AmericanCraftBeer.com, January 21, 2015, by Anthony Towey
Since opening in 2011, the Burley Oak Brewing Company has been making some of America’s best beers in ‘America’s Coolest Small Town’ of Berlin, Maryland. So good that it’s now attracting craft beer fans from all across America.
Just ask the group of four from New Hampshire that heard about Burley on social media, stopped by while vacationing nearby at Assateague Island National Seashore this fall, noticed a poster about an ongoing fundraiser while sipping pints, and donated $500 on the spot.
In an effort to increase exposure and revenue, Burley Oak launched a Kickstarter campaign in September to raise $45,000 for a Wild Goose Canning System. In exchange for their hard-earned cash, donors were enticed with everything from hand-written ‘Thank You’ poems to customized beer mugs to the chance to personalize a future beer, depending on how much they pledged. Slated to last 36 days, over half of the ‘AmeriCANmade’ campaign was funded during the first week. When it was all said and done, 446 people donated $54,000 and Burley Oak received the capital required to make its canning dream a reality.
