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Ornery Beer Company announced that it would permanently close its Old Town Fairfax brewpub after nearly eight years while reducing the size of its brewing operation in Bristow.
The Fairfax restaurant is at 3950 University Drive, Suite 106. The company identified Sunday, July 26, 2026, as its scheduled final day. An image caption accompanying the source material instead listed July 26, 2027. The announcement was made July 20, 2026, and July 26 fell on a Sunday that year, but the discrepancy has not been independently resolved.
Founder and CEO Randy Barnette said the Fairfax location had struggled with the effects of the pandemic and other pressures that accumulated afterward. According to Barnette, annual sales declined amid changes in the restaurant and craft-beer markets, economic uncertainty and competition for the relatively small residential market surrounding Old Town Fairfax.
“We have amazing fans in Fairfax City, however, decreased sales could not continue to meet the rent and operating costs,” Barnette said.
The closure is part of a wider restructuring that will leave Ornery with its Herndon restaurant and a smaller brewing and taproom operation in Bristow.
“After much consideration and hard work to navigate an ever-changing restaurant and craft beer environment, Ornery will scale back our operations to meet today’s market realities and become leaner, so that we may weather these challenging economic and financial times,” Barnette said.
Ornery plans to move the Fairfax brewpub’s three-barrel brewing system to Bristow, where the company currently operates a production facility and taproom without a restaurant. It also intends to sell its larger production-brewing and packaging equipment, reduce its leased space and scale back the facility’s existing 20-barrel operation.
“We will be reducing our brewing capacity, selling our large production brewing and packaging equipment, reducing our leased space, and scaling back to become more of a locally-focused community brewery and taproom,” Barnette said.
The company said the changes are intended to improve the sustainability of the business and refocus Bristow as a community brewery and taproom. The precise reductions in brewing capacity and leased space were not reported, nor was a timeline provided for selling the equipment. The available information also did not address employee impacts or disclose financial totals.
Ornery’s Herndon public house, which opened in November 2025 after years of planning, will remain open. The restaurant is at 2310 Woodland Crossing Drive, Suite F. At the time of reporting, it offered 14 beers on tap, all produced at the Bristow facility.
The company also distributes beer through restaurants, stores and bars in Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Ornery began as a community brewpub in Woodbridge in August 2015. After closing that location amid stalled negotiations for a smaller leased space, the company moved its full-service restaurant to Fairfax City in 2018.
Barnette said Fairfax City became a second home for him, citing his time at George Mason University’s nearby campus in the late 1980s. Despite the pullback, he left open the possibility that Ornery could expand again through carefully chosen projects.
“As opportunities present themselves, we will look to strategically grow with new locations and partnerships,” Barnette said.
The closure, financial pressures and restructuring plans were described by the company and were not independently confirmed by a second supplied source.