USA, VA: Augusta County to get its first brewery this fall

Augusta County will get its first brewery this fall, News Leader reported on June 27.

Seven Arrows Brewing Co., a microbrewery will open at 2508 Jefferson Highway just outside the Waynesboro city limits and plans to be up and running in late October to early November.

The owners, Melissa and Aaron Allen, have home brewed for years, and Arron, the brewmaster, has a bachelor's in chemical engineering and has pursued formal brewing certification with the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.

Allen, who worked for MillerCoors in Elkton, decided to start home brewing when the craft brewery industry was starting to take off in the Valley.

He didn't think he would find a passion that would lead him to want to open his own brewery, but that's what happened, said Melissa Allen.

"We decided to take the plunge and just do it," she said.

They decided on the Fishersville area as a mid-way point between Staunton, Waynesboro and Stuarts Draft.

"A lot of people around here they don't want to drive over the mountain or go up north to have a beer after work," Allen said, referring to the breweries in Nelson County and in Harrisonburg. "We thought this area could use another brewery."

Staunton currently has three breweries, Queen City, Redbeard and Shenandoah Valley Brewing Co.

The business will involve an $800,000 investment and the creation of seven to 10 jobs initially. Union First Market Bank and Trust provided a portion of the start-up costs through a small business administration loan.

There will be four main brews on tap — Eventide IPA, Sinistral Wheat, Aurora Pils and Boreal Amber — with eight rotating beers, one of which will be seasonal.

Allen said the idea was to always offer four styles of beer that are perpetually popular but to rotate other brews so that there is always something new on tap.

The brewery will include production and on-site retail sales of beer in a 48-seat capacity space.

"Opening a brewery to offer great beer has been a dream of ours for a number of years," Aaron Allen said in a press release on June 27. "We are driven by one main passion, brewing high quality, true-to-style beer."

The Allens hope to capitalize on the popularity of the craft brew industry in the country and the high-traffic area.

Supervisor Jeff Moore, who represents the Wayne District where the Allens will locate Seven Arrows Brewing Co. said of the couple, "The Allens have great entrepreneurial spirit, and we are thrilled to have them join our business community."

02 July, 2014