In 2004, Brett Nichols and Ray Jones, neighbors and friends, began exploring the idea of starting a farm brewery in Floyd county. Inspired by the traditional beer making methods and recipes brought to America by the earliest European settlers, they honed their skills and formulas, making small batches of colonial American ales and wild-fermented farmhouse ales.
Their location on the Nichols’ farm, Five Penny Farm, and the creation of Shooting Creek Farm, grounds their beers in the long tradition of the farmhouse ale. It also gives them easy access to fresh ingredients and the crisp, subterranean waters of the Blue Ridge highlands.
Shooting creek, the brewery’s namesake, is a bold, quick flowing watercourse that runs down the eastern flank of the mountains, beginning it’s course on lands adjacent to parts of the farm. For old-timers, the hollows along Shooting Creek had a reputation as a special place for brewing.
The combination of culture, topography and climate along the Highlands escarpment makes it an ideal location for growing ingredients, making fine beer and continuing the legacy of quality product, though not in the ‘refined’ form of it’s predecessor, Shooting Creek ‘Shine.
[...] popping open a great, fresh brew–think locally. The Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg offers Shooting Creek, one of many beers local to the Blacksburg region. Enjoy it in the bottle from places such as [...]
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