Craft beer is brewing into some big business for our state and our area.
If you’ve noticed the growing number of odd-sounding beers in the grocery store (Monkeynaut or Bearded Lady, anyone?), you are probably aware of the recent national craft-brewery boom. Many small breweries have opened around the country, responding to Americans’ increasingly adventurous tastes in beer. And while beer sales overall were down slightly last year, according to the Brewers Association, craft brew sales grew 5 percent, occupying 12.7 percent of the U.S. beer market.
Though Alabama has been an enthusiastic participant in this industry for many years now, with more than 30 licensed breweries currently open and many more on the way, it hasn’t always had a beer-positive attitude.
In July 1915, the state prohibited the sale of alcohol, beating the rest of the country to the punch by more than three years. And, even after the repeal of nationwide prohibition in 1933, Alabama remained dry until 1937. It wasn’t until 1992 that Alabama passed the Brewpub Act, which allowed the brewing of beer. A few breweries in Alabama opened this way, but regulations on the alcohol content prevented them from brewing a wide-variety of styles or selling them in a taproom setting.
Then in 2009, encouraged by Free the Hops, a grassroots organization that sought to repeal Alabama’s harsh beer laws, Governor Bob Riley signed the Gourmet Beer Bill, which raised the limit of alcohol-by-volume from 6 percent to 13.9 percent. This allowed breweries like Straight to Ale (Huntsville) and Good People (Birmingham) to begin dipping their toes into the wonderland of strong stouts, IPAs, pilsners and other high-gravity beers. In subsequent years, the efforts of the Alabama Brewers Guild have helped in the passage of more laws, further loosening regulations and allowing for a brewery renaissance all across the state, including right here in Montgomery.
Coming on the heels of the now-closed Montgomery Brewing Company, Railyard Brewery was opened in September of 2012 by Bob Parker, former GM of Dreamland in Birmingham and current managing partner of Dreamland and Railyard Brewery. In the early 2000s, Parker said, “It was all Bud Light, Miller Light and Coors Light. But at Dreamland, we realized there was a market for craft brews.”
Railyard first opened as a brewpub, then the brewery closed and reopened in 2017 as part of the Dreamland restaurant. Parker is proud of his beers, but claims he isn’t primarily focused on brewing beer, viewing it more as “an amenity” to the restaurant experience. “I need to sell food first,” he said. “If we don’t sell food, we don’t operate.” There are two brewery licenses available in Alabama: brewpub and manufacturing brewery. A brewpub brews its own beer, often as part of a functioning restaurant, but cannot can or bottle. A manufacturing brewery often has a taproom and is allowed to bottle and can.
Residing in a renovated building on Bibb Street downtown, Common Bond Brewers is Montgomery’s first manufacturing brewery. Founder and brewmaster Andrew McNally explained the brewery’s genesis. “Montgomery had Railyard — they’re a brewpub and do a great job — but the same model of Good People or the other manufacturing breweries that had taprooms hadn’t happened here yet,” McNally said. “I kept saying: ‘I can’t wait for someone to do it.’” Then, after being a finalist in a homebrew contest in Birmingham in 2014, McNally decided that he would be that someone. Four years later, on April 14, 2018, he and partner Tim Doles opened Common Bond’s doors.
Beyond providing a variety of exciting beers, breweries are economically beneficial to the state. “We bring roughly 400 jobs statewide related directly to the brewing industry,” said Dan Roberts, Executive Director of the Alabama Brewers Guild. “Indirectly, it’s a lot more than that. Craft-brewing is light manufacturing. They’re factories. That means it’s a job multiplier: graphic designers, construction workers, glycol specialists, equipment manufacturers, farmers. By being a manufacturing base, it has a much broader impact.”
However, the benefit to the state goes beyond simple job creation. “Everybody’s really focused on jobs,” Roberts said. “For us, the bigger impact we have is in revitalization and creating economic centers.” In other words, breweries often make less-desirable parts of town more desirable, encouraging other businesses to open nearby and people to buy homes, and raising property values overall.
As for the future of the industry in Alabama, and Montgomery in particular, McNally is optimistic. “We’re proud of being hyper-local, and we want people to be proud of that, too. I hope other people open breweries in Montgomery. It’s the second-most populated city in the state. I look forward to more coming here to continue to change the beer culture in the city.”
But, he says, it will be a team effort. “When we look at neighboring states or the craft beer culture nationally and what it’s done economically to cities and communities, there are certain laws that help locally owned business like us that don’t exist in this state,” McNally said. “There’s always legislative growth to be had here. Craft beer is evolving nationally, and Montgomery is now on that train.”
