3 minute read
Shortway Brewing
Shortway, Worth The Trip
By Karen A. Mann
Visitors to the Crystal Coast can be forgiven for breezing past the sleepy town of Newport – dubbed “Te Town with Old-Fashioned Courtesy – on their way to sun, surf and seafood just a few miles away at the ocean. But with the recent opening of Shortway Brewing in Newport’s charming little downtown section, beer-loving beachgoers have the perfect reason to make a detour.
Located in a storefront that was once home to a popular soda shop, Shortway Brewing is the brainchild of Matt and Lindsay Shortway, a former Marine and his wife who were once stationed at Cherry Point and decided to return to Eastern North Carolina once Matt’s final tour of duty was over. Matt was a former biochemistry major who developed a passion for home brewing. While stationed in Southern California, the couple spent their spare time touring breweries, learning about the business and developing a business plan.
“We always wanted to be entrepreneurs,” says Matt. “I never thought I’d be career Marine Corps but it just kept going and going and going and was going well. When we hit the 10-year mark and it was either now or never.”
Te brewery uses a five-barrel, single vessel brewing system by Colorado Brewing Systems and they use five, five-barrel fermenters, which allows Matt to brew a lot, but with a lot of variety.
Beer names, such as the Neusiok IPA, Mill Pond Blonde and Simmons Fire Tower Red, reflect local landmarks. As much as possible, they try to use local and family grown ingredients, such as sweet potatoes from nearby Garner Farms, coffee brewed by Crystal Coast Coffee Roasters, as well as rhubarb grown from Lindsay’s mother in New York, and hops grown by Matt’s father in New Jersey. Spent grain even finds new life as feed for chickens on a Down East farm.
As the parents of three young children, the Shortways had family and community top of mind when developing the brewery. Te storefront is directly across a very sleepy street from the town’s school,
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and next door to the history museum. Out back, the couple have created a cozy environment with hay bales where people can sit and talk as they enjoy their beers. Te entire back of the building is painted with an elaborate mural depicting the Town of Newport’s history. It was sketched out by Havelock artist Erica Rosa, and colored in by more than 200 local volunteers who came out for a day of painting.
“Our family is not here, so we always keep our kids with us,” says Lindsay. “Being near a Marine town, we’re sure that many are similar to us, so we want a place where you can come with your spouse and kids can have fun, but you can sit and talk with your spouse without being interrupted. We wanted a place where people felt like they were at home, hanging out in the back yard.”
“It just kind of felt right to be here and envision our kids just going across the street to school, and then coming across the street at the end of the day when they have the crossing guards out there,” says Matt.
Shortway has teamed up with other breweries in the area – Mill Whistle in Beaufort, Crystal Coast Brewing and Tight Lines in Morehead City – to help promote each other under the banner North Carolina Coastalers. Te goal is to help the Crystal Coast beer scene achieve the same success seen further south in Wilmington.
“We’re a community, and local,” says Matt. “It benefits everyone the more we work together.”
Shortway Brewing Company is located at 230 Chatham Street, Newport, N.C. 28570.
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Summer 2018 | Carolina Brew Scene | 61
