KEVIN: I severed for
eight years active duty.
I went to Iraq in
April of 2003, and I
was responsible for the
lives of over 300 people.
I didn't really feel the
emotion or the pressure
or responsibility until we
drove back across the border
into Kuwait and I felt like I
was about 50 pounds lighter.
My company was able to
return home with everyone
we went over there with.
I got back from Iraq and I
was looking at not leading
troops for at least six
or seven more years,
I decided it was time for
me to test my skills out
in the civilian world.
So I ended up in Savannah.
I worked for my
father in health care.
When my father passed away, I
needed to find my own passion,
and Meredith helped drive me
towards making my own beer.
MEREDITH: I bought
Kevin a home brewing
kit for Valentine's Day.
It was five-gallon
buckets and tubes.
I didn't even know
how to wrap it.
KEVIN: I jumped right in.
I tell people all the time,
I went to YouTube University
and started learning
how to brew.
Those videos helped a lot with
technique and how to fix things
or how to set things up.
Every weekend, I was
brewing one, two,
maybe even three beers.
Seven months after
the home brewing kit,
we sat down and started
planning the brewery.
MEREDITH: I'm Meredith.
KEVIN: And I'm Kevin, and we're
the owners of Service Brewing
Company in Savannah, Georgia.
We had to learn everything.
We had never opened a business.
We had never worked
in this industry.
We had never designed a space.
And so everything was
a steep learning curve.
After we figured out how
to write a business plan,
I called all my friends
and asked them for money.
MEREDITH: When we found
the space, it was like, OK,
we're really doing this.
KEVIN: Meredith designed
the entire tasting room.
MEREDITH: My inspiration
was basically Kevin.
It was his photos,
his stories, things
that he did when he
was in the service.
So everything in here-- the
parachutes, the chevrons--
were inspired by him.
Kevin lived in a shipping
container for seven months
when he was stationed
in Iraq, so I
thought it would
be very cool if we
were to drop a container
in our tasting room
and have the beer
actually come out of one.
Kevin and I built this together,
and we're on this beer journey
together.
KEVIN: So that would
give us a month for--
MEREDITH: We share
the same desk,
and every once in a
while, we'll glance up
at each other and wink.
KEVIN: With over 13 million
visitors coming to Savannah
every year, people are looking
for that local craft beer.
Folks have a lot of choices
when they come to town.
So having those
positive reviews online
and having a great staff
supporting those reviews really
helps bring folks in the door.
Service Brewing
has 12 employees.
About half of them are veterans.
Craft beer is very
task-oriented.
It's physically demanding.
It requires a lot of logistics.
So hiring veterans is
giving them an opportunity
to continue to be
active, but also it
helps with their transition
into civilian life.
And we can provide them
mentorship along the way.
The mission of the
brewery from the beginning
was to give back to charities
that support service
to your country and community.
MEREDITH: We've been able to
give back a little over $70,000
so far in our first
three years of business.
KEVIN: One of the first
charities we supported
was Healing for Heroes.
MEREDITH: Six months later,
a man comes in with a dog
and is like, I got this
dog because of you guys.
KEVIN: His family couldn't
have been more thankful.
That dog, that service
dog, had changed his life.
And that's just motivation.
When it's tough to pay a
bill at the end of the month
because we're giving to charity,
those types of interactions
are really what
makes it worthwhile.
