(This article by Charlsy Panzino and Nathan Curthoys, originally appeared in the December 2025 issue of Military Officer, a magazine available to all MOAA Premium and Life members who can log in to access our digital version and archive. Basic members can save on a membership upgrade and access the magazine.)

 

From sea to shining sea, veterans continue to lead — some by owning and operating breweries. Military Officer connected with one from each time zone in the continental U.S. to give you a taste of where to wet your whistle and support those who served. Check out these locations and more across the country.

 

Three veterans founded Decipher Brewing in Charlottesville, Va., in 2019. (Photo courtesy of Decipher Brewing)

 

Decipher Brewing

Address: 1740 Broadway St., #9, Charlottesville, Va. Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 3-9 p.m.; Fri., 2-10 p.m.; Sat., 12-10 p.m.; Sun., 12-8 p.m.

 

Nestled along the Woolen Mills neighborhood of Charlottesville, Va., Decipher Brewing is a beloved hangout with some serious beer. All three founders and co-owners are veterans: Brothers Brad and Scott Burton served in the Navy, focusing on electronic warfare (2000-2009) and cryptology (2001-2009), respectively. Meghan Burton served in the Air Force, focusing on signals intelligence (2002-2022).

 

Appropriately, the brewery is imbued with the cryptic spirit of their military specialties, from the beer names to puzzles featured throughout the taproom.

 

Flags from all branches of service hang around the bar, and veterans can get a beer from the “Dead Drop” board, where customers may purchase beers for them in advance. If they choose to pay instead, every pint for every veteran is a dollar off. 

 

The owners continue the spirit of a close-knit community from their time in service by hosting events in and excluding televisions from the taproom. Decipher has four dart boards and hosts both a weekly dart night and a league. It also features a large patio with firepits and cornhole boards. The brewery is dog-friendly inside and out. 

 

For its part, the award-winning beer is as tasty and lauded as one might expect from such a detail-oriented crew. They are especially proud of The Babington Project, their barrel-aged beer program. Offerings strike a balance between innovation and crowd-pleasing mainstays — a rare approach among craft brewers.

 

The Burtons credit their team’s success to the “adapt and overcome” mentality as well as lessons in personnel management they learned from the military, having had no employee turnover since the brewery opened.

 

The Riggs Brothers grow their own grain for use in their Urbana, Ill., brewery. (Photo courtesy of Riggs Beer Co.)

 

Riggs Beer Co.

Address: 1901 S. High Cross Road, Urbana, Ill. Hours: Thurs.-Fri., 3-10 p.m.; Sat., 12-10 p.m.; Sun., 12-8 p.m.

 

Riggs Beer Co. literally grows beer. Matt and Darin Riggs are brothers, veterans, and fifth-generation Illinois farmers whose brewery sits in a field where they personally grow and harvest grain for their own beers.

 

Matt joined ROTC in college and served on active duty in the Marine Corps from 2006 to 2011 as a combat engineer. He was discharged as a captain. Darin also started in ROTC and served 10 years on active duty as a Navy submarine officer, followed by a decade in the Reserves, retiring as a commander in 2023.

 

Afterward, Darin enrolled in a brewing program at University of California, Davis; Matt trained in brewing at the prestigious Doemens Academy in Germany, eventually completing certification as a brewmaster. They both returned to their family’s farm in central Illinois and opened a charming neighborhood brewery with a distinct German vibe.

 

The taproom is furnished with long, wooden trestle tables in an Old World style, with plenty of room for the large families that frequent the brewery. The outdoor space is massive, featuring a firepit, play structures for kids, more tables, and additional areas for events.

 

The beer at Riggs demonstrates how important quality ingredients are in brewing. The brothers grow about 200 tons of grain per year on the farm for use in their beers. In addition, their brewery includes sustainability in every aspect of the operation: It is 100% powered by the large solar array next to the brewhouse — the first brewery in Illinois to accomplish that. 

