Lickinghole Creek brewery in Goochland to reopen after yearlong hiatus

Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery sits on nearly 300 acres in Goochland County. (Courtesy LCCB/Creative Dog Media)

After a year sitting idle, a local farm brewery is coming out of hibernation. 

Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery in Goochland County is preparing to reopen around May 15.

Owner Lisa Reynolds Brotherton shuttered the brewery at 4100 Knolls Point Drive early last year as she was battling health issues from an immunological deficiency. The plan all along, she said, was to eventually reopen the brewery, something she’s currently working on. 

“I’ve had a string of like two months of being well,” Reynolds Brotherton said. “I’m just designing (the brewery) in a much smaller scale than we did before so it’s easy to turn up and turn down with my health’s ups and downs.”

Before the closure, Lickinghole had been producing around 3,000 barrels of beer per year. This time around, Reynolds Brotherton said the brewery will aim for around 500 barrels annually.

Lisa Reynolds Brotherton

Helping with the reboot is Farris Loutfi, who co-founded Lickinghole with Reynolds Brotherton in 2013. 

Reynolds Brotherton said that during the year off, she received some offers from interested buyers for the brewery, but she didn’t want to relocate her family, who live on Lickinghole’s roughly 300-acre agrarian plot. She also said her children have taken an interest in the business. 

“They really would like a chance to learn how to do this and continue it in the family. So a lot of it is taking the time to train them – they’re going to focus on nonalcoholics, learning how to use equipment, and growing and farming,” she said. 

So far, Reynolds Brotherton and her family have been cleaning the land, preparing the soil and planting sunflowers and hops. “It’s surprising how comfortable I am on a tractor now than when we opened,” she said and laughed. 

Lickinghole previously had international distribution deals for its flagship beers like its Nuclear Nugget IPA and Scarlet Honey IPA. Some of those beers will be making a comeback, but Reynolds Brotherton said for the reopening, the brewery will be bringing back other brews, such as the Rosemary Saison and Strawberry Hefeweizen. 

“I’m so excited not to have to brew the same thing over and over,” she said. “Your tanks get full with demand, and then you don’t have the freedom to express your art anymore, because you have orders that are filling your tanks.”

Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery sits on nearly 300 acres in Goochland County. (BizSense file photo)

Beers will be sold for on-site consumption and some to-go, as Lickinghole still has its canning line and bottling machine. Reynolds Brotherton said Lickinghold does intend to get back into the distribution game, though she said it’d be on a limited scale and through the self-distribution apparatus the state recently approved. 

Reynolds Brotherton said it’s been therapeutic to be back out on the farm, and she’s looking forward to welcoming people back. 

“People keep reaching out and want a place to come and commune with nature and one another,” she said. “It’s a wonderful place for the community to come together. It’s something we feel passionately that’s important to share with other people.”

Lickinghole’s revival comes at a somewhat tumultuous time in the craft beer market. Last year was the first time in nearly two decades that more breweries closed than opened nationally, according to data from the Brewers Association, a national trade group.

The slowdown has also hit the Richmond region, as 2024 saw more local breweries close than in any previous year since the craft beer boom began in the 2010s.