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Red Hare Brewing Company is on the March with ‘Wild Ales’

Lee Heidel
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Georgia brewery to open a new location in North Carolina; focus on barrel aging and wild ales.

On the Northwestern outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, just outside the bustling I-285 perimeter, sits the suburb of Marietta. Marietta is known for historical landmarks like the kitschy KFC restaurant known as “The Big Chicken” and being the first stop on General Sherman’s fiery March to the Sea in 1864. With the recent boom in craft beer, Marietta has also made a name for itself in the beer world with the addition of Red Hare Brewing Company in 2011.

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In 2017, Red Hare is celebrating 6 years of business in its home town of Marietta, and also opening a second brewery location in Shallotte, North Carolina. While Marietta is a bustling urban center, Shallotte is in many ways the opposite. It’s closer to nature, the ocean and all things outdoors.

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The original brewery will continue to brew and can Red Hare’s award winning beers like SPF 50/50 and Cotton Tail Pale Ale. The North Carolina location will focus on expanding Red Hare’s portfolio to include more barrel-aged offerings and experiment with crafting wild ales via open fermentation.

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Open fermentation means that the wort (or pre-beer) is open to the elements and will utilize local airborne yeast cultures to eat the sugars and create alcohol. Also referred to as “wild ales” due to the unexpected results that can occur in this process, this technique can produce a range of flavors but is most often grouped in with “sour” beer offerings.

The North Carolina brewery will be built on the Shallotte river in a 111-year-old former Coastal Drug Company building. This location, close to Ocean Isle Beach, will directly influence the taste of these open-fermented beers due to the unique bacteria in the area and encouraged by the salty air and relatively mild coastal climate.

Red Hare Brewing Company is currently distributed in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, the Florida panhandle, and South Carolina, and its beers are available in cans and on draft.

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Lee Heidel
Lee Heidel
Lee Heidel is the managing editor of Brew/Drink/Run, a website and podcast that promotes brewing your own beer, consuming the…
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