Bisnow got to chat with Matt Shirah, the owner of Downtown's soon-to-be newest microbrewery, Scofflaw Brewing Co, opening next year in Selig Enterprises' 1738 Macarthur Blvd (which we wrote about here). Matt (here with his daughter) talked to us about his more than two-year journey to get this dream up and running, an idea that began with going into cider making.
“I realized the Southeast just might not be ready for cider the way it is in the Northeast,” Matt says. “I got tired seeing all the beer people make, so I said, why don't we make something else?”
Matt says the biggest hurdle to Scofflaw was finding the real estate. At one point, he and his brokers (Vantage Realty Partners) were in talks to buy a property in Decatur. That didn't work out, and Matt shifted gears to his current Downtown Atlanta location. Now he's in the permit process and buying equipment to be able to brew 75,00 barrels initially. So far he's cultivated five yeast strains to produce one stout and a couple of India Pale Ales, and he says he attempts to use as many locally sourced ingredients as possible.
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