Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Heck.
Jeff, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Believe it or not, the idea for Monday Night Brewing grew out of a small Atlanta Bible study. Jeff Heck, along with co-founders Joel Iverson and Jonathan Baker, started brewing beer together on Monday nights as a way to get to know each other better. As we got more engrained in the industry and more people started showing up to brew with us, beer quickly became more than just a weeknight hobby. We spent almost five years perfecting our beers before bringing them to market. Years of minor tweaks, arguments over hop profiles, and experiments with different brands of base malts are poured into every glass that we brew. In September 2017, we opened our second facility. The Garage, located in the Lee + White development in southwest Atlanta, is our home for barrel aged, sour beers and experimentation.
Our purpose – “Monday Night Brewing exists to deepen human relationships over some of the best beer in the country” – informs everything we do as a company.
Has it been a smooth road?
By no means! Building a business is tough, and we’ve faced many challenges along the way. Scaling up a strong culture has particularly daunting, but deeply rewarding work. We’ve had to grow up as an organization over the past five years as we grew from 5 to 45 full-time employees and preserving the culture that’s made Monday Night Brewing a place where the most talented folks in the beer business want to work.
Additionally, creating great beers takes a lot of trial and error. Last year, our brewing team made over 100 unique recipes, all on the quest to find exceptionally good beers that people love to connect with each other over.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
Monday Night distributes our products in thousands of retail locations throughout Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. We are the only brewery with two taprooms in the city of Atlanta, one in West Midtown and one in West End. Our West Midtown location focuses on IPA’s, with eight dedicated taps on our Hop Hut, many of which are only available in our taproom. Our West End location, the Garage, focuses on barrel aged, sour and wild ales.
While we’ve garnered dozens of awards for our beers, I’m most proud of our strong culture. In 2019, we were named one of Atlanta’s Top Workplaces, the only brewery on the list.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta is a great place for our business… first and foremost because it’s our home. We love and care deeply about the flourishing of the city in all of its diverse and unique beauty. That’s why we’ve built two taprooms in the city and why Atlanta will continue to be the focus for our business no matter how much we grow. It’s growing rapidly and there are more and more people and businesses moving into the city. It’s fun to be in the midst of such a dynamic time in Atlanta’s history.
There’s no question that Atlanta has room to grow in terms of making it an easy place to start a business. There’s definitely a need for more streamlining and clarifying of regulations – it has often felt like you need a Ph.D. to figure out all the boxes you’re supposed to check to get up and running. Additionally, our city’s utility and transportation infrastructure are in need of major modernization and can be an impediment for businesses and consumers alike.
Contact Info:
- Address: 670 Trabert Ave
Atlanta, GA 30318 - Website: www.mondaynightbrewing.com
- Phone: 404-352-7703
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mondaynight/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mondaynight
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mondaynight
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