A local college is backing what may become a bolstering industry in the region. West Kentucky Community and Technical College is hosting a meetup for regional craft brewers, vintners and distillers to discuss the industry and form potential partnerships as several microbreweries open across the region.
WKCTC Innovation Director Dan Lazarevic said the conference follows the opening of several new microbreweries and a distillery in the region. He wants to bring together potential partners.
“For example, we just had a lady, she has a dairy farm. She has almost a thousand acres of unused land,” Lazarevic said. “And we were talking to her if she would be willing to grow hops and herbs for local breweries so they could be Kentucky Proud.”
Lazarevic says the Kentucky Crafts Beverage Conference will include discussion of the growing industry and a tour of Paducah’s newest brewery Dry Ground, opening this weekend in Paducah’s former Coca-Cola Bottling Plant and.
“Our ultimate goal is to have as many breweries and wineries and distilleries open up in this area so we could have like a wine trail. You’re not going to go to one city to see one brewery. You wanna come and see three or four breweries and actually have an experience,” Lazarevic said.
Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Spokeswoman Holly Mullins says 15 microbreweries opened in Kentucky in the past three years, with another six applications pending. Paris, Tennessee is also home to a new microbrewery.
The 2015 Kentucky Crafts Beverage Conference is free and open to the public. It will be held at West Kentucky Community and Technical College February 26 from 4:30-6 p.m. in Crounse Hall, Room 101.
For more information on the conference, call the WKCTC Kentucky Innovations Office at 270-201-2361 or email wkyinnovation@kctcs.edu.
