Pour a pint and listen to the story of Shooting Creek Farm Brewery, some concerned neighbors and the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Ray Jones and Brett Nichols had hoped this summer to be luring visitors off the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway to taste and buy their original recipe ales and stouts. But neighborhood and church opposition has put in limbo the planned opening of Floyd County's first microbrewery.

According to ABC records, four neighbors and one pastor have officially contested the state licensing of Shooting Creek Farm Brewery. They are David Elliott, Jean and Paul Lacoste, Gloria Underwood and the Rev. Warren Brown of Faith Baptist Church in Check.

Their objections are many. Among them are fears that more traffic will exacerbate blind spots and other problems along Thomas Farm Road, the narrow dirt thoroughfare that winds through bucolic farmland dotted with old homes.

According to ABC documents, the opposition contends that the brewery will "adversely affect real property values or substantially interfere with the usual quietude and tranquility" of the area.

Religious objections to alcohol also figure in, and Brown and other local Baptist ministers have gotten involved. The group has gone door-to-door to talk to other neighbors about the issue, Brown said.

A recent meeting of the parties at the Floyd library brought them no closer to a compromise. They are scheduled to present their arguments again this morning at a hearing at the ABC's regional office in Roanoke.

According to their application, Jones and Nichols want to brew up to 10,000 barrels of beer per year at a 1,000-square-foot facility on Nichols' organic vegetable farm off Thomas Farm Road.

The company would sell and ship the hand-bottled beer for off-premises consumption out of a small tasting room. Under state rules, patrons of the tasting room would be limited to drinking 4 ounces each of beer on the premises.

To operate, the Shooting Creek brewery must be licensed by ABC, which regulates and oversees production and distribution of all alcoholic beverages in the commonwealth. The opposition is contesting Shooting Creek's ABC license.

"Anytime there is an objection, it immediately goes to a hearing," ABC spokeswoman Kathleen Shaw said. "We literally have seven pages of objections that can disqualify a license. Each case is fully investigated."

This kind of small-scale production is common practice at small breweries and wineries across the state and is considered in many communities to be a boon to tourism and economic development. According to a 2007 study by the brewers' advocacy group Beer Serves America, brewing and sales of malt beverages employed about 18,000 people and contributed $2.2 billion to Virginia's economy.

"Wineries and breweries are an important part of Virginia's tourism product," Virginia Tourism Corporation spokesman Richard Lewis wrote in an e-mail.

Officials in Nelson County point to Blue Mountain Brewery and Hops Farm, a microbrewery, restaurant and farm that has stoked tourism there. In fact, artisan brewing and wine-making are part of Nelson County's overall economic development strategy.

"We feel that these are the type of businesses that attract a higher-end traveler," said economic development and tourism director Maureen Corum.

Microbrewery patrons are typically baby boomers, who are more likely to drink responsibly and to patronize hotels and restaurants, she said. The success of Blue Mountain brewery has also paved the way for expansion of the industry. A new microbrewery and a single malt whisky distillery are expected to open in Nelson Country in the coming months, Corum said.

Locally, beer enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting the opening of two other startup breweries, Roanoke Railhouse Brewing Co. and the Bull & Bones brew pub in Blacksburg. But some neighbors of Shooting Creek say they are wary of the concept.

"People drive like crazy on this road," resident Gloria Underwood said. "And you get a bunch that's already toured the wineries [Chateau Morrisette and Villa Appalaccia] and then they come over here, and it's going to be a mess.

"We don't need no more drunks out there. And they can't tell me they can't get drunk," she said.

"It's the kind of traffic they really don't want in their area -- quite possibly inebriated," said Brown, the pastor.

"We see the other end of this thing," Brown said. "I see the ... dads in jail when they've messed up their life because they were drunk one night. Unfortunately, Shooting Creek is really not interested in what the people around there want."

Brown also said he believes the brewery owners failed to follow all the state's notification rules, including posting notice of the license application at the brewery and running ads in a local newspaper.

Responding to the critics, Jones said: "We completely understand the concerns of the neighbors. We live in the neighborhood. We don't want drunk driving."

Besides, the brewery's ABC license would prohibit them from serving beer to intoxicated customers, Jones pointed out.

"We could lose our license if we did that," he said.

Jones admitted a small clerical error on some paperwork but said the partners have followed the state's notification rules.

Both parties have engaged legal representation for today's hearing, which is open to the public.