Sea Island Life Magazine Fall/Winter 2013 | Page 13

libations

BREWING LOCAL FLAVORS
THE CRAFT BEER MOVEMENT IS ON THE RISE IN THE SOUTH.
BY MICHELLE FRANZEN MARTIN

w

hen sweetWater Brewing Co.
opened 16 years ago in atlanta,
it was one of a few craft beer
producers in the south.
“The south, unfortunately, was behind the
beer times,” says sweetWater’s head brewer,
James nock. “The beer that was available [at

aroma. … [Today] it’s booming. The door has
been opened and people are experiencing
a wide variety of different styles of locally
made beers.”
The craft beer industry in the U.s.—which
includes brewpubs, microbreweries, regional
craft breweries and contract brewing companies—has grown 60 percent from 2002 to
2012, according to the Boulder, Colo.-based
Brewers association. With the growing popularity of craft brewing nationally, it’s not surprising that the south is following the trend.
Craft brewers in southern states produced
1.52 million barrels of beer in 2012, which was
11.5 percent of the national production total,
says Bart Watson, staff economist for the
Brewers association.
“in 2012, there were 372 craft brewers in the
geographic comparison to 10 years ago, but it’s
safe to say that number has increased sharply.”
Brock Wagner, who in 1994 founded saint
arnold Brewin