The first microbrewery to launch in the New River Valley, Shooting Creek Farm Brewery, will open its doors in Floyd County this weekend.

Shooting Creek Farm Brewery, a rural artisan farm brewery, is a family-owned company of BJN Brewworks, LLC., and plans to open this weekend on Thomas Farm Road in Floyd County.

Brett Nichols and Ray Jones have been working on the brewery project and researching the drinks industry for more than three years. Nichols, an organic farmer and agronomist, is originally from Maine and Jones, who is a conceptual artist and educator, is from Texas.

“We came from opposite ends of the country and met in the middle, Floyd naturally, and the opportunity presented itself,” said Ray Jones. “We initially had big ideas like most of us, but we settled on starting out small on a shoestring budget for a fraction of what the big boys do. The brewery concept has taken on a life of it’s own –everything is coming together organically and the community is very supportive, it’s infectious, and folks want to be part of it.”

Both Jones and Nichols are already partnering with local wineries and like-minded businesses. Details are in the works for special events and farm dinners.

The new “mini-micro” brewery, as Jones calls it, will feature a product line of handmade American Farmhouse Beer and American Farmhouse Gourmet Sodas.

Jones said, “The brew recipes are made from scratch and much of the operation will be similar to what was done over a hundred years ago in the industry-very traditional and authentic. SCFB even features a “human-powered” bottling line – Ray’s son, Dillon, will be working on the assembly line as a “bottle capper”. We have found that humans are much cheaper than manufacturing machines- and they don’t break but they do complain sometimes.”

Shooting Creek will be first farm brewery to open in Southwest Virginia – we would hope to encourage more microbreweries around the region to open –it’s about brewer’s brotherhood. We like to call it “beer terror”, according to Jones.

“We are probably the smallest microbrewery in Virginia, if not the United States; We like to call ourselves a “mini-micro” brewery,” added the new owner.

The new brewery will feature a tasting room and there will be tours of the modest brew house.

“The building structure and brewery were hand-built by family and friends – “much like a barn raising” – and the equipment consists of used dairy equipment coming from local farmers,” Jones stated.

Shooting Creek will have a few part-time employees assisting with the brewery operations, according to Jones.

“We think it will help support agritourism and general tourism business in the county,” Jones added, when asked about his new business venture.

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