Waters End Brewery: We see a little healthy competition as a necessary part of the craft beer movement

Water’s End Brewery will open this August in Lake Ridge. It will join a host of new breweries in Prince William County.

Josh Fournelle, of Waters End Brewery, answered our questions.

PL: Who owns / founded the brewery? What are their names and quick background story?

WE: In addition to a small team of investors that will likely make guest appearances in the taproom, Water’s End Brewery will be predominantly owned and operated by three long time friends, Zach Mote, Josh Fournelle, and Ryan Sharkey. Mote and Sharkey grew up together and Fournelle joined the friendship back when the three were still in college at UVA, Hampden-Sydney, and JMU respectively. Much like other craft breweries, the business plan and itch to brew all started with a homebrew kit that Zach, the Head Brewer, received as a birthday present. From there, the three began to turn the hobby to a profession through courses by the Siebel Institue and Cicerone Certification Program. Water’s End investors like Fournelle and Sharkey were ultimately sold on the beer and vision of the brewery that Mote pitched over informal homebrew tastings held on his back deck.

PL:  Why open a brewery in Lake Ridge? What do you hope to accomplish with your business?

WE:  We actively targeted Prince William County, and specifically the Lake Ridge area, to take advantage of the forward thinking approach that the County took when passing legislation to allow craft breweries to open in retail and commercial zones. Although we don’t think that there are many bad places to open a brewery in Virginia right now, we knew that we wanted to have a convenient neighborhood brewery feel, while also appealing to craft beer lovers across the region. The response that we’ve gotten from the community is pretty amazing. The emails and constant impromptu visits by customers to the brewery just to ‘check progress’ and ‘say hi’ are infectious and extremely motivating. Virginians are clearly excited and passionate about craft beer and we can’t wait to join and contribute to the community.

PL: What were some of the hurdles you had to jump through / challenges before getting your business to where it is now?

WE: Like many breweries, we’ve had our share of challenges and hoops to jump through so far. Some of our bigger challenges to date have arisen recently during the buildout of our space, and as a result our build timeline has been lengthened. Along with some smaller speed bumps, the largest issue that we’ve encountered recently is the requirement, due to zoning regulations, to build a 2-hour rated firewall between us and our adjacent neighbors. This not only added significant cost but also about 3.5 weeks to our overall build, due to the additional permitting, construction, and inspection that was involved. Regardless of the challenges with the space and build, when we met the team at Dillingham Square, we knew we had our spot. Their excitement of having a brewery join the shopping center went past initial conversations and they really worked with us to get the deal signed. We couldn’t be happier with the location that we ended up with and those feelings have only been strengthened by the warm welcome that we’ve received from the surrounding community.

PL: When will you open? Big celebration planned? What will be your days / hours of operation after you open?

WE: After a few milestones have stretched further than expected, we’re currently targeting an August grand-opening date. We’ll certainly be planning to celebrate with everyone once we clear a few more hurdles and are comfortable setting an exact date. Out of the gate, we’ll be open Friday – Sunday with exact hours TBD. We do plan to extend that over time and with demand as we ramp up our production and inventory.

PL: How many beers do you plan to have on tap when you open? Plans to expand that list later on?

WE :We plan to have 5-6 beers on tap when we open and will likely add to that number as demand and production capacity grow. We’ll be able to provide a constant variety to customers due to our smaller batch size and the rate at which beers will turnover.

PL: Finally, what do you think sets Water’s End apart from the other breweries we’ve seen open in the area in the past two years? Do rising tides raise all ships, or will there be one winner in the local brew game?

WE: Like the many breweries that we’ve gotten to know and admire, we absolutely want to be part of the craft beer community, where those who make good beer and serve customers well succeed. At the same time, we see a little healthy competition as a necessary part of the craft beer movement. Without it, innovation would likely slow and that would harm one the biggest competitive advantages that craft has over other mass-produced beer.

As far as things that set us apart, in addition to opening in a retail shopping center and positioning ourselves to be convenient to customers, we also launched our W.E. Brew Beer Club at the end of April. Unlike the traditional mug club, our Beer Club is a complete package of discounts, merchandise, and exclusive perks to optimize our members’ brewery experience. When designing the Beer Club, our goal was to provide value (via discounted beer and merchandise), a great customer experience, and exclusive, craft beer-focused events like beer/food pairings, member first beer releases, and other unique events, in a comprehensive membership program. We plan to match our customers’ annual commitment with a similar one, which provides year-round perks.