Published by American Palate
A Division of The History Press
Charleston, SC
www.historypress.net
Copyright 2017 by Sarah Blanger and Kamara Bowling Davis
All rights reserved
Cover photo by Sarah Blanger.
First published 2017
e-book edition 2017
ISBN 978.1.43966.220.5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017938349
print edition ISBN 978.1.46713.664.8
Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the authors or The History Press. The authors and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is dedicated to my husband, Olivier Demaneuf, who deserves an entire chapter of thanks for all the assistance he gave to writing this book but who will have to settle for a sentence; to my mother, Robin Simpson Blanger, who somehow always had faith that her messy, dyslexic daughter would become a published author; and to my father, Mark Blanger, who gave me my first sip of beer and inspiration for this book.
SB
Oh, the irony! My parents, Ted and Carolyn Bowling, devoted their lives to make sure that I was shielded from the evils of alcohol, and yet my first published book is a history of beer. This book is for them because they trusted that I would respect their teachings while I explored and became the adult I am today. My decisions were not always supported, but I was always loved. For that and so much morethank you.
And for Sean, my steady support. Your belief in me inspires me to keep trying.
KBD
FOREWORD
At the beginning of 2017, there were thirty-four members of the Alabama Brewers Guild. That includes both operational breweries and breweries in planning, but most of the eight still in the planning stages will come online over the next few years.
Ten years ago, anyone familiar with beer culture in this state would have laughed in your face if you had suggested there would be more than thirty breweries here a decade later. After all, in 2007, there were three brewpubs and one production brewery in operation in Alabama, all of which have since closed. At that time, our state laws put more restrictions on the production and sale of beer than any other state in the union.
In early 2007, Free the Hopsthe group I founded to reform those onerous legal restrictionswas gearing up for its first attempt at passing a bill in the state legislature with the aid of a full-time lobbyist. We would fail spectacularly that year, ultimately being awarded the Shroud Award, a humorous award given to the sponsor of the deadest bill of the session.
Hundreds of other bills that failed to pass that year were just as dead, but our bill was deemed the deadest because of the drama surrounding it. State legislators warned that it would increase drunkenness and tear families apart. A representative by the name of Alvin Holmes became an Internet sensation with a viral audio recording of a moment during legislative debate of the bill in which he asked, Whats wrong with the beer we got? I mean, the beer we got drink pretty good, dont it?
New types of craft beer were unnecessary and almost certainly dangerousat least, that was the prevailing sentiment. But we refused to quit, kept working to educate the legislators and finally got our first bill signed into law in May 2009. That bill raised the limit on alcohol allowed in beer from 6.0 percent by volume to 13.9 percent, effectively legalizing dozens of styles of beer previously unavailable in the state. It made the prospect of opening a small brewery much more attractive.
Pass it, and they will come. Once that change became law, dozens of home brewers in Alabama began to seriously look at going pro. It started slowly with just a handful opening in the first few years after the market opened up. But the movement gained steam, and more have opened each year since.
Those legislators in 2007 had no idea how much of a boon the brewing industry would eventually be for the state. In addition to the jobs created by direct employment at breweries, other businesses launched around the beer industry and around the locations of the breweries themselves.
The food truck explosion coincided with the rise of local breweries, as the two business models developed a symbiotic relationship. Breweries operate taprooms that sell beer but no food, while food trucks serve food but no alcohol. The food trucks park outside the breweries, each of which offers complementary products.
Bottle shops opened specifically to sell the huge variety of new beers.
A keg leasing company opened in Birmingham to provide kegs to the breweriesa demand that hadnt previously existed.
Entire entertainment districts sprung up after breweries opened in distressed areas. There are now more than a dozen businesses operating in the Avondale district in Birmingham that never would have existed if Avondale Brewing Company hadnt opened to anchor an area that previously had nothing to attract consumers.
All of this economic development did not go unnoticed by the state legislature. It went from calling the FTH bill the deadest of the 2007 session to overwhelmingly voting to pass a bill allowing to-go sales at breweries nine years later. Positive change begat positive change. And no one suspected that positive economic change would start by legalizing fancy beers.
In the nearly thirteen years since Free the Hops began, Alabama has transformed from a barren wasteland of craft beer into a model of legislative and cultural progress with that beverage. Our state is not known as one that loves change, but get a few IPAs in us and see what happens.
DANNER KLINE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to raise our pints and offer a toast or two to the many amazing people who helped us bring this book to fruition.
We would first like to toast all those hardworking volunteers at Free the Hops, the Alabama Brewers Guild and the Right to Brew who fought diligently for the right to drink good beer and, in doing so, created a captivating story for us to explore.
A toast also to the brewers and anyone in the craft beer industry, not just for creating awesome beer but for sitting down to lengthy interviews and then answering our numerous follow-up questions, often late at night.
A toast to Danner Kline for founding Free the Hops and being the spark that ignited the fire that became a craft beer explosion. Thank you also for your wonderfully insightful foreword and for participating in numerous interviews. A toast to Dan Roberts for his incredible work with Free the Hops and Alabama Brewers Guild and for inspiring the young invincible warriors fighting for craft beer freedom. And a special shout-out to Free the Hops president Carie Partain for helping us speak to all the right people.
A toast to our History Press commissioning editor, Amanda Irle, and senior editor, Ryan Finn, for answering
