Mr. Sands is continuing in the footsteps of his father, Mr. Everette Sands, who was in business in Grand Bahama for decades, having created and traded as Butler & Sands.
Today Mr. Sands is very pleased that his efforts are coming to fruition. The brewery land is cleared, and construction is almost ready to begin “I am thrilled we’ve started construction, it’s hard waiting for your project to start when you know it’s going to be so great for the island. I am also really pleased with the local companies we have hired in Grand Bahama, both Burton Miller of MECO, as our Engineer and Project Manager, and Mr. Bruce Silvera of Freeport Construction have helped make it happen and happen fast,” said Mr. Sands.
Mr. Sands has also hired a brewery plant engineering company, Brewtech, from Hamburg Germany, which will be helping supervise the construction of the brewery plant with the Bahamian crew. ﾠ”Brewtech, has experience in building breweries throughout the Caribbean and we want to make sure that our brewery is top of the line, so we can sell our Grand Bahamian product nationally and internationally,” added Mr. Snads.
“Jimmy”, as he is well known, ﾠis very pleased to be headed back to Grand Bahama. ﾠHe realizes the economy in Grand Bahama is not at its best but as he says, ﾠ”You know Freeport ﾖ up one day, down the next ﾖ I know it will rise again and I want to be a part of that.” ﾠﾠ
It is his hope that the Brewery can contribute both directly and indirectly to employing many Grand Bahamians. ﾠAs a 100% Bahamian owned business, Mr. Sands stated, ﾠ”That we want our company to be ‘truly Bahamian’ like our first sign says. ﾠThis is something that is very important to me. ﾠBahamians can build and maintain large companies and we need to work together to put Bahamians first.”
Not only does he practice this, but so does his family. ﾠMr. Sand’s immediate partner, his wife Claire, owns and operates The Plait Lady, ﾠa Bahamian company that manufactures Bahamain straw products and sells them nationally.
Grand Bahama’s new brewery will be approximately 40,000 square feet, and construction on the 20 acres of land located at the intersection of Queen’s Highway and Grand Bahama Way began three weeks ago. ﾠ”I am also pleased that we are being environmentally smart about our construction as all the trees that have been cut down to accommodate our facility for the construction will be turned into mulch to create ‘green areas’ around the building and the beer garden for the tourists.”
The plans are for the garden area to hold a restaurant/bar and retail theme park attraction and outlet, which they hope will add to the tourist attractions in Freeport. ﾠMr. Sands is looking for construction to be complete in the New Year and he noted that the assistance from the Port Authority is helping make it happen.
