Back in the late 1990s, a young graduate of Hampden-Sydney College became my office-mate at a doomed Internet-start-up called Value America. It was his first real job out of college, and he hated it. We shared an office the size of a broom closet with no windows, and created and cranked out stupid ads for laptops and Weber grills that ran in USAToday and the The Wall Street Journal. We had greedy hopes that our stock options would be worth something one day. Alas, Value America went down in flames. One Christmas, though, young Taylor Smack received a home beer-brewing kit. The rest, of course, is local history. Now, Smack and his partners have purchased South Street Brewery on the DTM, where Smack actually worked for five years as he was hatching his beer-making plans. Below, you’ll find a release from Smack – who was always a fine writer, by the way – that’ll give you some details about his plans for the place. This, my friends, is a welcome development for the DTM. – David McNair

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