If you follow Explore Gwinnett, you know there’s not much we love more than a great meal and a frosty craft beer. Thus, there aren’t many folks more excited than us about the growth and evolution of the craft beer, brewery and spirits industry in Gwinnett. Who knew? Breweries, distilleries and even a micro-winery are calling Gwinnett home. The only thing that we are more excited about? The long-awaited “Trolley on Tap” Beer Tour we plan to roll out in late 2019 or early 2020 to showcase our new breweries!
So, let’s check out what’s here, and what’s coming soon!
Gwinnett’s first brewery, Slow Pour Brewing Company, was founded in Lawrenceville in 2017, and just two years later, they have turned the old Lawrenceville Trouser Company into the place to be for drinks, games, live music or just chilling on their outdoor patio.
They are the home for Peach State Cornhole and just weeks ago, announced the Slow Pour Brewing Taproom, located at Coolray Field’s main concourse behind home plate. Baseball and beer is a natural fit, and the Taproom will feature eight of Slow Pour’s signature craft brews on draft. Bringing the taproom experience even closer to home, a new 15-foot movable garage door will replace the glass windows, turning it into cool outdoor space.
Duluth’s Good Word Brewing and Public House is Gwinnett’s first brewpub, a place where good beer and Southern + Latin food meet. Almost everything is farm-to-table and they introduce new, delicious microbrews on the regular. On my last visit, I sampled a chai milkshake IPA and a dry hopped sour, which had a mix of mango puree, motueka (New Zealand hops) and Amarillo hops.
Their craft beers can be experimental and challenging, but what I like best about Good Word is without fail, on every visit, their owners Todd and Ryan, as well as their managers, can always be seen stopping and chatting, making sure their guests are not only happy, but welcome and informed about their culinary and drink choices. Truly a public house.
Gwinnett’s next breweries to open are in Sugar Hill and Suwanee. In Sugar Hill’s newly opened E-Center, Indio Brewing will open in late May, joining new restaurants including Central City Tavern, the Rushing Trade Company and CrazyDough Pizza. Indio Brewing will be a “family and friends operated” brewery. It is homebrew based and will be dedicated to serving a diverse selection of great craft beers.
In Suwanee, the soon-to-be-vacant Gwinnett County Fire Station No. 13 will be the new home of StillFire Brewing, a 20-barrel brewery and taproom, which will begin construction in May 2019 with an anticipated opening in late Fall 2019. The high-end industrial-style taproom will feature 18 original craft beers on tap. Worthy of note for the beer aficionado, Phil Farrel, who is a Grand Master Level 5 beer judge will be the Brewmaster. Stillfire’s location, adjacent to green space and an outdoor patio, will make it ideal for cornhole, live music and special events, and brewery tours are planned. Stillfire’s owners, Randall and Angela Veugeler, are well-known in Gwinnett for curating award-winning beer events including Suwanee Beer Fest, Suwanee Wine Fest and the Gwinnett Beer Fest.
Summer 2019 will mark the opening of Monkey Wrench Brewing, also located in Suwanee. Monkey’s Wrench’s space will offer room for a 20-barrel brewhouse, a ‘tasting garage,’ beer garden and an outdoor friendly space, located adjacent to both walking and bike trails.
And it’s not just beer on the menu. Wine lovers can head over to the Snellville area to Dragon Queen Winery, home of small batch, handmade wines. (You’ll be able to find some of Dragon Queens wines at Indio Brewery, BTW). If beer is your jam, then head over to the Lincoln Fill Station in Snellville, one of the premier fill stations and home brew stops in Atlanta. They have a superb selection of craft drafts, both local and regional, hard to find international brews and tasty flights in their taproom. As a bonus, their bartenders can be found slinging their craft favorites at almost all of Snellville’s special events on their Towne Green.
For the spirits lover, a stop at Hope Springs Distillery in Lilburn is a must. This small, family-owned distillery is turning out small batches of distilled spirits including vodka, gin and even absinthe. Now four years old, the distillery is offering free tours from 4-6pm on Fridays and Saturdays and can be found in over 185 retail locations.
There’s even more on the craft beer horizon. Next door to Slow Pour, a regional craft brewery, Beer Republic, is under development. Beer Republic will operate as a regional craft brewery and will also offer contract brewing services, allowing other brewers to craft beers there. More than 30 varieties of beer will be introduced, and as a regional brewer, over 15,000 barrels of beer will be produced annually. Beer Republic would include a taproom, event space and outdoor German-style beer garden,and will focus on European-style lagers as well as German, French and Belgian styles.
Other breweries in development include Anderby Brewery in Peachtree Corners (under renovation and development at 110 Technology Parkway), 6S Brewery, Social Fox Brewing and Suwanee Creek Brewing. We’ll have more on those new breweries coming soon!