Headwinds, closures and overall industry struggles aren’t blowing the buzz for the city’s Black craft beer community.
Jossette Footmon-Smith, one of Our Culture Brewing Co.’s partners, places cases of beer on a pallet for distribution to retail stores. (Courtesy of Our Culture Brewing Co.)
A crowd of craft beer lovers recently packed into Terminal West, eager to raise a glass of Piano Keys stout to Dennis “Ale Sharpton” Byron, the Atlanta-based beer expert.
The late February evening served partly as a release party for the new version of the beer Byron launched in 2020 with New Belgium Brewing. Now made in partnership with Athens’ Creature Comforts Brewing Co., the dark brew features deep flavors of vanilla, fig and cocoa nibs from Athens-based Condor Chocolates. It’s a balance of soft and sweet but packs a strong buzz of 9.6% alcohol by volume.
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Beer influencer Dennis “Ale Sharpton” Byron’s logo. (Courtesy)
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Dennis “Ale Sharpton” Byron pours his new edition of Piano Keys stout beer into a wine glass. (Courtesy of Creature Comforts Beer)
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Hippin Hops Brewery owners Clarence Boston (left) and Donnica Boston. (Mia Yakel for the AJC)
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Brewer Fish Scales pours a beer at Atlantucky Brewing in Atlanta. (Bob Townsend for the AJC)
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Shakeel Radford, a partner at Atlanta-based Our Culture Brewing Co., takes a sip of Harvest & Bloom beer. (Courtesy of Our Culture Brewing Co.)
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Crafted For Action Craft Beer Conference team members, from left, Jen Price, Kevin Irvin and Shanelle Pickraum hosted CraftBeerCon at Atlantucky Brewing in Atlanta in 2024. (Courtesy of Jessica Miller)
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Craig Stroud came up with the concept for Ale Max on March 26, 2022, after inviting friends wearing Nike Air Max out for beer at Monday Night Garage in Atlanta’s West End community. (Courtesy of John R. Walder)
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Dennis “Ale Sharpton” Byron and his wife, Andrea Janise, stand in front of barrels filled with beer at Creature Comforts Beer. (Courtesy of Creature Comforts)
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Mike Jordan is senior lifestyle reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, ProPublica, The Guardian, National Geographic, Bon Appetit, Rolling Stone and others. Jordan won the James Beard Foundation’s Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award in 2024.
