O’Connor Downsizes, Armed Forces Sets Up Camp in Norfolk

By Jeff Maisey

On a recent late Friday afternoon, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office sent out a press release announcing Armed Forces Brewing Company would be locating in Norfolk in the former O’Connor Brewing facility.

At first this sounded odd since O’Connor’s original site was small and had become occupied. Then, nearly 30 minutes later, came a social media post from O’Connor Brewing Company stating they’d sold their current building and brewing equipment to Armed Forces.

After the initial shock the deal makes sense for all parties involved, though many longtime loyal fans of O’Connor felt a sense of sadness.

In 2010, O’Connor Brewing Company opened in Norfolk during the exciting early days of the modern craft beer Renaissance, a time when there were just a handful of breweries operating either as brewpubs or manufacturing facilities because state law prohibited beer makers from operating a tasting room.

O’Connor, like most breweries at the time, was focused on producing European-style brews with abundantly more flavor than the mega-produced lagers dominating the marketplace.

After SB604 passed, O’Connor was one of the first in the Hampton Roads region to expand its entertainment offerings, first as street parties, and later full-scale festivals once it moved to its second location. Thousands of people filtered through the brewery for events such as O’Connoroo and O’Ctoberfest. The brewery raised thousands of dollars for local charities in the process. Giving back to the community was of vital interest.

Every brewery hopes to have that one big seller like a Devils Backbone Vienna Lager, and O’Connor found its one-hit game-changer in El Guapo Agave IPA. To this day it remains one of the top selling independent beers sold across the Commonwealth in retail stores.

While the impact of the pandemic hit O’Connor’s taproom sales it continued to do fairly strong business thanks to grocery store sales of El Guapo. Then, however, a much publicized internal sexual harassment scandal threaten to sink the business. The lingering local consumer backlash impacted visitation to the brewery in a major way, something O’Connor never fully regained.

With declining on-site sales and a changing marketplace where trends seem to indicate younger consumers wanting options other than craft beer, the O’Connor decision to dissolve its physical brewing operation makes good sense.

Based on what little we know from O’Connor’s social media statement, El Guapo and perhaps a few of its other popular brands like Proper lager will be brewed, canned, packaged in 12-packs, in kegs, and distributed throughout Virginia and the Outer Banks.

While O’Connor did not say which company will produce its products through what’s known as contract brewing, I suspect there’s a good chance New Realm Brewing Company in Virginia Beach is its future brewing partner.

In a recent interview with New Realm’s co-founder and brewmaster Mitch Steele, he revealed New Realm had acquired additional fermenting tanks to significantly enhance its brewing capacity. Steele also said contract brewing accounts for roughly 20% of New Realm’s business.

In its social media statement, Kevin and Penny O’Connor suggested there’s a possibility of operating some sort of smaller scale retail taproom, but no specifics were shared.

To operate in this manner where O’Connor could brew small batches of experimental beers like a micro brewery does, and have a New Realm produce its hitmakers for mass consumption is a very workable solution, especially if O’Connor set up shop in Virginia Beach or even the Outer Banks. But that’s just speculation on our part.

As for Armed Forces Brewing Company, they’ll be taking over the O’Connor building on July 24.

“ We’ll need several weeks to renovate, rebrand, and set up our operations,” CEO Alan Beal told us in an email. “ We’re looking to open the taproom doors to the public at the end-ofsummer or early fall.”

With regard to retaining O’Connor personnel, Beal said, “We hope to keep the talented production staff. Our goal is hire 70% military veterans, so there will be some personnel changes in the front of the house.”

Given Norfolk’s longtime connection to the US Navy, the Mermaid City is ideal — think of the branding — for Armed Forces Brewing Company to operate its headquarters. There appears to have been a push for them to locate in Norfolk.

“Governor Youngkin and Secretary of Commerce Merrick called me a year ago and asked me to look into Virginia and what Virginia had to offer, and we did,” Beal continued. “The Virginia Economic Development Partnership stepped in with the City of Norfolk and the Hampton Roads Alliance and presented us a relocation incentive program.”

Stay tuned.

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