Tuscaloosa sees boom in craft beer craze with Druid City-bottled-and-brewed offering
By Mark Hughes CobbStaff Writer
Mar 27, 2015 at 12:01 AM Mar 27, 2015 at 12:07 AM
In what may be the next step for Tuscaloosa craft beer, Druid City Brewing Co. put out for sale Wednesday a limited
run of what may be the first Tuscaloosa-brewed-and-bottled product, 144 22-ounce bomber bottles of its popular Downtown North Porter, hand-signed and numbered.
Since 2009's "gourmet beer" bill freeing higher-alcohol content sales in the state, the craft-beer craze has mushroomed like the foam on a bad pour in Tuscaloosa.
For 2013, 29 Alabama craft breweries and brewpubs reported a 47 percent increase over the previous year, producing 28,372 barrels of beer. In the past five years, Tuscaloosa became home to Druid City Brewing Co. and Black Warrior Brewing Co., and a third craft brewer, Band of Brothers, is at work, preparing for an opening sometime this year.
Area restaurants and bars serve Druid City Brewing Co. and Black Warrior products on tap. Specialty stores, such as Loosa Brews and Corks & Tops, have opened in recent years, relying heavily on the sale of local, state and regional brews.
As of Thursday afternoon, most had flown off shelves at Spirits, Loosa Brews and Corks & Tops. Patrons were lining up to collect them even before sales officially began.
"We had some customers there waiting yesterday for them to be delivered," said Chad Smith, co-owner of Loosa Brews. Smith created a two-bottle limit per person, to give more folks a chance, but still sold out his share the bottled North Porter by 7 p.m. Wednesday.
"It's kind of a milestone in the craft beer community for Tuscaloosa," said Smith, who built his Alcove International Tavern, opened coincidently with the loosening of the beer laws, around a healthy stock of craft beer.
Spirits had a few bottles left in its store Thursday, but even those were spoken for, with patrons asking them to be put aside.
"There's a huge following for craft beer in Tuscaloosa, great growth in that market," said Jennifer Bologna, co-owner of Spirits and Spirits Wine Cellar. "Bo (Hicks, of Druid City Brewing Co.) has been particularly influential on the local market. His beers are highly sought after. Since it's the first time that's been available in a package, there was a tremendous response."
Hicks, co-owner of Druid City Brewing Co. with Elliot Roberts, said the limited edition was to test the waters, rather than create an artificial sense of scarcity. It was done in small numbers because the Druid City Brewing Co. doesn't have a bottling line; this batch had to be hand-crafted. It takes about three minutes to fill the bottle. Then it's capped, and then there's a time elapse, for condensation to drop away. Finally, labels were added.
"It was our first go at it, but we're looking at doing it with some other small runs," Hicks said. Since the Druid City Brewing Co. first sold its wheat and pale brews at Egan's in 2012, patrons have been asking to take some away as gifts, to share the flavors of Tuscaloosa with others. They picked the imperial porter (a dark beer, brewed in a style once made in England for export to the Russian court) in part because it should age well.
"I always tell people it's like drinking a black-velvet painting of Elvis," Hicks said. "It definitely has a lot of chocolate malt in it, sort of a malt bomb, got a good roasty flavor, but with vanilla added at the end.
"It's been one of our more popular beers, which is kind of surprising because it's such a big beer, such a robust flavor."
Because the brew itself is labor-intensive, and the bottling process doubly so, the 22-ounce bottles, about the size of an average wine bottle, retailed for $13.99 each.
Future bottlings might feature another of its beers — the Druid City Wheat or Druid City Pale Ale, its initial flavors, or the more recent Lamplighter IPA, Riverside Saison or Tuskaloosa Stout — though it's hard to argue against the North Porter's popularity.
"It's really rewarding to see people as excited as we are about getting a taste of our town," Hicks said.
Whatever the next batch might be, it may come via different process, as Druid City Brewing Co. is looking to grow into either another facility, or one larger than its current locale at 607 14th St., in the Parkview Plaza Shopping Center, within the next year or so. Hicks doesn't know yet if they'll keep the smallish tap room where it is, and add a larger workhouse somewhere else, or find or build one spot large enough for all Druid City Brewing Co. workings.
In the near future, Druid City Brewing Co. might team with soon-to-be-opened Band of Brothers, which will have more working square footage, including a bottling line.
That wouldn't surprise Smith, who said "the craft-beer community is more collaborative than competitive." The feeling seems to be that, in this growing period at least, what's good for one is good for all.
"We would like (the bottling) to happen as often as it can. This is awesome. This is going to help Tuscaloosa, I think," said Julie Ali, owner of Corks & Tops.
Bologna concurred, saying the craft-beer explosion has broadened customer base.
"I think there would be a great market for his package of beer, even on a semi-regular basis, I think we'd have a similar response," she said.
Smith held back a couple of the North Porter bottles for himself.
"I'm totally confused right now. I don't think I should drink it," he said, laughing. "I think a lot of folks will probably drink one, and put one up on the shelves."