Today we’d like to introduce you to Bobby Thomas.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Bobby. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Roger Davis (my business partner) and I used to work together in sales. We often drank beer together after work and sometimes during 🙂 As the economy began to crash in 2007, we picked up the hobby of brewing beer. We started on his wife’s kitchen stove then quickly moved down to his basement all the while upgrading our home-brew system and having pipe dreams of one day opening our own brewery. As we kept brewing and sharing beer with friends and family (and as the economy got worse) the dreams of opening a brewery got bigger and bigger. Finally we decided to actually pursue our dream- we put a plan together and before we knew it, we were in for the long haul. We started off in 2011 on a 20 BBL two vessel system with just a couple fermenters in a big building. We launched with Gangway IPA and Long Day Lager (which was very strange to offer a lager year round in the craft world at that time). After a year of draft only, we were the first brewery in Georgia to exclusively can our beer. Now, six and a half years later, we’ve grown to a three vessel 40 BBL system with 160 BBL tanks and one of the largest canning lines in the southeast. We distribute to all of Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and most of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Anyone who has ever started a business (let alone a brewery) knows that there’s always going to be bumps in the road. Getting people to accept your innovations is a bit tough- especially in such a critical industry. When we told people we were going to put our beer in cans, I literally remember people booing during the tour I was giving. Fast forward five years, and now everybody cans- it’s actually preferred. You’ve also got to be able to take some pretty harsh criticism in this business from time to time, as what may tastes beautiful to you may not be someone else’s cup of tea (or favorite beer).
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Red Hare Brewing Company – what should we know?
We’ve always said we make beer people want to drink- and be able to come back for another…..and another. We want to make approachable beers that can be enjoyed all the time. We did this because we like to drink beer. Sure, we make an occasional high gravity, super high IBU, imperial IPA- but the fact is, we like drinking beers that are a bit easier to go down, so that’s what we brew. We also take extreme pride in quality. We are constantly testing different factors in our lab and striving for better ways to assure quality in our beers.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The fact that we make quality beer that people like to drink. The success comes in the liquid we produce. If it’s great, people are going to drink it, which makes me happy. 🙂
Contact Info:
- Address: 1998 Delk Industrial Blvd
Marietta, GA 30067 - Website: www.redharebrewing.com
- Phone: 678-401-0600
- Email: info@redharebrewing.com
- Instagram: @RedHareBrewing
- Facebook: facebook.com/redharebrewing
- Twitter: @RedHareBrewing
- Yelp: yelp.com/biz/red-hare-brewing-company-marietta
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