We didn't set out to open
a brewery.
It started with herbs. Sunflower Cottage was a working herb farm long before a single hop was harvested, long before anyone thought to hang a fermentation tank in the barn. The land came first.
In 2012 we planted our first hops on these ten Shenandoah Valley acres. By 2013 we were brewing with them — rinsed in the same spring water, dried in the same mountain air — and Backroom Brewery opened its doors as Virginia's first farm brewery.
The farmhouse, the barn, the fields — none of it has changed. The beer just got better. Three Gold Medals later, we're still growing, still pouring, still convinced that the best pint is the one that knows exactly where it came from.
Hops in the ground
First hop yard planted on the farm. The Shenandoah Valley's climate turned out to be perfect.
Backroom Brewery opens
Virginia's first farm brewery. First batches brewed with home-grown hops and estate water — and the doors thrown open to the valley.
25+ award-winning recipes
Three Gold Medals, hundreds of weddings, and a taproom that feels like a Saturday afternoon should feel.