Floyd County's first microbrewery moved one step closer to opening with Friday's news that the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has granted it a license.

But owners of the nascent Shooting Creek Farm Brewery say they will wait to see whether neighbors and a pastor who contested their license would appeal the ABC's decision.

"We're happy. But we definitely know this is just another step toward opening," said brewery owner Brett Nichols.

Nichols, his wife, Johanna, and neighbors Ray Jones and Christine Blackburn applied in March for an ABC license to brew and sell up to 10,000 barrels a year of original recipe stouts and ales for off-premises consumption. Under such a license, patrons could each sample up 4 ounces of beer at a tasting room on the property.

Four neighbors and one pastor contested the license. They are David Elliott, Jean and Paul Lacoste, Gloria Underwood and the Rev. Warren Brown of Faith Baptist Church in Check. Brown and others even canvassed the neighborhood to discuss their opposition to the brewery with other landholders.

They complained that it could increase the likelihood of drunken driving along Thomas Farm Road and that traffic could exacerbate blind spots and other problems on the narrow gravel thoroughfare. Some neighbors also objected to noise they said would be generated by visitors and commercial traffic.

State law bans licensing an establishment that makes or sells alcohol if it can be demonstrated that the business would substantially interfere with the "peace and tranquility" of an area.

But Robert O'Neal, ABC's chief administrative hearing officer, ruled that the objectors had not proven that Shooting Creek would create a substantial enough disturbance.

The brewery is on a commercial organic farm owned and operated by the Nicholses. Commercial traffic already goes through that neighborhood, and a Virginia Department of Transportation study showed that some increased traffic would not overburden the road, the ruling stated.

O'Neal further ruled that as part of the license, Shooting Creek owners must construct a commercial vehicle entrance to the brewery that conforms to state standards and must put up signs directing brewery traffic to that entrance.

Nichols said he is willing to comply with those conditions.

Brown said members of the opposition group had yet to discuss Friday's ruling. But in previous discussions, some neighbors had expressed the desire to press an appeal.

"Unless I'm told not to by residents on the road, that's probably going to be our course of action," Brown said.

"This is a battle between what the people want along that road and what I've called the pro-intoxication winery people. They make their money by selling alcohol and getting people intoxicated," he said.

The opposition has 30 days to file a notice of intent to appeal Friday's ruling to the ABC Board in Richmond. Any ruling by that board can then be appealed to circuit court.