HEAD BREWER

Wes Nick - Head Brewer

Wes brings a deeply experienced & varied brewing career to Ornery. Wes launched his brewing career with a Profesional Brewers Certification from UC Davis. His brewing journey includes being the Lead Shift Brewer at Brewery Ommegang in New York, a world class Belgian-style focused brewery, as well as head brewer positions throughout the Northern Virginia area.

Wes's favorite styles are Schwarzbier and Belgian Trippel. Wes & his wife love their two adopted rescue dogs, Lemmy and Brienne, as well as gardening (including hops and hot peppers), making homemade hot sauce, eating super spicy food, grilling & smoking tasty meats, and playing disc golf.

OWNER & FOUNDER

Randy Barnette - Founder & CEO

Randy has been a life long restaurant owner & operator as well as craft beer enthusiast.  First owning & operating a Domino’s Pizza franchise in Wayne, NJ from 1993-2000, Randy desired to move into full service casual dining.  Having been a fan and customer of Hard Times Café since the early 80’s, Randy opened the Hard Times Café in Woodbridge, VA in 2001, bringing to Woodbridge one of the first extensive craft beer programs to the town.  Heck, no one knew what “Arrogant Bastard Ale” was prior to the craft beer explosion of the early 2000’s!   Beginning in 2001 Randy also began traveling to Europe & around the U.S. to visit breweries to get to know and understand the craft & premium beer market. After opening the Hard Times Café in Manassas in 2008, Randy joined the founding team of Bill Madden & Rick Garvin, to help create Mad Fox Brewing in Falls Church, Va, in 2010 and help lead the restaurant operations team.

In 2015, realizing that Woodbridge really needed its own brewpub and that Northern Virginia needed a more casual style of brewpub, Randy developed Ornery Beer Company & Public House and set up to find the best team to bring you an outstanding guest experience.