No new Ocean City brewery? OC Brewing files for bankruptcy, auctioning equipment

Ocean City Brewing Company filed for bankruptcy late last year, and a public auction of its equipment was recently announced, signaling a no-go for a new brewery at the Coastal Highway location.

Fermentation tanks, a 30 barrel brewhouse, a keg washer and a myriad of other brewing and kitchen equipment will be liquidated Feb. 19 to fulfill over half a million dollars in legal claims.

Every piece of equipment not affixed to the building at 5509 Coastal Highway will be sold, and the auction is a trustee sale, according to Atlantic Auctions vice president and general manager Jack Levi.

OC Brewing filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Nov. 8, court records show. The public auction will be held on behalf of multiple creditors filing claims against OC Brewing. Those claims total just over $530,000, court records show.

Last fall, new brews and signage with a company logo suggested Ironweed Ale Werks had planned to re-brand OC Brewing. In 2017, OC Brewing's owner, Joshua Shores, was sentenced to five years in prison for a $2.5 million wire fraud scheme involving a separate string of companies.

Because of transitions in ownership and an uncompleted liquor license application, Ironweed officials had declined to comment back in October.

On Thursday, Ironweed officials could not be immediately reached.

According to its Facebook page, which hasn't been updated since November, Ironweed was planning to debut this summer. The self-proclaimed production brewery participated in the Baltimore Craft Beer Festival in November.

Background: Ocean City Brewing Company undergoing changes to Ironweed Ale Werks

Beer news: Art of the can: Why breweries invest in creative label concepts by local artists

OC Brewing opened its doors in the summer of 2014 on 56th Street under the ownership of Shores.

The restaurant served American pub food like gourmet burgers and flatbread pizzas, while the brewery and tasting room made up the back of the 17,400-square-foot facility.

During the case against Shores, prosecutors argued that between 2008 and 2013, he sold counterfeit sports jerseys from China, outfitting them with forged autographs and fake certificates of authenticity.

Shores, 44 at the time of his sentencing, had pleaded guilty to the crime in February 2016. He agreed to pay $500,000 in restitution and was ordered to forfeit $140,000 in assets and pay a $5,000 fine.

Shores said in a statement last year that the crime he committed then had "no connection to the current operations of the Ocean City Brewing Company."

During the case, his mother, Donna Shores, had taken over as owner of the company.

Beer news: Evolution Craft Brewing is most underrated brewery in Maryland: Thrillist

Crime: Salisbury shooting: Police seek 2 suspects in confrontation involving shotgun

Maryland news: 'Some special times': UMES Super Bowl III players celebrate Jets-Colts game 50 years later