The importance of water characteristics was vital in developing the highest quality product; not only for overall flavor, but also for chemical reactions and biological processes. He knew that the only way to develop a beer true to a particular style was to engineer the water true to the style as well. This was the game changer developing beer styles true to anywhere in the world from which he could obtain a water analysis or a sample to test in his lab.

With space available in their family barn, the design of an automated system to further minimize human error and enhance efficiency of the brewing process was underway. The former horse barn was converted into a unique home brew research facility. The tack room became the lab, the ally converted to the brew house, one stall was insulated and air conditioned as the “clean beer” cellar and another stall enclosed as the wild “souring” cellar. began capturing and isolating local yeasts and bacteria from the local terroir.

It was time to share their craft with others outside their family and friends who had been drinking their home brewed beer for years. Partnering with their friends Randy and Kim Shelton, Barry and Lisa used their 24 years of brewing experience along with the original 8 recipes perfected over those years to birth Broomtail Craft Brewery as the first of the new brewery boom in Wilmington starting in 2014.

Within 3 months after opening, Broomtail had gained respect of brewers from around NC and actually around the world visiting the tiny taproom in Wilmington. This resulted in the necessity of pulling back the number of wholesale accounts in order to maintain enough supply for the taproom and a few local accounts. Broomtail could produce even double batching on their small 3 barrel brewhouse with 3 barrel and 6 barrel fermenters.

Broomtail’s next phase was developing a site for our sour beers to be the focus as well as a larger taproom and beer garden. With space to age barrels of Broomtail sours with blends of our local yeasts and bacteria as well as standardized blends, coupled with a taproom and awesome beer garden furnished with locally crafted furniture and a large stage for live music, The Sour Barn opened in mid-2016.

In 2017, in effort to better meet demand, Broomtail expanded from their original 3 barrel brewhouse to an 8.5 barrel system and from the previous 1085 gallon cellar to a 1798 gallon system. During this expansion, a new yeast and QC Laboratory, new cold storage, new offices, and new grain storage was also built. This was the largest system able to fit in the small site. As of this writing (December 20, 2017) they have again reached the break even of supply vs demand and the search for real estate is underway.