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BUCHANAN — Thursday morning, Chicago native Brian Dougherty stood inside of a nearly-empty taproom as a small team of staff bustled behind him, cleaning, putting the finishing touches on menu items and ensuring the space was ready for its first customers.

In just a few hours, Dougherty would unlock the taproom’s doors and welcome the public for the first time.

“I’m so excited for the community to see this place,” he said as he looked out of the taproom’s line of windows. His gaze fell on a field of hops just beyond the building’s perimeter, green buds just beginning to sprout. “The community has been so supportive of us, and we can’t wait to share it with them.”

Thursday, River Saint Joe, 15475 Walton Road, Buchanan, opened its doors after years of planning and building. The brewery, which is located on the property of Flatwater Farms, is now open for carryout only from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and noon to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Once bans are lifted on in-person dining in the wake of COVID-19 are raised, the brewery will be open for more regular hours, with an expanded menu.

“[Opening a brewery] right now has been difficult, obviously,” Dougherty said. “But we are still really excited to share this. It just means we start in a more limited form, and once these clouds lift and these restrictions go away, we will be able to really share it as we intend it. Even in its current form, we are really excited.”

For Dougherty, Thursday’s opening, which was initially scheduled for March 21 but had to be postponed due to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “stay home” executive order, was years in the making.

The farm-to-table brewery, which grows many of its own hops for its beer and produce for its food, was greenlit by Buchanan officials in 2017. Still, Dougherty said he had been dreaming up River Saint Joe for at least three years before that, after teaming up with Fran Tuite, the owner of Flatwater Farms and a longtime friend of his wife’s.

Despite the years that passed between when the idea for River Saint Joe was conceived and the brewery’s physical opening, Dougherty said the mission had remained the same: to promote good food, good beer and sustainability.

“We are just trying to get people out on the farm and enjoying what the farm can responsibly produce,” he said, standing in front of a line of taps produced with Flatwater Farms hops. “I enjoy the transparency aspect of farm-to-table dining. It’s the knowledge that people have first-hand that what they are eating and drinking is from Berrien County, from Buchanan, from southwest Michigan. It’s exciting to drink a beer and know that it is made of our hops, and the food is from this farm. That’s special.”

Dougherty hopes the public will get a taste for his team’s vision while it is open for carryout only. At the same time, he is anticipating the day COVID-19 restrictions are lifted so that he can host a grand opening, and become a community space where friends and family can share a meal under the stars, in the shadow of the hop garden.

“I want people to be able to be together in this beautiful space, connected to the land,” he said, smiling as afternoon sun beat down on the farm. “I want people to leave here feeling like they took a break, like they escaped from the world for a little while.”