Eleven some years ago, Restoration Brew Worx opened its doors with a dream, a brewing system, a pile of optimism, and the wildly incorrect assumption that running a small business would be “manageable.”

Since then, Frank and Roma have battled through just about everything a small brewpub can survive: the craft beer boom, the craft beer depression, a pandemic, economic highs, economic punches to the face, changing trends, rising costs, staffing chaos, and the daily mystery of why something that worked yesterday is suddenly broken today.

Frank has had ideas. Lots of ideas. Some were good. Some required adult supervision. Roma, as usual, won most of the battles, because somebody around here has to keep the circus from catching fire.

Through it all, RBW kept brewing beer, serving food, making new friends, and becoming part of the fabric of Downtown Delaware. Not some corporate taproom pretending to be local. Not a spreadsheet with a beer menu. Just real people, making real beer, in a real community, with all the scars, stories, and questionable decisions to prove it.

Eleven+ years later, we’re still here. Still brewing. Still laughing. Still fighting the good fight. Still occasionally wondering what the hell we were thinking.

Restoration Brew Worx: Local Beer by Local People.