A Bowling Green-based regional brewery entered the month of May as a new Kentucky Proud product, according to Bowling Green Brewing Co. President Ellen Selig.

Selig said Friday that it is exciting for Stephen Foster Wheat Beer to be among the members of the Kentucky Proud program, which promotes local business and farm income for at least 500 products in the state, according to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

“It lets consumers know that it is made here in Kentucky, and there's an economic benefit to the community by keeping your dollars at home,” said Bill Clary, KDA's director of public relations.

Stephen Foster Wheat Beer is a German-style mix of wheat, barley, yeast and hops, according to its label.

The beer will be featured in the concessions for the opening gala of “Stephen Foster: The Musical” at Bardstown's My Old Kentucky Home on June 9, which more than 1,000 people are expected to attend, according to Bowling Green Brewing.

The beer is already being sold at several local restaurants, including Smokey Bones, Montana Grill, Rafferty's, Mariah's, The Cellar and Froggy's, according to Mike Haggard, treasurer for Bowling Green Brewing The beer can also be found at Red Barn Liquors on US 31-W By-Pass and Chuck's Liquors, adjacent to the brewery's 575B Veterans Memorial Blvd. location.

Western Kentucky's only microbrewery is casting its net into various markets in the state as it expands distribution into restaurants in Elizabethtown and Lexington this month, according to Haggard.

Sales representatives for the company are dipping into Owensboro, Hopkinsville and Paducah as well.

“This area is sort of an untapped market,” Haggard said. “Our biggest concentration is just trying to cover the Bowling Green area, and saturate this area the best we can, and move in a concentric circle outward in the state of Kentucky.”

Dale Burton, the brewery's new operations manager, said the beer will soon be available at a new Rafferty's restaurant on Louisville's bustling Hurstbourne Parkway.

Burton, who has been with Bowling Green Brewing for just a week, brings more than 15 years of restaurant industry experience to the table, with a background of growing the reach of Bowling Green-based Rafferty's restaurants, as well as Montana Grille.

“When I joined Rafferty's, they only had one restaurant, here in Bowling Green,” Burton said, adding that by the time he left, there were more than 29 locations spread out across the nation.

The brewery is holding off tours and public tastings for the moment, a move by shareholders meant to focus attention on its production, according to master brewer Stephen Foster.

The company hopes to get back to public tastings in the upcoming months.

Bowling Green Brewing is a member of the national Brewer's Association, which said microbreweries were the fastest growing part of last year's beer sector - with a production increase of 17 percent - showing support for local breweries. Operations for the brewery began in late February.

-The Web site for Bowling Green Brewing Co., which is a work in progress, is www.bgbrewco.com.