IF ALCOHOL-BASED establishments were seen as irresponsible and only for the rundown of society before the Prohibition era, that is definitely not the case in today’s world. Local breweries are springing up all across America and can be found almost anywhere where there is a thriving entertainment district. Now, these purveyors of tasty suds are seen as a force for good. In fact, according to co-owners of Rome City Brewing Company, Trent Prault and Jay Shell, every happening downtown has a brewery. “Rome has one of the coolest downtown areas,” says Shell. “We needed a special brew to encompass all that Rome has to offer.”
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Shell’s proclamation rings true as the duo quickly figured out they couldn’t brew enough beer to keep up with the demand. “We wanted to get bigger and we always wanted to expand,” says Prault, “but where we saw this as a hobby, it was quickly turning into a business.” “Before we started, we were visiting other breweries to get a sense of what we were wanting to do, and they even began telling us that we would have to be ready to expand quicker than we were going to be,” explains Prault. “So, Jay and I started talking about distributing; we got our beers in a few places and it became obvious to us that we were not going to be able to keep up.” The two then started looking for warehouses to expand their small space and brew bigger batches until they fell in love with their current building