Fannin Brewing Company

Fannin Brewing Company

It all began in 2002, when Tom bought a home on a beautiful mountainside in lovely Fannin County, and thought "This hillside would make a great vineyard." He planted some grapes - all kinds of grapes - and waited. Five years, experiments with the deer repellent Buck-B-Gone, and a fence later, he had his first press. As he sat in his driveway at midnight de-stemming the crush by hand, he thought, "This is a lot of work." While Tom was waiting for his grapes to grow, he started German Kino Plus, a cable network targeted to Germans living in the United States. He travelled to Germany frequently to buy movies. He was wise enough to plan some of those trips in October, so he could spend his evenings in Munich's biergartens. With the wine now safely aging in bottles, he now sat at the communal table in the Augustiner BierGarten. Lifting his stein and listening to the oompah bands, he daydreamed - "What else can I sell to Germans in the US?" Pickles. Bread. Beer! The seeds for Fannin Brewing Company were formed. Back home, the wine made great Christmas gifts, and was a hit with friends and family, but Tom was on to more bubbly things. Enter Fannin Brewing Company. Tom chose Fannin County for two simple reasons: Fresh air and fresh water make for fresh beer. He hooked up with Pat Walker at Blue Ridge Brewery, who was also planning to produce his own brews. Tom bought the equipment, Pat built the space, and they began selling their first beers in October 2012. By June 2013, a deal with Eagle Rock Distributing was signed, and Fannin Brewing Company's beers were on tap in 8 restaurants, then 14, then 24. In October, FBC became the house brewer for Barnsley Gardens. In just 4 months, we had reached capacity - time to move on. In April we began brewing in our new location - 3758 East First Street. We opened our tasting room in May, and signed with Leon Farmer in June, so that our beers can be found in Dahlonega, Blairsville and points east. Being local is important to Fannin Brewing Company: It's in the name of our beers. Hiawassee Golden Ale, Toccoa Brown, Dahlonega Gold. It’s in our water. Our water comes from pristine Lake Blue Ridge, fed by the Toccoa River, a beautiful river with absolutely no industry. It’s in our grains. We source local ingredients in many of our beers. For instance, Hive Kicker uses Sourwood Honey, a unique honey only found in southern Appalachia. Red Headed Woman uses strawberries from Mercier’s, a local orchard. And Cartecay Sol is a beer/wine hybrid using grape juice from Ellijay’s Cartecay Vineyards. It’s in our tap handles, skillfully crafted by local Blue Ridge folk artist Betty Wassmer. Our local focus makes it easy to give back to our community, too. Fannin beer was the only beer served at the Long Table on Main, an event that raised more than $50,000 for Prevent Child Abuse Pickens. Fannin beer was the only beer served at the annual Taste of Blue Ridge event, to raise money for the Humane Society of Blue Ridge. And at the Blues and BBQ event in Blue Ridge, Fannin and Sweetwater were the only beer served to over 5,000 attendees. But we go beyond just helping to raise money for great local causes. Spent grain goes to a variety of places: Betty Wassmer uses it to make delicious dog treats called Betty’s Beer Bones. It’s donated to a local community garden supporting Feed Fannin. Local pig and cattle farmers often stop by for what’s left. Local is what makes Fannin Brewing Company your beer, and we are proud to craft it.