 

Riggs combines the practical know-how of a farm background with logistical and small-unit expertise from the military. The results are evident: Its beer is delicious, technically outstanding, and accessible to those who may not otherwise enjoy the newer approaches of craft beer. Its version of the classic-style hefeweizen is beloved by locals and a great example of how Riggs blends tradition and technique. 

 

Navy veteran Beth Bechtel has incorporated locally grown potatoes into some of the suds at Bear Island Brewing. (Kimberlee Miller Photography via Bear Island Brewing)

 

Bear Island Brewing

Address: 1620 N. Liberty St., Boise, Idaho. Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 4- 9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 2-10 p.m.

 

Boise native and Navy veteran Beth Bechtel was inspired to open a brewery after returning to the Idaho capital following her first deployment in 2010 and discovering the state was lacking in locally brewed beers.

 

And so Bechtel began brewing on her next deployment and invented new beers while underway.

 

“I wrote my first recipe on the [aircraft carrier] USS George H.W. Bush,” said Bechtel, who served from 2007 to 2013 as an explosive ordnance disposal technician, transitioning out of service as a petty officer second class.

 

On her second deployment, this time to the United Arab Emirates, she had a stove and brewing supplies in her room. When she ran out of barley, she used potatoes.

 

“That’s how I invented the Idaho Potato Ale,” she said, referring to Bear Island’s flagship beer. “It showed me what potatoes can do for beer.”

 

When she and her husband both left the Navy, they created a plan to open a brick-and-mortar brewery in Boise without going into debt. They started brewing out of their garage while taking business courses and obtaining licenses.

 

At the end of 2018, they opened their taproom at an old fire station in town with the mission statement of “crafting community.”

 

“We really believe in the importance of building communities … and spreading hope through that,” she said. “I would encourage that you get to know your local spots and that you put your money with who you want to support — and also make sure it’s really about community.” 

 

“It’s a neat way to tie in our Idaho roots and military service,” she added, noting it’s also a way to support local agriculture. 

 

In 2025, Bear Island won gold at a beer competition for its traditional German bock, Ammo Bocks. Servicemembers, veterans, and first responders get $1 off their beers at the brewery. 

 

Marine Corps veteran Brian Avery, right, is one of the founders of Bravery Brewing in Lancaster, Calif. (Photo courtesy of Bravery Brewing)

 

Bravery Brewing

Address: 42705 8th St. West, Lancaster, Calif. Hours: Mon.-Wed., 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Thurs.-Sat., 11 a.m.–11 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m.–9 p.m.

 

Brian Avery started brewing beer as a hobby in 2009 right out of college, but learned the ins and outs of the business while working at a brewery in Fullerton, Calif. That experience inspired him to open a brewery in his hometown of Lancaster.

 

With the help of his parents and grandparents, Avery founded Bravery Brewing in 2011 alongside fellow Marine Corps veteran and Full Metal Jacket star R. Lee Ermey as well as Air Force veteran Dave Connett.

 

Ermey was a longtime resident of the area and a close friend of Avery’s father. Ermey served in the Corps for 11 years and was medically discharged in 1972. During service, Ermey was a drill instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and was deployed to Vietnam and Japan. His fame grew after playing Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in 1987’s Full Metal Jacket.

 

Ermey died in 2018, and Connett no longer works with the brewery. Avery’s current business partner, Troy Hill, served in the Coast Guard with the final rank of petty officer third class.

 

Bravery Brewing’s tasting room features “The Wall of Bravery,” which shows a painted American flag surrounded by photos of past and present servicemembers. “It’s a fantastic celebration of the bravery shown by these many servicemembers,” Avery said. 

 

There are also large models of SR-71 and B-17 aircraft hanging from the ceiling. The brewery hosts a pizza kitchen as well as a dog-friendly tasting room and patio.

 

Avery likes to highlight The Shroud, an imperial stout routinely brewed for the past 12 years, he said, noting it has won dozens of awards. He described it as a robust beer at 10% alcohol by volume with a rich, malty, roasted flavor. 

 

Bravery Brewing offers $1 off all draft beers for veterans, plus a “karma board” where customers can buy beers for servicemembers.

