A Chesapeake, Virginia private home brewery featuring thoughtful recipes, creative labels, and well-crafted beers best enjoyed with friends.
Each of our beers represents some aspect of our life in Great Bridge. Here’s a first look at beers we are lining up and the processes we used to imagine and create them.
A historical colonial-style ale with an unmistakably American story. We brewed this ale based on a recipe from George Washington himself. Because barley malt was scarce in the Colonies, we used sorghum, blackstrap molasses and brown sugar along with an English ale yeast and Kent Goldings hops. The water was matched to the mineral profile of the Potomac River. A thoroughly authentic historical gluten free beer.
For Thanksgiving, we’re brewing a hibiscus-cranberry gose — a German style that uses wheat and barley malt, salt, coriander, and a wit-style yeast. This beer is minimally hopped to allow the spices and fruit flavors to shine through. It’s brewed as a “kettle sour,” where the wort is infused with Lactobacillus bacteria, causing it to become slightly sour. The wort is then boiled, killing any bacteria, but leaving a tangy, spicy, fruity, and slightly salty beer. At a low ABV of about 5%, it’s the perfect beer for enjoying while preparing that big Thanksgiving feast.
This beer commemorates the Battle of Great Bridge on 9 December 1775, when a small band of Virginia colonists gave the British Army one of its first major defeats in our War of Independence. This ale is made with chocolate malts, oatmeal, cold-brewed coffee, and maple syrup, rendering a thick, sweet breakfast stout that is guaranteed to satisfy.
Some beers only come around once a year. From our annual Orktoberfest Bavarian celebration to Halloween and Christmas, these are the brews that mark the seasons.
A Märzen-style Festbier brewed for our annual Orktoberfest Bavarian celebration. We brew this beer in March using a traditional double decoction mash technique. Then it sits in cold storage for six months (“lagering”), yielding a slightly sweet, pale copper beer with creamy white head with notes of toasted bread and fresh baked pretzel.
A Munich Dunkel poured alongside the Märzen at our annual Orktoberfest Bavarian celebration—dark, malty, and easy-drinking.
This beer is named for our former neighbor Sam Sheranko—a huge German beer fan—who used to throw a catered Bavarian beer bash he called Orkneyfest. When he moved away ten years ago, someone had to carry on the tradition; thus Orktoberfest was born. Danke, Sam!
Our Halloween release: a bourbon barrel imperial smoked pumpkin porter. Big and a bit boozy, we use both smoked malt and smoked pumpkin, seasoned with ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon, then aged in an oak bourbon barrel for a few months. A treat that has a few tricks!
One of our most popular beers, coming out right about Christmas time. We brew a big tropical stout using dark roasted malts and a lager yeast — a Caribbean twist on a classic British style—then add toasted coconut to give it that island flavor.
Hi, I’m Jack — owner and head brewer at Great Bridge Brewing, a homebrewery built around curiosity, craftsmanship, and the simple pleasure of sharing a well-made beer.
I’m a retired US Army officer, and these days I call Chesapeake, Virginia home. My brewing story started in 2011, when my wife gave me a beer kit for Christmas. That first batch led to all-grain brewing, novel and traditional techniques, and entering my beers in competitions locally, statewide, and nationally.
What I enjoy most is brewing for my neighbors and hosting free private events at home that pair my beers with good food and entertainment. I love trying new recipes, researching traditional styles, and experimenting with the endless combinations of flavors, colors, and textures brewing can create.
From classic styles to the occasional oddball idea, the goal is the same: make something worth pouring for people you like.
Read the field notes →The label is part of the beer’s story. This gallery showcases inspired artwork, seasonal designs, and the little details that inspired each beer.
Colonial-style ale · 5.5% ABV
Bourbon barrel sour grisette with blood orange · 5% ABV
American barleywine · 10% ABV
Irish red ale · 5.4% ABV
Mesquite-smoked porter · 6% ABV
Belgian witbier · 5.5% ABV
American sour ale · 9% ABV
Peanut butter porter · 6% ABV
Maibock · 6.8% ABV
Spiced ale · 8% ABV
Strawberry blonde ale · 6% ABV
Kölsch-style ale · 4.2% ABV
Eisbock · 10% ABV
Blackberry stout · 6.5% ABV
California common steam beer · 4.8% ABV
Gluten-free honey blonde ale · 4% ABV
Double IPA · 8.5% ABV · 93 IBUs
Recipes evolve, batches can surprise you, and every brew teaches you something new. Here is where we will share our experiments, lessons, and stories behind the beer.
This beer, a Dunkelweizen, is named after Werner Brombach, who owned the Erdinger Brewery near Munich, the largest exporter of wheat beer in the world.
I met him in London in 2012, during the London Olympics, at an event sponsoring the German Olympic Team. He was a kind, unassuming and very funny man. I joked that I would be happy to marry his lovely daughter if she were to inherit the brewery when he dies, but that I would have to make a few phone calls first, since I was already married. That cracked him up.
Werner passed away in August 2026 and is a beloved icon of Germany’s brewing culture. Prost, Werner.
Follow the batches, the labels, and whatever’s bubbling away next.