From 1996 to 2006, Old Dominion hosted an annual beer festival that showcased small brewers from around the region, as well as some breweries from around the US and Europe. The festival featured more than 50 breweries and live music. The three-day event was held each year on the last full weekend of June; management and organization of the festival was given over to Vintage 50, which now hosts the event twice a year, in June and October. Old Dominion has been fertile ground for producing high quality brewers, such as: John Mallet at
Bell's Brewery, Ron Barchet at
Victory Brewing Company, Matthew Hagerman at
Lost Rhino Brewing Company, Favio Garcia at Lost Rhino Brewing and Dynasty Brewing, and Kenny Allen at True Respite Brewing Company. Bailey put Old Dominion up for sale in the mid-2000s. No serious offers to purchase the company were made until 2007, when Fordham Brewing of
Annapolis, Maryland offered to purchase the company, financed in part by
Anheuser-Busch (AB) for a minority stake in the two breweries, to form Coastal Brewing Company. The majority of Coastal is owned by
Fordham Brewing Company, owned by Bill Muhlhauser (owner of both Fordham and the Ram's Head Taverns of Maryland) and other partners. Anheuser-Busch's purchase stake gave them no control of either of the two breweries, nor any input or influence on brewery recipes, nor oversight of any day-to-day management. The brewery also owns its own distribution rights. In May 2009 all brewing operations, combined with those of Fordham Brewing, were moved to a new facility in Dover, Delaware. The current core brands of the brewery continue to sell briskly in both the on-site and packaging ends, and can be found as the "house" brews at many locations throughout the DC Metro area, including the Great American Restaurant chain (except for the Sweetwater Tavern in
Centreville, Virginia),
Capital One Arena, and
Nationals Park. Old Dominion continues to host various brew sampling and cask events throughout the DC-MD-VA-DE-NJ-PA metropolitan area, maintaining their status as a Mid-Atlantic regional brewer, and their Oak Barrel Stout and Pinup Series brands remain popular sellers in the packaging end of the line, available at several retail and grocery chains, bars and retailers in their regions. As of January 2011, Jim Lutz (former VP of sales and marketing at Flying Dog Brewery of Frederick, MD), took over as the new President and CEO of Coastal Brewing. ==Beer selection==