 

And about three years ago, it launched “Pizza with a Purpose,” an initiative that sees the business donate $1 from every pizza to a local nonprofit. The recipients change monthly, but there are usually at least two veteran-focused organizations, including Vets 4 Veterans and Young Marines.

 

A retired Coast Guard officer founded Stoney Creek BrewHouse as a way to connect with his Seward, Alaska, community. (Photo courtesy of Stoney Creek BrewHouse)

 

Stoney Creek BrewHouse

Address: 33366 Stoney Creek Ave., Seward, Alaska. Hours: Wed.-Thurs., 5-8 p.m.

 

Lt. Cmdr. Greg Haas, USCG (Ret), first learned about the fermentation process from his father, a chemist who also served in the Coast Guard. But it wasn’t until he was stationed in northern California — a “hot bed of home brew clubs” in the early 2000s, he said — that he began brewing as a way to make connections.

 

“It was helping me make friends both in communities and in the Coast Guard,” he said.

 

Haas, who commissioned from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2001, moved a few more times with the service and created home brew communities everywhere he went. When he retired in 2021, he and his wife settled in Seward, Alaska, where he opened a small brewery at home. Haas and his family live above the brewery.

 

“The brewery helped me integrate into the community much faster versus just showing up and meeting people,” he said, adding that support from his wife and children helped make the brewery dream a reality. The operation is small, with a large focus on building relationships with nearby bar and restaurant owners so they can offer a local beer.

 

Haas said there’s a small patio at the house and that demand is greater than the available space. “People like having a brewery in their neighborhood.”

 

Haas started exploring the relationship between beer and water, including how lower-quality water impacts taste. The brewery is on a glacial riverbed with a healthy aquifer about 25 feet below, he said, which “makes the water delicious.”

He’s most proud of Stoney Creek’s Baitwater kölsch. It stems from his time in Kodiak, Alaska, serving as executive officer on a ship. The engineering officer couldn’t find a craft beer that wasn’t an India pale ale, so Haas created one inspired by their friendship at sea. The name came to him when fishing; Haas’ friend dropped herring into the bait bucket, and the water splashed back up into his mouth.

 

“He was spitting it out and cursing the bait water he had just swallowed,” Haas said, realizing the drink had to be named Baitwater.

 

Ko‘olau Distillery

Address: 905 Kapaa Quarry Place, Building 50, Unit 14, Kailua, Hawaii. Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 12-7 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 12-9 p.m.; Sun., 12-7 p.m.

 

For those on Hawaii Standard Time looking for a veteran-provided drink, check out Ko‘olau Distillery. It may not brew beer, but it’s pouring some very fine spirits on the windward side of Oahu.

 

Founded by two retired Marines and using some of the finest water on the planet, this place caters to locals, tourists, and servicemembers alike. Ian Brooks and Eric Dill both retired from the Corps at the rank of lieutenant colonel after 24 years and 27 years, respectively. They both performed force reconnaissance and saw multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. They settled in the shadow of the Ko‘olau mountain range, from which the distillery draws its name. Soon after, they released their flagship whiskey.

 

Produced with water from the mountain range itself, Old Pali Road Whiskey (pictured) is on the sweeter side, crafted with a mash bill of 90% corn and 10% barley.

 

They also make Tradewind Gin using locally grown botanicals. The liquor won a silver medal at the Bartender Spirits Awards.

 

The distillery offers a tour, with discounts to veterans, showing how the whiskey is made and allowing visitors to fill their own bottle. The tasting room has plenty of local personality and offers craft cocktails made with the distillery’s whiskey and gin in addition to straight pours. 

 

The owners continue to espouse the virtues that led them to a lifetime of service. They hold monthly events partnering with local nonprofits to encourage community interaction and spirit. They are also actively involved in charities benefiting veterans and members of force reconnaissance units.

 

Charlsy Panzino is a writer based in Boise, Idaho. Nathan Curthoys is a distillery enthusiast and chef based in Illinois.