VALDOSTA — City council approved a change to its alcohol ordinance that will allow brewpubs to sell and pour malt beverages on site.

At a Valdosta City Council meeting Thursday evening, council quickly and unanimously approved the ordinance change. 

The previous ordinance lacked a provision for brewpubs, such as Georgia Beer Company, which effectively excluded them. The change allows a manufacturer of alcohol to be a retailer or wholesaler.

The Georgia Beer Company is expected to open the first craft brewery in the city next month after renovations on a century-old downtown building are completed.

During a City Council work session, the co-owners of Georgia Beer Company, Chris Jones and Jack Martin, spoke to council about their operation and business model.

Jones told council with the ordinance change they will be limited to sell 3,000 barrels a year on site at the brewery. One barrel is capable of holding 31 gallons of beer.

“That’s how much we can sell on site,” Jones said. “When you think about contrasting us to a traditional retailer, there are no limits for say a caterer or Applebee’s, but we are limited by that hard number by the state.”

Selling beer on site, however, will not be the brewery’s primary function, he said. It is a manufacturing facility first and foremost.

Jones said the tasting room will just be a small portion of operations to promote small craft brewing and to offset some of the losses from distributing.

“We have to pay the distributor … whenever we move our product, we are automatically taking a loss on some of that,” Jones said. “But on site, we have the luxury of not having to do that, so that helps us keep cash flow positive, and it helps us compete with breweries as large as Sweetwater.”

The brewery is not limited on the amount it can manufacture on site. Jones said the strategic plan is to sell beer throughout Georgia by year three.

“We will rely heavily on distribution,” he said. “That will be our bread and butter.”

Jones said he believes the company will play a “really important part in building tourism here. (We will) give folks one more reason to get off the interstate, and we’ll give them some more reasons to spend the night.”

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256