The Southern Brewing Company

Home of the University of Georgia Bulldogs and musical legends such as REM and the B-52s, Athens, Ga., is a cultural hub known for its eclectic dining, music, arts, and more recently, for its rapidly evolving beer culture.

- Allyson Hester

The city gained its third brewery in May 2015 when Brian Roth opened The Southern Brewing Company to brew beer that “tastes like Athens.”

Less than 3 miles from downtown, Southern Brewing is the first purpose-built brewery in Georgia; its 11,000-square-foot building sits in the center of 15 acres of wooded land. The grounds are dotted with 11 young fruit trees, and several garden plots grow watermelons, pumpkins, and herbs. Roth has plans to construct an outdoor amphitheater in the next two years.

Visitors to the brewery’s spacious taproom will find anywhere from 18 to 36 beers pouring from the bright red wall of taps. Staying true to its Southern roots, the brewery cooks up more than 30 pounds of boiled peanuts a week for thirsty patrons to pair with its flagship Broad Street Pale Ale or experimental wild beers.

Roth’s relationship with beer was shaped by his childhood, nearly half of which was spent living abroad. More than two years in England allowed him to experience beer in an accepting culture whose brewing tradition wasn’t diluted by prohibition. While working for a local distributor in the early ’90s, Roth was introduced to Anheuser Busch’s head brewmaster, George Reisch. Roth was struck by Reisch’s attention to detail and willingness to share his “sage wisdom” with anyone who asked. Specifically, he trained Roth on sensory techniques, like how to “drink the water and the wort every morning, eat the grain, look at how it breaks up, and make hop teas and taste them.”