Across the United States, breweries have been shutting off their taps. The New York Times reported more breweries closed than opened in 2025 — the first time that’s happened in 20 years.
And Hampton Roads isn’t immune.
Armed Forces Brewing, mired in controversy, closed last spring. Smartmouth closed its original Norfolk location in late December, while keeping its Virginia Beach location open. The Bold Mariner announced on social media in November plans to sell the property and close the taproom.
“If we were having this conversation, let's say about a year ago, we hadn't seen any closures in the city,” said Andrew Coplon, the Norfolk-based founder of trade group Craft Beer Professionals and Secret Hopper, which helps breweries improve their customer experience.
Breweries were cropping up everywhere in Hampton Roads in the 2010s, he said. They’d set up a few picnic tables, hang Edison lights for ambiance, add a few taps and brew good beer: “That was good enough,” Coplon said.
This started to change during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Breweries struggled to stay open during prolonged shutdowns. And habits and preferences changed. People, especially younger generations, are drinking less and drinking different things. Hard seltzers, kombucha, ready-to-drink cocktails and non-alcoholic options have all gotten more popular.
“We're no longer competing against big beer,” Coplon said. “We're no longer competing against other breweries. We're competing against every other place people may go to spend $1.”
The question became how breweries could make themselves a “favorite destination,” Coplon said. For many, that meant shaping up customer service and offering a diverse menu while continuing to brew good beer.
Josh Evans with Afterglow Brewing in Norfolk said his priority is making the taproom a community hub, rather than getting the brewery’s beers on grocery store shelves.
The company leaned into collaboration with local businesses — like with Redwood Smoke Shack, which made a sausage using Afterglow’s pilsner, Evans said. The brewery also hosts farmers markets, Oktoberfests, bluegrass nights, trivia, bingo and children’s events with themes like Disney’s Frozen or medieval knights, he said.
“We have this joke here that every time that we do a big event, it rains, but it's still pretty successful,” Evans said.
Seth Caddell with Coastal Fermentary in Newport News said the brewery’s charity work helps them stand out. The brewer has worked with multiple animal rescues, Red Cross, United Way, human trafficking services and foster care providers. It recently hosted a local rotary club building bicycles to donate to less-fortunate families, he said.
Coplon often asks brewery owners to describe their brand and taproom experience in a few words.
For Caddell, Coastal Fermentary’s brand is “the charitable space when it comes to alcohol consumption.” The brewery has donated more than $70,000 to charities in the last few years, he said.
While some are shutting their doors or downsizing, other breweries in the region are expanding. Coastal Fermentary opened its second Newport News location in 2025, around the same time it acquired Rip Rap Brewing, Caddell said. He said he thinks the industry is evolving, rather than shrinking.
“We're definitely at a stage of oversaturation for craft beer meeting demand, and so that obviously makes a lot of people uncomfortable, and rightfully so,” Caddell said. “A lot of us have our hopes and dreams and retirements and college accounts built into these businesses.”
Evans said brewing hard seltzers can sometimes be looked at as inferior in the craft brewing community. But they are money makers: Lagers and seltzers are Afterglow’s best-selling products, he said.
“Why would I stop making those?” Evans said. “They're easy to drink, they're refreshing. We can change the flavors up all the time.”
Plus, offering different drink choices is a must nowadays, Coplon said.
Afterglow uses its seltzer to make hard slushies and its taproom offers kid-friendly options like chocolate milk and juice boxes. Coastal Fermentary brews hard seltzers and a low-alcohol kombucha.
Caddell said they’re experimenting with other non-alcoholic and low-alcohol options, too.
“We’re still test-batching things, still trying to figure out what that looks like,” Caddell said. “I think that conversation is happening at most breweries right now.”
Food is another non-negotiable, Coplon said. Some breweries partner with food trucks. Others open their own kitchen. The challenge with that, Coplon said, is brewery owners aren’t typically restaurateurs.
This means brewers often have to learn a new skill – one they may not be particularly passionate about – or hire someone with that skill set, he said. But food can be a major differentiator, he added.
“No longer is it just a place with great beer, because everybody's making great beer,” Coplon said. “It's those other factors. ‘Oh, that brewery is great, but they have the best smash burgers I've ever had,’ or ‘their pizza’s to die for.’”
The burden of constant innovation can take a toll on people who got into the business because they loved brewing beer, Coplon said. Some may be choosing to walk away because of the added stress or rising costs.
When breweries were opening a decade ago, many were setting up shop in places that didn’t have much else going on, Coplon said, like warehousing districts. Now, many of those areas have built up. More people live there and more businesses have opened, causing rents to rise, he said.
“These breweries are almost out pricing themselves from the areas that they help transform,” Coplon said.
Others may be choosing to leave the industry because they’re at a different life stage than when they set up shop a decade ago, he added.
The Bold Mariner owners Kerrie and Mike Stacks declined to comment on their decision to sell the brewery property, which they announced online in November. On Instagram, they described wanting to start a “new chapter.”
“Any small business owner can tell you the endless hours and sacrifices it takes to keep things running,” the post stated. “We have lived it day in and day out, and we now wish to make our focus our family.”
