Creative breweries in Athens add microdistilleries amid craft beer decline

A small town like Athens can be bellwether for the larger trends happening around the country.

In drinking terms, distilleries, especially small or microdistilleries, are seeing a dramatic rise, while craft beer is experiencing a downturn. A few inventive brands in Georgia are both brewing and distilling, diversifying their product portfolio and reaching a wider audience.

Small distilleries have grown dramatically this century, from just a few dozen across the country in 2000 to almost 3,000 last year — and the growth continues.

When we look around Athens, small distilleries kicked off with Oak House in 2023. Oak House, located in a historic 1864 farmhouse on Macon Highway, specializes in distilling gin and rum. The business has a bar and event space, critical factors for the financial sustainability of these small venues.

Events became an important revenue source to Athentic Brewing, something the owner, Paul Skinner, hadn’t considered would be so crucial at the start. Athentic hosts everything from live music to farmer’s market pop-ups to wedding celebrations, sometimes all on the same day.

Skinner wanted to add more options than just beer for his guests, but with the strictures of liquor licensing, adding a full bar seemed impossible. He started to make hard seltzers but wasn’t happy with the malted version the brewery could make under the confines of its brewer’s license.

When Athentic finally jumped through the necessary hoops to add distilling to the mix, the business found opportunities to offer a diversity of products for customers with varied tastes. Now the seltzers could be made with vodka, resulting in a tastier and more consistent beverage.

Distilling also brought the opportunity to serve cocktails.

Distillery laws are strict, allowing license holders to only serve alcohol made in-house, thus removing the lion’s share of a bartender’s arsenal (think about the variety of liqueurs, vermouths and fortified wines behind a typical bar). But the inventive team at Athentic formulated batched cocktails that open up drinking options in their spot for everything but wine. Their draft cocktails include options like the Cannedberry made with house vodka, cranberry orange and vanilla.

Athentic is also dedicated to using local agricultural products like Georgia peaches from Fort Valley for its brandy and fresh sugarcane from Statesboro for its Rum Agricole.

Another brewery that recently added distilling to its repertoire is the widely recognized Creature Comforts Brewing.

Customers are passionate about the company’s beers, especially its best-selling Tropicalia IPA. Thanks to wide distribution in Georgia and beyond, Creature Comforts might not be feeling the craft beer downturn as much as other small breweries, but that hasn’t stopped it from adding more options at its flagship downtown Athens location.