Formed originally in 1998, the group began as a side project for musicians Keith Swanson and Kyf Brewer, who met as bagpipers in the Loch Rannoch Pipes & Drums of Pineville, Pennsylvania.

Barleyjuice's focus was to perform traditional Irish and Scottish songs in a pop/rock fashion, and the band remained a seasonal St. Patrick’s Day project for the first few years of its existence.

Another song, "Whiskey to the Sea," won additional attention with its inclusion in the complete set of the iTunes Irish Music Essentials Collection.

The band stopped the promotion of Bonny Prince Barley to rush release The Barleyjuice Irish Collection, a double CD, and their biggest seller to date, which included selected tracks from the other four studio albums.

Band members at that time were Kyf Brewer, Keith Swanson, Eric Worthington, Shelley Weiss and Gregor Schroeder.

Alice Marie and John Tracey also moved on, leaving the fiddling to Billy Dominick and drumming to Claire Brewer, Kyf's youngest offspring.