Ownership breakup at Twin Lakes Brewing

Former Twin Lakes Brewing Co. co-owner Sam Hobbs, who helped found and run the Greenville beer company on bucolic, Chateau Country property that’s been in his family for seven generations, is no longer involved with the business.

“They bought me out and I’m moving on,” Hobbs said about his former partners, Jack Wick and Matt Day.

This summer, brewing equipment was packed up at the 4210 Kennett Pike site, one of the larger, family-owned residential tracts of open space north of Wilmington. Plans are to move the brewery inside a Newport Industrial Park warehouse.

“I’m no longer a part of it. I’m wishing them the best,” said Hobbs, a descendent of the du Pont family. “That’s all that I can do. I think they have a great brand. I hope it all goes well in Newport.”

Twin Lakes Brewing Co. has been selling beer since 2006. It was co-founded by Wick, Day and Hobbs, whose great-grandfather was DuPont Co. director Eugene E. du Pont.

The brewery had been located inside a historic barn retrofitted into a brewery on land off Kennett Pike. The 1826 barn once was the art studio of Hobbs’ uncle George “Frolic” Weymouth, the founder of the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, who grew up on the property.

The brewery’s name comes from two ponds, known as the “twins,” that were on either side of the driveway of the more than 250-acre family farm.

During winter months, for nearly 100 years, Hobbs’ family has allowed the public to skate free of charge and at their own risk on the landmark “twin” ponds. One collapsed several years ago, and one pond remains. Hobbs said some skaters still come to the pond to play ice hockey.

George Weymouth’s sister, Patricia, is Sam Hobbs’ mother. Their mother Dulcinea “Deo” Ophelia Payne du Pont was the eldest of Eugene du Pont Jr.’s four daughters.

Twin Lakes Brewery produces American-style ales and lagers. Water used in the beer came from a deep rock aquifer located on the Twin Lakes Farm. In 2011, Twin Lakes started canning its flagship brew, Greenville Pale Ale, in six-packs and cases.

Twin Lakes beers, named for local sites and historical figures, are sold at Delaware liquor stores, pubs and restaurants and had been distributed to nearby states.

The tasting room and tours at the Kennett Pike brewery closed to the public in June. In July, Wick told The News Journal the brewery would be moving from Greenville. This week, he said the company has filed an application for a brewing license in Newport. They hope to begin producing beer again by the end of the year.

“Our goal is to get up and going as fast as possible,” Wick said.

He said they plan to relaunch the brewery at a 405 E. Marsh Lane warehouse owned by HDC Inc. and managed by Harvey Hanna & Associates by the spring of 2016.

Wick has said the company will import water to Newport from an outside source to use in the brewing process. They want to run a tasting room that’s open daily to the public.

Even though beer production has been temporarily halted, Wick said Twin Lakes has a supply of kegs, but does not currently have canned beer. “We’re redoing the cans now,” he said. The cans had said the beer was brewed in Greenville.

The company has had a presence at several beer events in recent months. Twin Lakes sold beer at last month’s Oktoberfest festivities in Ogletown hosted by the Delaware Saengerbund. Wick said they will be participating in the Delaware Wine and Beer Festival this Saturday in Dover.

Hobbs, the exuberant face and cheerleader of Twin Lakes when it first opened, declined to get into specifics about his departure other than to say it was a difference of opinion on the future of the business.

“We had different ideas where to take it. I didn’t agree with them.” He said no partner owned 50 or more percent of the company and there were many investors when they opened nearly 10 years ago.

Hobbs said his former partners had “big ideas” and wanted to be open more hours. In Greenville, the tasting room was only open Wednesdays and Saturdays.

“I live there,” Hobbs said about the limited hours at the farm. “They just couldn’t run the business at Twin Lakes. They could do it somewhere else, but not at our family farm.”

He said the brewery was initially “meant to be fun and for the community.” Hobbs said he began thinking about opening a business on his family’s historic farm after moving back to his Greenville hometown in 2000 after six years of living in South Africa.

Day and Wick approached him with the idea of a microbrewery. Day, who worked for Guinness and later Standard Distributing, a wholesale beverage distributor, had been kicking around the idea for almost a decade. Hobbs offered his family’s property, and in November 2001, wrote his first letter to New Castle County government officials seeking zoning approvals for the brewery.

“He’s really like our fancy landlord,” Day joked in 2006, shortly before the public sampled Twin Lakes first two draft beers – Route 52 Pilsner and Greenville Pale Ale – at nearby Buckley’s Tavern in Centreville.

“Things sort of happen for a reason and it’s like a blessing in disguise for me,” said Hobbs, about bowing out of the business. “We had some great times. I really want them to succeed. It was time for me to move on and for them to move off the property.”

While the beer is no longer being brewed on the Greenville property, the Twin Lakes name will go with it to the Newport location.

Was it difficult to give up the name? “Yes. It was hard,” Hobbs said. “They have the name. I gave them the name to keep using. It has a wonderful old history.”

Said Hobbs: “I’m sad because I miss the interaction of the community. A lot of people in the community miss coming here. People loved coming to Twin Lakes. There’s something special and magical about it.”

He hasn’t ruled out starting another brewing venture, or possibly going into distilling. “There’s nothing on the horizon. I have a few things and I’ve had a couple of months to think about things.”

Hobbs is currently giving the former tasting room a facelift. “I’m in that mode of: ‘What do you do now?’ ”

Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 orptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter@pattytalorico Read her blog atwww.delawareonline.com/blog/secondhelpings