The Woodstock Station and Brewery is adding a bottling operation.

Five months ago, I got up early one Sunday morning to go into the woods and fight off bugs and brambles that shred my legs to ribbons, all so that I could say I played a part in developing a commercial beer. I’ve just tasted the result.

For months, a buddy of mine in Jersey City had been telling me about this “beer garden” that had opened a few blocks from his apartment.

Every time there’s a report on the state of the craft beer industry, it’s always the same story — it’s growing.

When it comes to beer and liquor companies, who spends the most on advertising?

I love Zymurgy’s annual rankings and consider it among the more consistent being published. But one glaring difference from the previous year proves just how problematic these kinds of lists can be.

A group of seven or eight people stood in a miserable rain, without concern, and listened to Scott Russell’s story. He’d been out hunting. Feral rhizomes was the topic of concern.

“They were growing basically inside a stone wall,” said Russell, the manager of the homebrew shop at the South Royalton Market, and author of www.vthomebrewguru.com. “So we pulled up a chunk of a rhizome about this big.”

At this point, Russell extended his hands away from his chest, with thumbs and forefinger shaping a “goalpost” nearly a foot wide. Someone used the word “girth.” The rhizome was probably 100 years old or more, he said, and he was going to plant it at his place to see what happened.

None of this was why my wife, toddler son, or I had traveled an hour to the Justin Morrill Homestead on a soggy Sunday afternoon. We were here to work and learn, and Russell was just sharing a story that served as an appetizer for the hop planting we were about to commence.

Lack of access to credit and the ideals expressed in the local-first have convinced a number of start-up breweries to turn to their most fervent supporters for financing.

Given Virginia’s agricultural fertility and its love of fermented beverages, there seemed an opportunity to combine the two. Brett Nichols did just that.

American lager may be popular somewhere in the world, but it’s losing fans at home.