By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

It is a late fall afternoon at the corner of Second and George streets in Chesapeake City – that small sliver of time between the end of the workday and the start of dinner – and the autumn sun beams into the windows of Bayheads® Brewing Company, reflecting on the beer glasses and the mugs and the faces of nearly every patron there.

Nearly every seat in the intimate space is occupied.

They are a jovial assemblage of locals, and every snippet of conversation heard at the bar and at the tables suggests that everyone here is at the very least acquaintances if not long-time friends. It is a shared camaraderie, a rich language of connection that lingers above the Canal Town and Baybilly and the Galaxy Hopped Experimental, at the centerpiece of it is Ashley Butterworth, the tavern’s head bartender its ambassador of hospitality, who floats seamlessly from one patron to the next, seating and pouring and clearing and conversing.

Accompanied by their owners, two large poodles lounge on the floor, and Butterworth brings the dogs a large bowl of water, and all of this – the sweet brine of this single moment - is the living embodiment of Charlie Copeland, Jr.’s dream, one that began more than ten years ago.

Three guys from Chesapeake City have an idea

It is only fitting that the culmination of what has become one of Chesapeake City’s most popular destinations came from Copeland, who grew up just ten minutes from Bayheads® Brewing Company. As a child, he grew up fishing alongside his father Chuck in the Elk and Bohemia rivers.

“Growing up, my father always owned businesses, so I grew up beside someone who lived the life of an entrepreneur, and I began to see how hard it could be to live that life,” he said. “I decided at a young age that I wanted to follow my father as a business owner, and while I didn’t exactly know what that business would be, I knew that I wanted to pursue something on my own.”

Several years after his graduation from Wilmington University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2001 – and later a master’s degree - Copeland and two of his long-time friends Bill Dix and Jason Zang began to talk about potentially collaborating on a business venture. Eventually, one of those ideas began to take center stage – owning and operating their own craft brewing company, where hand-crafted beers would be made on premise on one side of the establishment, and on the other, a small tap room where customers could enjoy the fruits – and hops – of their labor. 

The machine churn of their ideas – launched in 2016 - was coinciding with what had become an explosion of the craft brewing industry throughout the U.S., when it seemed that every guy in America who owned a closetful of flannel shirts, a beard and a love of craft beer was spearheading the start of a small batch brewery. It was a brand-new culture, and one that was sweeping the nation. 

“I had considered the idea of beginning a distillery, only because the craft beer scene was exploding and I was concerned about oversaturation in the marketplace,” Copeland said. “We were all having discussions about what we wanted to do, and we agreed to circle back to the idea of starting our own brewery. We realized that our hometown of Chesapeake did not have its own brewery. We thought, ‘while this industry may be saturated in some areas, but not everywhere, and the idea of having a hometown brewery in our hometown became a feasible opportunity.”

With help from the Chesapeake City Mayor’s office, Copeland, Dix and Zang found property at 2525 Augustine Herman Highway just a short drive from the heart of Chesapeake City, and after working on a shoestring budget to repurpose the facility that included the installation of brew systems, fermenters, tanks and a U-shaped bar, they opened the 1,500-square-foot Bayheads® on Saint Patrick’s Day weekend in 2018.

To date, that opening weekend recorded the second-highest single-day sales in the brewing company’s eight-year history.

“It was an exciting time when we were getting ready to open,” Copeland said. “There was a lot support from the local community, and Cecil County, the State of Maryland and the Maryland Liquor Board – which oversees the regulation of licensing and sales in the state - were supportive as well in helping us to make this happen.

“On the day we opened, we were surprised and caught off guard and didn’t expect to be that busy. We had lines out the door and we were beyond capacity.”

Good friends in bad times

There are, behind the bar that Butterworth and the other servers at Bayheads® Brewing Company patrol, a long line of personalized mugs that are placed side by side on a shelf. To date, there are 80 members of the tap room’s Mug Club, a special group of patrons who receive discounts throughout the year for their membership. Copeland said he plans to increase that number to 100 in the next year.

As the world began to close in on itself in the beginning of what would become the nearly two-year COVID-19 pandemic, it was the formation of the Mug Club for a dedicated group of select patrons, combined with other customers who ordered growlers and cans and pandemic-era business grants, that helped navigate Bayheads® through its toughest stretch.

“During COVID-19, the Mug Club and our other customers kept us in business,” said Copeland, who is now the establishment’s sole owner and head brewmaster and shares brewing responsibilities with Jake Timchula. “I cannot say enough positive things about our community and our customer base. A lot of people receive a portion of their customers from those who are traveling through their town or city – and we certainly get them – but from the day we first opened and all through the pandemic, our customers were helpful to us and never asked for anything in return.”

On December 23, 2021, after more than five years at its original location on Herman Highway - and as the pandemic began to subside - Bayheads® Brewing Company closed its doors and moved its new home to a historic building on the corner of Second and George Streets in Chesapeake City. Following an extensive renovation process that took 18 months, the taproom reopened at their new location on August 20, 2023.

“There was a lot of excitement around our purchase of this building and that it would be saved, given its historical significance to Chesapeake City,” Copeland said. “It was originally built in 1850 and was owned originally by the Bayard family and then it came under the ownership of other families. In the 1940s, a general store began here, and there are some people who are still alive who remember coming here. Eventually it was owned by the Pyle family, who operated a store there for several years.

“The building was sitting here and really rotting when we bought it, so the town was very happy when we moved here, because it’s among the first things that people see when they come into town. The fact that we’re here now extends the legacy of this building.”

On the corner of Second and George

While the building’s main floor is now home to a nicely appointed tap room and brewery, Copeland said that further renovations will include the installation of a small kitchen space on the second floor that will eventually lead to a unique menu for the brewery’s patrons, as well as additional dining space that can be used for private parties and events. Meanwhile, Bayheads® enjoys its collaboration with the nearby Chesapeake Inn Restaurant and Marina, who provides hand delivered food orders to patrons that is a QR code click away from arriving at their table. 

The late afternoon sun is slightly less glaring than it was an hour ago, but the smiles on the faces of those who are here at Bayheads® Brewing Company have not diminished. Ashley Butterworth conducts the business of this meeting place with the same generosity as one does when entertaining guests in one’s living room. 

The sound of simultaneous conversations rings like a chorus of words. 

The twin poodles are now curled around their owner’s feet.

The Saint Augie’s Pilsner and the Buzzweisen are enjoyed at the corner table, and as yet another patron or two breezes through the front door, there is the recognition that the outside world seems one galaxy seems momentarily removed from this small moment in time, there on the corner of Second and George.

“This is our neighborhood bar, our local spot,” Butterworth said. “If you live in Chesapeake City or visit it often, you come to Bayheads®. This is your home away from home. It is like being in your living room with your friends. You can have good days and bad days, but either way, you’re guaranteed to see your friends here.”

“When I see this place packed, it makes me feel that we are doing something right, and it confirms to me that everyone who is a part of this brewery is on a successful path,” Copeland said. “To be able to walk in and see people I know is very special, and I know that’s the same feeling for everyone who comes here.”

Bayheads® Brewing Company is located at 401 Second Street in Chesapeake City. To learn more, visit www.bayheadsbrewing.com.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].