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DENTON – A venue for families to unwind, spend time together and sample craft brews will open a year from now, but owners Sarah Minner Dahl and her husband Matt Dahl hope to break ground soon on Eden Town Brewing Company.
The feedback has been positive. “Everyone’s excited. I think people are excited that there will be something new in town,” Sarah said.
A native of Denton and the daughter of longtime retired Clerk of Court Dale Minner and his wife Candy, Sarah moved back home in 2018 with Matt, a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, and their two sons, James, 8, and Luke, 5.
Eden Town Brewing Co. will occupy the more than two-acre property that fronts Gay Street at North 8th Street just off Shore Highway.
The Dahls hoped to be able to use the rustic storage warehouse currently in the center of the former Nuttle Lumber Company property, but it was too unstable to restore.
They’re working with Willow Construction to design and build a modern structure based on the shape of the old building.
On Aug. 29, Willow Construction LLC announced on its Facebook page, “We look forward to bringing this exciting new destination to life.”
“Owned by a local family eager to introduce people to the charms of the Eastern Shore, the brewery is named after Denton’s original name – Eden Town – established in 1781,” the post stated.
“Once you make the connection between Eden Town and Denton, it helps you remember where it is, but it also gives you that sense of the Eastern Shore as the paradise that it is,” she said.
The process began in 2022, and last year, the Dahls bought the property for $275,000 from J.D. Neal and his children, and worked with town officials to meet zoning requirements. “J.D. has been really supportive from the beginning, too, which is nice,” Sarah said.
Both Matt, 42, and Sarah, 40, hold law degrees, and while Sarah found her “dream job” as general counsel for Choptank Electric Cooperative based in Denton, Matt is able to work from home in the cybersecurity field. Eden Town Brewing Co. is their first business venture.
The couple has no background in brewing, but will hire a master brewer, and they plan to be on site and hands-on as much as possible.
“We had lived in Raleigh … during the period where breweries were becoming really popular, and so we just wanted to add something like that here, where people could bring their families,” Sarah said.
“We’re going to have a big outdoor space and just something family friendly, where the grown-ups can have a good time and the kids can have a good time – a big place for the community,” she said.
“We wanted a place that had a lot of outdoor space, and there’s really not much of that in town,” Matt said. “What really attracted us to (this property) was the fact that it is actually in town and not out on the highway. And we’re hoping that while all the current restaurants and stores are concentrated on Market Street, … this being here might actually wind up connecting the two, (creating) kind of a longer business corridor.”
“If nothing else, this gives a boost to this part of town, and it was important to us that it be in town, something that people could potentially walk to, or something that adds to the heart of town a little bit,” Sarah said.
She said they hope to “draw from a bigger area … (and) attract people from the rest of the Shore.”
Matt added, “We hope that people that are going to the beach will want to stop here and come to the brewery, but hopefully they’ll also go to other places in town because I think a lot of people drive through on the way to the beach, but they don’t know what’s here.”
“There are so many new businesses in Denton alone. But even in the rest of Caroline County, there is a lot to do, and we’re hoping that we can help introduce some people to the charms of Eastern Shore life through the brewery,” Sarah said.
Inside the new building will be a “tap room in the middle with a tall ceiling, and then it’ll have the brewing production area on the left side where you’ll have all the big tanks, and everything that you typically would see at a brewery brewing all the beer on site,” Sarah said.
The other side of the tap room will be a space “for small events, whether you want to have a bridal shower or a birthday party or something like that,” she said. A covered patio and an outdoor space for cornhole and playground equipment will invite fresh air activities for young and old.
Plans for the future include food trucks, live music and special events.
“We wouldn’t want to build something that wouldn’t be fun for us with our kids and other families,” Sarah said.
For updates and information, visit Eden Town Brewing Co. on Facebook or edentownbrewing.com.
