Piedmont Brewery and Kitchen, which has been open in Macon for eight years, added a second location last August with brewer and partner David Fountain at the helm.
Fountain talked recently at the Griffin location about his early days in the restaurant and brewing industry, noting that he got his start working at a local pizza place.
Then, he said, “around 2011, I started getting into craft beer. … We had 15 beers on draft and about 100 in bottles, so I got immersed in that world.”
Credit: Asha Smith
Credit: Asha Smith
Fountain said a graphic design job with Jailhouse Brewing in Hampton enabled him to “weasel” his way into the craft beer industry. When Jailhouse closed in 2020, Fountain reached out to Brian Whitley of Piedmont Brewery, who was looking to expand with another location.
Fountain said Whitley made him a partner and “we ended up selecting Griffin as the location.”
“We are a restaurant and a bar first, and we want people to go to both locations and have different experiences and buy different beers to go,” Fountain said.
The food he serves in Griffin is very similar to the Macon location, he said, “except here we do a daily steak and seafood special, and we have ribs. We’re a bigger fish in a smaller pond here, so we’ve got to give a little more of everything to everybody.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
The Griffin location also has more brewing capacity than its sister facility, Fountain said. “At any given moment, I have 100 barrels of beer in some process.”
Satisfied, a local lager, and Sunshine Daydream, an India pale ale, are the only beers common to both the Macon and Griffin breweries.
Satisfied is described as light in color and body but big on flavor. Sunshine Daydream has a fruit-forward bouquet of orange, grapefruit and a bit of pine.
“Those are the beers that you might see in distribution,” Fountain said. “The other 10 beers change constantly. Both here and in Macon, we put out about a new beer a week, so four to six beers a month, and some of those get rebrewed occasionally.”
As far as styles go, Fountain regularly keeps three or four IPAs, three or four lagers, two or three sours, and a stout. There’s also a full bar, with wine, cocktails and spirits, including whiskey and tequila.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
“We had our first bottle release recently,” he said, “and that will become more regular, and fun for me.”
The bottle release was a barrel- and brettanomyces foeder-aged saison. Originating in Belgium, the style sometimes is called a “farmhouse ale.” It is made using wild yeast, and it is refreshing and relatively light in alcohol, with low bitterness and spicy, fruity notes.
Fountain said he also is trying to collaborate with other breweries, as well as liquor stores and local restaurants.
“We’re going to do a collaboration with Hop City and Barleygarden Kitchen,” he said. “Most of the beer you’ll see in the market will be a collaboration of Satisfied or Sunshine, and we’re excited about getting those out there.”
Piedmont Brewery and Kitchen
450-B Third St., Macon. 478-254-233, piedmontbrewery.com
129 S. 6th St., Griffin. 678-603-2648, piedmontbrewerygriffin.com
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