Mad Fox Brewing Closes In Northern Virginia

A classic beer venue helmed by a DC-area brewing legend, Bill Madden will be closing its doors soon, the victim of region that’s now home to almost 250 breweries and maybe craft beer’s slowing momentum.

We’re bummed…

American Craft Beer covers news and lifestyle from a national and international perspective, but we’re based out of Washington, DC. So the loss of Mad Fox is a personal to us and news that it would be closing its doors on July 21^st still stings.

Everyone in DC’s craft beer community knows Bill Madden. He’s a quiet and humble man with a dry sense of humor, who was every bit as responsible for championing craft beer in the mid-Atlantic as Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione over the last decade.

And although Bill worked his trade on more local level than Sam who has national reach, Mad Fox’s Falls Church, VA brewpub was renowned in the DC area. As was Bill’s ‘mad’ brewing skills, particularly for his command of the Kölsch style as well as for his hefty Scotch Ale.

So what happened?   Life happened.

When Bill founded Mad Fox along with his partner Rick Garvin in 2010, they were the new kids in town…There were maybe 40 craft breweries in the DC/MD/ VA area and craft beer was just coming into its own.

Flash forward to 2019 and the number of breweries in the region is closer to 250 and craft beer has become more mainstream…

At the same time, Washington, DC is booming, and close-in Falls Church has grown to become an even hotter location than when Mad Fox first opened its doors.

With the rent on Mad Fox Northern Virginia brewpub rising and its sales levelling off, it was an unfortunate storm of circumstances that led Madden and Gavin’s painful decision to close the legendary brewpub.

And on Tuesday, May 9 Madden posted the closing announcement on the Mad Fox Facebook page.

Our friends at DC Beer have even more on Bill Madden, Mad Fox and its legacy….

Banner image credit: Mad Fox