5.2 🍺 above average
Last Highball Before Berlin
The once mighty Pennsylvania Railroad—same as the one in Monopoly—is joined by the Baltimore and Eastern Railroad in Delmar, a small town that straddles the Delaware and Maryland border. Here the proud citizens of “the little town too big for one state” have preserved the last surviving “highball signal,” a basketball-sized white globe that was raised to signal train engineers that the track ahead was clear. Trains continuing along the Baltimore and Eastern would shortly pass through Berlin, MD, home of Burley Oak, one of the most storied craft breweries on the Eastern Shore. Within two blocks of the historical train signal sits the farthest limb of the Burley Oak tree: The Loakal Branch.
Originally a small grocery, the site has a checkered brewing history: first as the birthplace of Evolution Craft Brewing Co. in 2009, before the Knorr brothers moved to a larger facility in Salisbury; then as the surfer-themed 3rd Wave Brewing Co. beginning in 2012. Burley Oak began leasing the facility in 2020 as “a side project for all our wildest ideas.”
When I visited on a balmy Friday in early November, the taproom was closed. Its Facebook page advertised a 1 pm opening; the sign on the door said 3 pm. Another sign listed the 11 beers on tap that I would not be able to taste. All but one was available at the brewery’s taphouse in Berlin. Not very wild and not worth waiting two hours for, so I got back in my car and drove the 21 miles to Berlin, MD.
Pro tip: It’s BURR-lin, hon, not ber-LIN. The town’s name is not indicative of German ancestry, but purportedly a contraction of “Burleigh Inn,” a popular tavern in the 18th century. And it’s still the “coolest small town in America” that it was in 1994, when Julia Roberts filmed “Runaway Bride” here. But with better beer now.
Besides Burley Oak, there’s the year-old Berlin Beer Co., which has transformed a former freight train station into an inviting cocktail bar/ taphouse hybrid. And just outside of town on the road to Assateague is Sinepuxent Brewing Co., operating out of a former barn. And then there’s Oaked at The Globe, formerly the Globe Gastro Theatre. In 2019, Burley Oak owner Bryan Brushmiller purchased the former restaurant, bar, music venue, and art gallery in downtown Berlin and converted it into a high-end (for Berlin) restaurant and taphouse with a tiki bar in the back. Of the ten taps available, only two were reserved for Burley Oak beers; the rest offered other Delmarva craft beers and an Other Half IPA. It’s still the best place in town to hear live music.Â
At about the same time Brushmiller opened Oaked at The Globe, he bought a storefront on Main Street which he converted to the Viking Tree Trading Co., specializing in men’s clothing, vinyl records, and “expedition accessories,” like the vintage motorcycle in the front window. A “pet-friendly” sign and another promising “be back in 10 min” capture the casual, laid-back vibe that is a big part of Berlin’s charm. Another venture, Burly Café, opened in 2017, but closed in 2022.
At the gravitational center of these spin-offs and side ventures lies the main Burley Oak compound, a former cooperage located in a light industrial area less than a mile north of downtown Berlin. It comprises the original taphouse and 15-barrel brewhouse, a cantina-style kitchen, a first-class performance stage and open-air concert venue, an enclosed outdoor space for yard games and frisky canines, and a ground-level, nautical-themed cocktail bar oddly named The Cellar. A tricked-out neon green Jeep Recon with the moniker of “Mojo Jojo” (after a character from the Powerpuff Girls franchise) stands guard at the delivery entrance.
Baltimore-born, Brushmiller has planted deep roots in the Eastern Shore. A biochemistry major at Salisbury University, he found himself within 15 minutes of the surf in Ocean City. A new lifestyle was born and a family soon followed. Unemployment during the Great Recession spurred him to take his homebrewing hobby pro. Burley Oak opened its doors in August 2011.
The original taphouse is one of the prettiest you’ll find anywhere: a façade of ceiling-height windows, cedar shake siding, and tall ornamental grasses framing the brewery’s iconic logo. Inside, beneath a vaulted wood-slat ceiling of exposed wooden beams, sits an intimate three-sided bar with 14 stools, plus a half a dozen tables, and a merch station. On an off-season weekend, locals and tourists alike basked in the casual, friendly vibe. Bartender Lauren Presto’s playlist of hip bluegrass (Billy Strings) and choice Americana (Gillian Welch) was the definition of chill.
I had timed my visit to attend Burley Oak’s “Controlled Chaos” beer festival. The annual event typically features brews from over 50 craft breweries, special one-offs brewed expressly for the event, and a fleet of food trucks to sustain attendees. While beer festivals elsewhere were cratering, Controlled Chaos had persisted since 2022. However, this fourth iteration of the fest was cancelled due to slow ticket sales. According to Matt Burrier, Burley Oak’s head of sales, the brewery will try again in April, 2026.
