By Annie Tobey, Richmond Times-Dispatch
A new brewery should open this fall in Petersburg.
Terry Ammons and Ann Adams have established AMMO Brewing at 235 N. Market St. in Old Towne Petersburg, using the former Jaguar service bay building and showroom location that has housed Studio Ammons architecture and design since 2004.
AMMO Brewing has received approval from the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and has scheduled a Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control final site review.
Ammons and Adams have ordered equipment and are refitting the building for brew space, a taproom and a beer garden. They plan only limited distribution, with most sales on site.
Brewing should begin in October with the tasting room to open later in the fall, when they are satisfied that the space and beers are ready, Ammons said.
Ammons will be AMMO’s brewer. He has been a home brewer for several years and is a member of the James River Homebrewers group.
He plans to roll out four flagship beers: a saison using seasonal local ingredients; a coffee cream stout; an imperial IPA; and a brown ale with maple syrup from Highland County.
Beers will pour from 12 taps brewed on a two-barrel system — four to six regular beers plus other experimental batches.
The small system will allow Ammons to explore mixed fermentations and specialty brews. He also may use the separate 2,100-square-foot warehouse behind the brewery for open fermentations or barrel conditioning.
The beers will be made with local ingredients as much as possible, he said.
For malts, Ammons will work with Tony Kvasnicka’s upcoming Big Trouble Malting and Spirits, using barley grown on Kvasnicka’s 300-acre Prince George County farm.
Ammons also plans to brew a smoked beer. He initially will use malts from Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville and plans to work with Saucy’s Walk-Up Bar.B.Q. in downtown Petersburg.
For the coffee cream stout and for a range of nonalcoholic coffee drinks, the coffee will come from Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting Co. in Richmond. The soda inspiration arises from Bain’s Ginger Ale and Soda Water Bottling Co., a historic Petersburg business.