Bunnyman Brewing prepares to open

With just one more county permit approval to go, Bunnyman Brewing co-owner Sam Gray says, “There’s a 99.9 percent chance we’ll open by the end of July.”

Bunnyman Brewing is located at the rear of an industrial building at 5583 Guinea Road in Burke. It’s close to the woods where the Bunnyman – a man in a white bunny suit – was reported throwing hatchets at parked cars in 1970. 

That location, plus the fact that the co-owners of the microbrewery, Sam Gray and Eric Barrett, grew up in the area hearing about the Bunnyman, means the name was a no-brainer. Their merchandise – shirts and hats with the Bunnyman logo – are already selling briskly. 

There’s also an urban legend about a man who escaped from an insane asylum in the early 1900s and, dressed in a bunny suit, killed two children, and hung their bodies from a railroad trestle in Clifton. Although that story has been thoroughly debunked, it didn’t stop crowds of teenagers from gathering at the “bunnyman bridge” in Clifton on Halloween.

Sam Gray (left) and Eric Barrett

Bunnyman Brewing will offer a wide variety of beers and ales, including several New England IPAs and stouts (peanut butter and vanilla, as well as more traditional varieties). There are also hard seltzers (mango, pineapple-grapefruit, cherry, vanilla) and kombucha (ginger, rose, and lavender). 

It won’t have a restaurant, as Fairfax County rules prohibit breweries from having a full-service kitchen. To start, Bunnyman will have food trucks and catering. Eventually, Gray and Barrett plan to serve snacks, such as hotdogs and grilled cheese.

The pour-your-own-beer system.

The brewery will use a pour-your-own system. Customers swipe a credit card to receive a special Bunnyman card, choose a glass, rinse it, and use the card to select a beer tap of their choice. The card is good for 48 ounces per person and can be refilled. 

A glass of Kolsch, a light beer.

The beer-making process starts with huge bags of grain, mostly barley. It takes 1,020 bags of barley to produce 20 kegs of beer, Gray says. The leftover spent grain is given to the Rustic Acres Farm in Bealeton to feed the cows. 

Head brewer Robert Wieck (left) and assistant brewer Henry Rudisill.

Bunnyman Brewing is a second career for both Gray and Barrett. Gray retired in March from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, where he worked for 27 years, including 13 as a battalion chief. As a member of the search and rescue team, he was deployed to Japan, Haiti, Iran, and other countries, mostly for earthquake recovery operations. Barrett, a former product management specialist, has also retired to focus full time on Bunnyman. 

The outdoor seating area is accessible via a chairlift, as well as stairs.

Gray had been a home brewer, and Barrett learned the business as an investor in other breweries. They also found “other brewers in the area, including Settle Down Easy in Falls Church, were super supportive,” Barrett says. 

Despite their knowledge of the beer-making process, they hired a professional brewer, Robert Wieck, to ensure a high-quality product. 

The keg room.

Fairfax County has a large population and lots of beer drinkers, but the fewest breweries among nearby jurisdictions, they say. That’s because the rules are the most restrictive. They found the parking requirements particularly complicated. 

Related story: Coming soon – Bunnyman Brewing, named for a local legend

The COVID pandemic – and related issues, including an aluminum shortage, shipping delays, and soaring lumber prices – delayed the opening by several months, Gray says. Once the aluminum market stabilizes, they plan to produce and sell beer in cans. 

Is he still out there?