Back Forty Beer bringing brews, food, plenty of space for craft beer lovers
Back Forty Beer Co. has two things that will make its Birmingham location stand out from other local breweries, owner Doug Brown said.
“All things equal, food and parking,” Brown said, referencing the nearly 200 parking spaces and full service restaurant that are at the Gadsden-based brewery’s first satellite location.
The new brewery, located in Sloss Docks next to Sloss Furnaces on First Avenue North, broke ground in late 2017 and is set to open this summer. Of its 6,200 square feet, about 3,000 is “customer space,” Brown said, including a 65-foot long bar and other seating. There is also a 1,400-square-foot patio and a 1.5 acre, pet-friendly beer garden.
“I think big things about the space are ample parking — we’ve got a tremendous amount of parking — and a great outdoor beer garden. And we’ve got a great view of Sloss Furnace,” Brown said. “That’s the combination of things that make me really excited about the business.”
The space at Sloss Docks also provided an opportunity to be part of an up and coming space in Birmingham, Brown said.
“It’s a pioneering location. It’s in an industrial area, but that’s often the case with breweries, to help develop and area,” he said. “That’s why Cathy Sloss really wanted us to come into this location, was to build a retail face for the area.”
Brown, a Hunstville resident, said Birmingham stuck out when he was looking for potential locations, in part due to the city’s growing love of craft beer.
“There was a Nielsen study in 2017 that showed that Birmingham was the fastest growing craft beer drinking population in the country … when I started looking at locations, that jumped out at me. Plus the fact that it’s not a saturated market,” he said. “There’s great beer here, but compared to other cities this size, there’s space for other breweries.”
The brewery will also be the first in town to have a full service kitchen, which will serve up homemade sausages, pizza, lamb burgers and other “pub food/Southern” meals, said restaurant leader Russ Bodner. It will have “as much fresh as possible,” he said.
“You can sit at the bar and literally order a beer and a burger,” Bodner said, noting that its something not offered at most breweries, where the food fare will come from food trucks. “It’s a brewery with a restaurant, not just a brewery that sells food.”
Having the kitchen, Brown said, is something that can help patrons stick around the brewery longer.
“If you think about going to a brewery, the beer tends to be a little bit stronger than the normal beer, and I think when most people go to a brewery, if there’s not food, they’re going to have a beer or two and move on to somewhere they can eat,” he said.
Brewing started on site in mid-June with the help of master brewer Jamie Ray. Ray was Back Forty’s first employee at the time of its 2009 founding, and Brown said he is excited to have him as part of the Birmingham location as well.
On tap, they will serve the core beers Back Forty is known for — Truck Stop Honey, Naked Pig, The Mandarin Chief and others — as well as a few experimental beers. Those will only be available in the Birmingham market.
Under Ray, brewer Tosh Brown will be learning the ropes to eventually take over as master brewer. To start, Tosh Brown said, they’ll have “good summer beers” including a hazy New England IPA — a style that is growing in popularity — as well as a hefeweizen, apricot wheat beer and a tropical IPA. The rotating, experimental beers will also change along with the season, Tosh Brown said.
The brewery is set to open in early July, Brown said, starting with a soft opening. As things get up and running, however, he said people can expect live music, entertainment such as game or trivia nights and other activities at the brewery.
Hours will be 3-10 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursdays and Sundays; and 11 a.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Back Forty will be closed on Tuesdays. For more information, go to facebook.com/back40bham.