Our Story

Mark was sitting on the couch in the corner of a local brewery sipping on his second particularly bitter IPA alongside his wife, Lisa, across from their friends Craig and Donna, when he uttered the words “we could do this!” The four had done years of research together without even realizing it. Visits to breweries were always a part of their weekend plans together, as well as vacations apart from each other. When apart, texts to the other couple with pictures and comments about fine brews and brewpubs were frequent. When together, common off-hand discussions while brewery-hopping usually included phrases like “if we owned this place, I would have….” and “if we had a brewery we could name it…”, always in more of a dream-state than reality. Until one day when Mark’s passion for brewing, tasting, and experiencing beer became a conduit to reality; a real sense that the four could do this.

You see, each of them had successful careers… day jobs in offices, that would need to be disrupted.  None of them were at retirement age. Could Craig and Mark give up their executive roles at a Maryland healthcare system, where Craig worked for 42 years and Mark for 20? The answer to that question was:

After all, Mark’s philosophies of “live in the moment” and “life is short, enjoy friends and a good beer while you can” had resonated with the group.  They had all the right education and experience to make this dream a reality. Mark has a Masters in Biology and a Business degree, Lisa is a CPA with a Masters in Finance, Donna has many years of administrative experience working for a flavor company, and Craig has an MBA and decades of management experience.

The motif of their brewery was a slam dunk; there was never even a second thought.  They all love classic rock and Craig happens to own a collection of over 3,000 classic rock albums on vinyl.  While they had visited breweries in other states where vinyl was played, none had the direct connection between brewing and vinyl.  Craig’s daughter, Megan, our graphic designer, came up with the perfect name and logo for the collaboration. DOUBLE GROOVE is a little known and seldom used intricacy of the vinyl record industry.  When there are two grooves on one side of an album or single, depending on where on the circumference of the record you drop the stylus, a different set of tracks is played; in the same way that a customer may drop into Double Groove brewery on a different day of the week to find a different selection of finely crafted beers.

Their first brewing experience together, in Mark and Lisa’s kitchen, yielded a winning IPA in a local home-brewing competition. It was validation that we had the ‘right stuff’ to offer Harford County, their long-time home, both a flavor and experience enhancement to an already pleasant lifestyle.  The next several months were focused on finding the perfect venue, which was found here in Forest Hill, adjacent to White Tiger Distillery. Following a minor zoning legislation update, they secured financing, signed the lease and ordered the five-barrel brewing system from American Beer Equipment.  Meanwhile, Mark sharpened his skills and enhanced his wealth of knowledge of the industry by enrolling and graduating from the American Brewers Guild’s “Intensive Brewing Science and Engineering Program” for Brewers.

Working with Paul Thompson of ADW to design the perfect retro setting is a pleasure.  With their brewing equipment from ABE and sound system from Sweetwater, they were ready to provide the pinnacle in sensory enlightenment.  These are the final pieces to the puzzle (or in their case ‘tracks on the album’).