--

found its home in Tuscaloosa and is on its way for a possible October opening.

Owned and run by

Elliott Roberts

and

Bo Hicks

, the DCBC will locate itself in the Parkview Center, a longtime Tuscaloosa business hub, across the parking lot from Oz Music and Bottomfeeders, connected to the rear of CitiTrends. Roberts says the building was initially expanded onto the back of the old Jitney Jungle grocery store way back when.

The Tuscaloosa Zoning Board of Adjustment approved the location on Tuesday, according to DCBC.

Roberts and Hicks, along with a group of investors that includes family and friends, own the business. The pair will also run the day-to-day operations until they can further fully staff.

"We hope to aggressively grow and eventually make this our full-time job," Roberts said.

Roberts and Hicks are renting the location from the people who own the Parkview Center. They're purchasing a three-barrel brewhouse and a handful of fermenters, according to Roberts.

"In English, that's 90 gallons of beer, at time, which sounds like a lot, but really isn't," he said. "We'll brew on nights and weekends initially, and we'll have to bust our collective butts to brew enough beer. At least, that's the hope."

DCBC has started the application process for a federal "brewer's notice," which is basically a license to brew. The owners will then seek approval from the state, and they do not anticipate any hitches in the road.

"Other than that, the only thing that's left to do is the work of assembling and building out the brewery," Roberts said. "Oh, and actually brewing beer."

They're brewing two beers, in fact, one wheat and one pale ale. The most popular commercial example of a wheat beer is Blue Moon, Roberts noted, but DCBC's will be a little less sweet, but "just as drinkable."

"It'll also have a bit more citrus taste to it," he said. "Every batch will have citrus peel in it, and that really makes the beer shine and finish nice and crisp."

The pale ale is a much more hop-forward offering, hoppier than a Sweetwater 420, but not quite as hoppy as a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, as the co-owner describes it.

"It's got a really nice maltiness that balances it nicely, and we like it a lot. Maybe too much."

Tuscaloosa hasn't seen a full-time local brewery since Barrett's Brewpub closed around 1999, when it was located at Brown's Corner in downtown. DCBC won't be the last either, as Black Warrior Brewing Company plans to open its own brewery and tap room in the near future.

Roberts and Hicks say the local response to the city getting a new brewery has been overwhelmingly positive so far, especially via social media, suggesting the demand is definitely there. [Find them on

and

.]

"I think the support we've experienced has really shown that our community is really hungry, well, thirsty I guess, for this and we plan to deliver something everyone will be proud of," Hicks said.

We talked to Roberts and Hicks more about their journey in bringing Tuscaloosa its first brewery in years.

Ben Flanagan: Why do you feel Tuscaloosa need this right now?

Bo Hicks:

I believe Tuscaloosa needs this to show the city's growth. It's something that shows the great community and love of local products. We hope it will be a badge of honor that Tuscaloosa can wear and show that most think of football and the University but starting an industry like this can hopefully bring more people to our community so they can see what else we have to offer from the arts and music to the beautiful views of the river and most importantly the people.

Elliott Roberts:

Tuscaloosa has really stepped out in terms of craft beer culture in the south. Honestly, there are some of the best spots in the state for beer drinkers are right here in Tuscaloosa. Wilhagan's, the Alcove, Egan's and Mellow Mushroom - just to name a few - all have selections that would be respected in Atlanta or Nashville. Corks and Tops has draft to go, and their selection is amazing. We love Tuscaloosa, and this is where we want to be. It's something that fits the community really well, and we're happy to be in a position to do it.

BF: Why do you want to do this personally?

BH:

I've been dabbling in craft since the early 2000s at Hales Tavern and continuing with my employment at Egan's but with the law changing to allow a whole new range and taste and choices, thanks to Free The Hops, and tasting the beers that Good People brewing where bringing to the table I fell in love. I saw how world class beer could be made locally not just in Colorado or the West Coast. The process is also intriguing, it's mostly like cooking. You can really have a lot of creativity and make something that is unlike anything that's ever been made. Everything from the yeast, temp of fermentation, malts can make things wildly different.

ER:

Because I'm a beer lover! Who wouldn't want to own a brewery is the better question. It's a chance to be a part of the best beverage in the world, and to brew what we enjoy drinking. And, if we're lucky, someone else will like it too. Really, that's what Bo and I really enjoy doing -- brewing beer we like to drink. We're just going to be brewing more of it.

BF: Why do brewing companies work so well in other cities?

BH:

I think it goes back to the changing palette of the American beer drinker as well as the culture-ly shift to supporting local. People want something that is made in their city. It's not good enough just to be local you also have to have a quality product but once those two lines intersect people proudly support locally produced goods and beers.

ER:

People are expecting more variety. When I travel, among the first things I want to know is what's the local brew, and where can I try it. People don't realize that there were more than 4,000 breweries before Prohibition. Most of them were small and local. Most of them didn't survive Prohibition. And while it may seem like we've come back around to that level, there are still only right around 2,000 breweries in America.

The local brewery has been around forever - in Europe that's really the way it started, back before you could drop a keg on a truck or boat and get it wherever. People drank locally and we're really coming full circle on that.