will be available at the Burley Oak parking lot and the Berlin Falls public parking lot (look for blue parking signs). For more information, and a complete list of the days’ entertainment, visit burleyoak.com.
