Cape Charles Mirror Report
by Wayne Creed
Just a short trip across the Bay into Norfolk and Virginia Beach, you will find brewpubs such as Gordon Biersch, Wharf Hill Brewing Company, and Home Republic Brewpub, not to mention a host of microbrewerys such as Smartmouth Brewing Company, O’Connor Brewing Company, Reaver Beach Brewing Company, Coelacanth Brewing ,Young Veterans Brewing Company, Back Bay Brewing Company and Pleasure House Brewing. I work in Norfolk, so I sometimes follow local development policy, especially for downtown and the Colley Avenue/Ghent area. Over the last few years, bringing brewpubs and fostering the local microbrew industry has been a top initiative for the city.
In Cape Charles, the idea that a brewpub may open in the vacant garage next to the laundromat has created equal levels of excitement, fear and consternation. Last Tuesday, the Cape Charles Planning Commission met to grapple with the blackness and unknown that surrounds the microbrew industry–the Commission rolled up their sleeves and took on the work needed to make this happen right here on the lower end of the Eastern Shore.
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