Tag: beer

The first brewers of beer, in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, were women. The Sumerians even had a goddess of beer, Ninkasi. And in England, women called alewives handled the commercial making and selling of brews well into the 1500s. Nevertheless, the American craft beer revolution has been a decidedly White male–driven movement. But in Atlanta, several prominent women are taking back their sacred rite and making the craft beer scene a space for everyone—and, in so doing, elevating the Southeast as a cradle of beer culture.

Like many local businesses, Chamblee Tap & Market got its start in 2020. To stave off boredom and loneliness, friends David Heymann and Jeff Kimmel started meeting outside to sample and rank different beers. They called it “Beer Club Sundays.” They fell in love with their pandemic project and joked that they should turn it into a business.

Arches has partnered with Melanie Wade Styles of Cultured South and Golda Kombucha to create a one-stop taproom offering beer, wine, cocktails, kombucha, and hard kombucha, as well as vegan burgers and hearty pub sandwiches at Atlanta Utility Works in East Point.

Craft beer hit its gold rush era in the 2010s, with new taphouses opening around the country faster than you could say Hefeweizen. “The theory used to be: build craft beer, and they will come,” says Sam Kazmer of Elsewhere Brewing. “And it is just not that anymore.”

On May 10, new owner Manny Maloof and chef E.J. Hodgkinson relaunched the Porter, which had been closed since July 2022, with a new menu, 18 additional beer taps, and a renovated interior.

Crooked Culture owner Patrick Leonard has been brewing beer for 20 years. He’d be home-brewing in his garage and notice the police come by “and do the slow roll. My neighbors thought I was doing something shady or illegal,” he says. So when he finally opened his own brewery—along with business partner Nick Estes—in early November 2023, he named it Crooked Culture. Located in the new Cumming City Center, Crooked Culture is designed to be a social space.

Lee + White neighbors ASW Distillery and Monday Night Brewing are teaming up to bring a solar-powered bar to the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside Trail. Aptly dubbed SolarBar, it launches May 20, when the BeltLine Lantern Parade promises to bring thousands of pedestrians to the area.

Owners Adam Rosenfelt and Maureen Meulen recently announced plans for AlcoHall, an aptly named, first-to-Atlanta drinkery. Initially, it will house seven stalls, each pouring a distinct type of alcohol, from Japanese whisky to South African wine.

The brand calling itself the “Official Pretzel of Beer” is distributed across the U.S.—but it was born in Marietta, inspired by a recipe from cofounder Sean McSweeney’s grandmother. “She’d always have pretzels there when we got together for the holidays,” he says. “She made everything from scratch, including her seasoning.”

In 2011, New Zealand native Jake Harvey followed his heart to New York City, baking savory pies in his tiny apartment to ease his homesickness. He became the general manager of now-defunct Tuck Shop, an Australian pie company in Chelsea Market, and learned the business. After moving to Atlanta, he decided he wanted to bring a taste of home to the South.