Van Brimmer: Brewery ordinance debate promises a hangover | savannahnow.com

The beer taps seem lonesome hanging on the outside of the room-size refrigerator.

Look closely at the concrete floor nearby and the chalk outline for the bar is visible. A three-tub sink leans absently off to one side. Stacks of souvenir pint glasses, frustrated by lack of use, sit at the end of the sink.

Meanwhile, activity is constant across the cavernous space. Vats, tanks and other equipment used to manufacture the malty, frothy beverage that ostensibly flows from the beer taps loom against the far wall. Two men monitor the process while also rotating pallets of steel kegs waiting for the finished product.

Southbound Brewing Co. is open for business. Yet for the pioneers of Savannah’s newest industry — several more craft breweries are planned for the area — the trail they blaze is as much minefield as virgin forest.

Every brewer that opens a manufacturing plant, be it Anheuser-Busch or Southbound Brewing, wants to offer tours and tastings at its facility. There’s little or no money in it, as the law in most states prohibits breweries from charging for the product.

via Van Brimmer: Brewery ordinance debate promises a hangover | savannahnow.com.