Service Brewing Co. offered beer and collected cash for charity during the Tailgate for the Troops event outside M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Dec. 13 as part of Army-Navy football festivities. (Staff photo by Mike Morones)
First came a successful summer tasting. Then came the cans. Now, the former soldiers behind a Savannah, Georgia-based craft brewery have another reason to raise their glasses.
Service Brewing Co., owned by West Point graduate and former Army Capt. Kevin Ryan, was named 2014’s business “Newcomer of the Year” by Business in Savannah, which profiled the brewery’s four-person team: Ryan, former captain and master brewer Dan Sartin, retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 and assistant brewer Jeff Hyatt, and Meredith Sutton, the creative marketing director and the only staffer without a military background.
The local honor comes as Ryan continues his plans for nationwide distribution. His brewery’s products have moved into the greater Atlanta area, according to the Business in Savannah piece, and a deal with the local Whole Foods has raised the product’s profile considerably. (But for now, at least, beer fans outside the area will have to settle for swag from the company store.)
Earlier this month, Ryan took his show on the road to the Army-Navy game, providing beer at the Tailgate for Troops charity event in exchange for donations. The event raised $10,000, according to a Facebook post from the group, which will benefit Homes for our Troops.
Know any other veteran-owned or -operated breweries around the country giving back to military causes? Drop us a line.
