Oliver Brewing Co., one of Maryland's oldest brewpubs, has packed up its East Baltimore operation and is betting its future on the suburbs. The brewery closed its Shannon Drive brewpub in January and is preparing to open a sprawling 44,000-square-foot taproom and kitchen on a 4.4-acre lot in Millersville by late October, leaving behind a Baltimore beer scene it helped build more than three decades ago.
Founded in 1993 in the basement of what became Pratt Street Ale House, Oliver Brewing traces its roots to Hugh Sisson, who founded the brand before going on to establish Clipper City Brewing. This company later became Heavy Seas Beer, according to The Baltimore Banner. Justin Dvorkin, a partner in Oliver Brewing, told the Banner that the Millersville move secures the brewery's future for the next 10 to 20 years. Dvorkin's company, 206 Restaurant Group, also runs Pratt Street Ale House in downtown Baltimore, along with Park Tavern and Donnelly's Dockside in Severna Park, and JB's Sports Bar and Restaurant.
The brewery bought the Jumpers Hole Road building in Millersville in 2024, and it took two years to build out the property, per the same account. In the meantime, Oliver leaned on stockpiles of its beer to sustain operations until the fall opening, while Union Craft Brewing and Monument City Brewing each made some batches of Oliver's beer during the transition period.
Why Anne Arundel Over Baltimore
Dvorkin chose Anne Arundel County specifically because it offered more space and far fewer surrounding breweries than Baltimore, the report notes. The county has a more nascent craft brewing scene than the city, and Dvorkin framed the competitive landscape not as a fight against fellow small brewers but against large national beer companies.
That calculus lines up with the numbers. Maryland consumes roughly 275,000 barrels of craft beer a year but produces only about 247,000 barrels in-state, making it a net importer of craft beer, according to The BayNet. That gap between demand and in-state supply helps explain why a suburban expansion still looks viable even as the national craft beer market contracts.
Nationally, craft brewery closures outpaced new openings in 2025, with 481 closures against just 300 new breweries, leaving 9,578 operating craft breweries across the country, per Brewers Association data released in April. The same report found that while overall craft beer production fell 5.1% in 2025, full-kitchen brewpubs saw only a 1.7% decline compared to an 8.9% drop for microbreweries without food service — a trend that helps justify Oliver's pivot toward a full taproom and kitchen rather than a drink-only space.
Contract Brewing and a New Beer Club
The Millersville facility will also serve as a production hub for several other Maryland beer brands. Oliver contract brews for RavenBeer, Fin City Brewing Co. in Ocean City, and Liquid Intrusion Brewing Co. in Brandywine, according to the Banner's reporting. Forward Brewing, based in Eastport in Annapolis, has worked with Dvorkin's company for more than three years and moved more of its production to the Millersville site last winter; the brand plans to keep operating with the same recipes and labels even though the beer is now brewed elsewhere.
Beyond contract brewing, Oliver also helps make the canned cold brew coffee sold at Ceremony Coffee Roasters locations. Distribution has long been the brewery's main revenue source, but the new taproom marks a shift toward more direct-to-consumer sales, with plans for a beer club, limited-edition batches, and specialty products.
A Long Road From Pratt Street
Oliver's East Baltimore era began in 2015, when it moved out of the Pratt Street Ale House cellar and into a 12,000-square-foot former ice-storage facility on Shannon Drive to expand production. That space built the brewery's modern reputation, including its 4.5 Yelp rating and signature beers like Three Lions, Bishop's Breakfast, Ironman, and 206 IPA, as Hoodline previously reported.
Dvorkin and co-owner Donald Kelly bought Oliver Brewing in 2008, keeping longtime head brewer Steve Jones — a UK expat who joined the company in 1999 — at the helm to preserve its English-style ale traditions through every ownership change and relocation since. The Millersville property, roughly triple the size of the Shannon Drive space, now positions the brewery to include local Anne Arundel County farm ingredients in future offerings as it opens its next chapter this fall.
Oliver's exit from Baltimore City also echoes a broader consolidation playing out across the region's craft beer industry. Baltimore County's Key Brewing announced in late 2024 that it would close its Dundalk taproom and merge its brewing operations with Monument City Brewing in Highlandtown, a sign that lease pressures and shifting economics are reshaping where Maryland's craft breweries choose to plant their flags.
