A controversial military-themed brewery championed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin is closing a little more than a year after opening in Norfolk.
The company blames a “local woke mob,” but legal filings show a company in deep financial distress dating back years.
Armed Forces CEO Alan Beal wrote in a statement the company will sell its Norfolk building and taproom “while we look for a new home and headquarters in a friendlier environment.”
“Unfortunately, our ability to profitably operate in Norfolk was severely affected by the local woke mob – a few individuals in the area who have no love for the traditional American values we hold as a company,” Beal wrote.
Armed Forces Brewing drew the ire of some neighbors as it relocated from Maryland to Norfolk in 2023. Critics called comments, social media posts and marketing from the company and its spokesman misogynistic, homophobic and transphobic, arguing the company had no place in the city.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin touted the brewery’s relocation after luring the company with $300,000 in tax incentives.
Armed Forces took over the former O’Connor Brewing location, attracted in part because of the huge military presence and veteran population in the community.
But when the company arrived, it was greeted with neighbors who rebuffed the company and its perceived values, with more than 800 registering opposition to the brewery as it sought city permits.
Robert O’Neill, a former Navy Seal who claims to have shot Osama Bin Laden and now makes regular appearances on right-wing media, acted as the company’s public face and also owns a small part of the company.
He’s complained about the Navy’s use of a drag queen as a recruitment ambassador, insinuated that members of the LGBTQ+ community are “pedophiles” in a since-deleted tweet and was removed from a Delta flight and banned from the airline for refusing to wear a mask in 2020.
Armed Forces Brewing said O’Neill was no longer in a public-facing role with the company after he was accused of calling a security guard a racial slur when he was arrested in Texas in 2023. However, the company still lists him as a director and advisor with his photo on its website.
Norfolk’s City Council ultimately approved the brewery and taproom over the community’s objections, the civic league and the city’s Planning Commission.
“Let the market decide their fate,” Councilman Tommy Smigiel said during the vote.
Already operating in the red when it arrived in Norfolk, documents filed with the SEC this week offer a peek under the hood of the struggling brewery.
The March 4 filing shows despite nearly tripling its revenues, the company lost more than $1.7 million in the first half of 2024. Armed Forces partially attributed that to “ramping up brewing at our new Norfolk facility.”
This came after consecutive years of losses. The company lost more than $2.4 million in 2023 and more than $900,000 the year before.
The filing also notes that the company had next to no cash on hand by June 30, down to just $12,000 compared to more than $282,000 six months before.
And court records from Portsmouth, Norfolk and Henrico show several different companies going after Armed Forces Brewing for unpaid debts in filings that date back as far as October 2024.
The company warns in the filings that sales of beer and merchandise combined with money raised from investors “may not satisfy its cash requirements” and that it would need to raise even more money over the next year “to implement the plan of operations.”
“The Company cannot assure that it will have sufficient capital to finance its growth and business operations,” Armed Forces wrote in the filing. “The Company is currently incurring operating deficits and debt that are expected to continue for the foreseeable future.”
Beal’s statement says the company is not closing altogether and will relocate, but doesn’t state where or how long that will take.
The Norfolk location was the company’s flagship brewery; the company previously had its beer brewed entirely by other brewers. Filings indicate Armed Forces was still contracting to have some of its beer brewed elsewhere as recently as last year.