No big deal. Who needs 50+ beers when the 21 offerings on tap at Burley Oak’s taphouse are among the most found at any Maryland brewery? Their presentation on a giant chalkboard is peak geek, circa 2016, with entries for ABV, IBU, beer style, and price per pint ($6-7). Nearly every traditional style is represented.
However, longtime fans know that it was sour beers that really put Burley on the map. Back in 2014, Sorry Chicky (4.4%), a dry-hopped Berliner weisse, was one of the most inventive, surprising beers I had ever drank. According to Jack Perdue of Maryland Beer Journal & Atlas, the beer was named after a former female employee who loved sours but not hoppy beers.
A year later, the brewery introduced its signature event: Sourfest. Usually held in early June, Sourfest has progressed from a half dozen sours to more than 20 in recent years. By 2016, Burley Oak was churning out an ever-changing series of iconic fruited sours named J.R.E.A.M. (“juice rules everything around me”), a play on the Wu-Tang Clan song C.R.E.A.M. Queueing up for J.R.E.A.M. can releases in the Burley Oak parking lot was my introduction to craft-beer line culture and where I made a trade for my first can of Heady Topper.
The three J.R.E.A.M.s I sampled this fall at the taphouse were a bit of a mixed bag. A Pear Chai beer had an interesting spicy character with some cinnamon heat; a Butter Pecan Banana tasted muddled and unfocused; but the Blackberry, Black Cherry Marshmallow served up a juicy jambalaya of fresh fruit flavors reminiscent of J.R.E.A.M.’s heyday.
Among the four dark beers available were The Brackish (6.5% ABV), Burley’s classic oyster stout, and Badger Dog (4.9%), an excellent schwartzbier. Less impressive were the pale lagers, including Slice Shop (4.2%)—a relatively new Italian pilsner that was barely distinguishable from a light beer. Four of the five IPAs on tap were golden oldies: Aboriginal Gangster (6.6%), Lost (7.2%), Citralaxy (7.5%), and an all-Mosaic 100 (8%), the only hazy of the group. The fifth IPA, Hops and Handshakes (6%), was a recent collab with Troegs, brewed in a traditional West Coast style.
In fact, the entire line-up of beers seemed little changed from, say, 2016. There was only one hazy and none of the pulpy smoothie sours or IPAs turbo-charged with hop concentrates that dominate most tap lists today. Burley Oak’s once compulsive urge to explore and innovate seems to have waned.
No craft brewer is immune from the financial pressures currently squeezing the industry—even those as iconic as Burley Oak. Its branch location in Delmar seems to be wobbling. According to social media reports, there was a change in management over the summer, and the taphouse failed to open a couple of weekends in August, 2025. Operating hours remain in flux. The Viking Tree Trading Co.’s website was recently hacked by an Indonesian gambling operation. And, based on my recent visit, Burley Oak seems to have lost some of its creative mojo in the brewhouse. And yet, the company seems to be doing all the important things to remain competitive, such as contracting with a full-time food service and expanding its drink options to include proprietary cocktails, vodkas, alcoholic teas, and lemonade.
Burley Oak’s beers may not be leading the industry into new territory like they were ten years ago, but they’re still solidly crafted, distinctive, and diverse. It’s hard to imagine any beer lover visiting the taphouse and not having a great experience. Bryan Brushmiller’s creativity and hard work has set a high standard for Burley Oak, fully deserving of its ranking as one of the top 10 taphouses in Maryland.
BURLEY OAK BREWING CO.
10016 Old Ocean City Rd.
Berlin, MD 21811
OPEN
Taproom
Monday–Saturday: 11 am–11 pm
Sunday: 11 am–9 pm
Kitchen
Wednesday & Thursday: noon–7 pm
Friday & Saturday: noon–8 pm
Sunday: noon–6 pm
Cellar
Thursday & Friday: 2 pm–10 pm
Saturday: noon–10 pm
Sunday: noon–4 pm
NUMBER OF TAPS
21
AVERAGE ABV
5.9%
OTHER DRINKS
10 house cocktails
6 house vodkas
3 espresso martinis
3 canned craft cocktails
FOOD
tacos & burritos
PARKING
Plentiful in taphouse parking lot
THE LOAKAL BRANCH
501 North Bi-State Blvd.
Delmar, DE 19940
HOURS
Thursday–Saturday: 3 pm–10 pm
NUMBER OF TAPS
11
AVERAGE ABV
5.9%
FOOD
Food trucks
PARKING
Plentiful in taphouse parking lot