Danny Aller

TLH Beer Society

Don't look now, but the Big Bend is about to be home to yet another craft brewery.

Southern Philosophy Brewing in Downtown Bainbridge, Georgia (roughly 40 miles from Tallahassee, straight up Highway 27), plans to open sometime this summer and begin pouring fresh brews for South Georgia and North Florida craft beer fans to enjoy.

Brewmaster and co-owner Gallagher Dempsey — a Tallahassee native and Florida State grad — has been carefully planning the launch of Southern Philosophy Brewing for over two years. But if you ask his wife and fellow co-owner Nicole, it's been more like seven.

“I would say from the day I met him (in 2012), he told me he was going to open up a brewery one day,” Nicole told Bainbridge Living Magazine in a profile that was published just this week. “So I always thought, 'Well you know, I think a lot of guys think that. It’ll probably just pass and we will probably not end up talking about it (again).”

Fast forward to 2019, and Southern Philosophy Brewing is no longer a dream — it's on the verge of being a reality and opening its doors, giving the small South Georgia town of Bainbridge (population 12,000) its first craft brewery.

“The beer is going to be, hopefully, high-quality and scientifically produced in many regards, with an artistic hand in it as well," Gallagher told Bainbridge Living Magazine. He's been home brewing for 15 years and has won several homebrewing competitions.

Southern Philosophy, which will be South Georgia's second craft brewery to open in 2019 after Georgia Beer Company opened in February, plans to serve food and hand-crafted cocktails.

We hope to have Gallagher and Nicole on our weekly ESPN 97.9 FM radio show very soon to give us more details on this exciting news.

Stay tuned!

SGI Brewfest recap

The Tallahassee Beer Society booth was rocking once again at the 4th Annual St. George Island Brewfest, where we gave away tons of donated swag and prizes from over 25 area local businesses during the event, which broke yet another attendance record with 1,000 tickets sold. Speaking of records, the event raised a record single-year amount of $40,000 for the Franklin County Humane Society — the benefactor every year — and several shelter pets found new homes after being adopted during the event.

We just wanted to use a small amount of space this week to say a huge "Thank you!" to everyone who donated giveaways — and you know who you are — and we can't even begin to explain how awesome it was to be out there representing not just Tallahassee's local beer scene, but also all those local businesses who support it.

It's such a great event every year, and we're so blessed to be able to be involved. And the 5th Annual SGI Brewfest date is already set: April 25, 2020 — so start making those plans now!

Lake Tribe, Fools Fire collaboration

We told you recently about the first-ever Tallahassee brewery collaboration that was happening, and how the history makers themselves were none other than Lake Tribe Brewing and Fools Fire Brewing, which produces small batch brews out of Fermentation Lounge in the All Saints District. The beer was a spiced Saison called Firehawk — made with coriander, juniper and grapefruit peel — and it was brewed on Fools Fire's small brewing system.

The first batch was a hit and sold out quickly, but the good news is this: They've brewed it again — only this time on Lake Tribe's much larger brewing system — and it re-releases Saturday in the Lake Tribe tasting room!

Congrats on a successful collaboration, Lake Tribe and Ferm. That's local-supporting-local at its best.

New Monday special at Ology

Ology debuted a new Monday special recently called Sour Cellar Spotlight, and it's a good deal on a truly GREAT beer.

For $10, you get a 500 mL bottle of a select mixed culture sour beer (normal price $13) from Ology's Sour Cellar. The special has only been running for two weeks, and its Trace Element series of bottled sours have been featured so far. Week 1 was a raspberry sour, followed a peach-apricot version last week.

If you're making the rounds on a Monday, definitely add Ology to your list of stops.

Deep re-releases award-winning Vertigose

Deep Brewing was recently named the "Best Overall Brewery" and earned "Best Overall Beer" honors at the Tallahassee Beer Festival back in January. The beer that won was Deep's mango-habañero sour called Vertigose — a Gose sour made with freshly juiced mango, tart lime and dried habañero peppers.

Vertigose is a Beer Society-favorite, and if you don't beat us there Sunday when Deep opens at noon, we may just fill up 20 growlers and tap the keg ourselves!

Proof's new location deemed 'historic'

Proof Brewing, which opened its new location in January at the old, iconic Coca-Cola plant in downtown Tallahassee at 1320 South Monroe St., recently found out it would be featured May 11 by Tallahassee's own The Grove Museum on a self-guided bicycle tour of old historical sites around town.

Titled Preservation X Transportation, the event celebrates Historic Preservation Month and National Bike Month, which run concurrently in May. The Grove Museum is partnering with the Florida Department of Transportation, Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department and Leon County Office of Sustainability to offer a free, all-ages event, which will serve as the release party for a new self-guided bicycle map that highlights adaptive reuse and historic preservation in Downtown, Midtown, and South Monroe neighborhoods of Tallahassee.

And Proof's place checks all those boxes!

The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 11. Come out and be one of the first to bike the new tour and stop off at Proof for a cold pint along the way!

GrassLands partners with Soccer Club

GrassLands is the official brewery and beer sponsor of the upstart Tallahassee Soccer Club, highlighted by their specially brewed beer for TSC: To the Goal — a citrus-forward session IPA brewed with orange peel. GrassLands will host several unique TLSC events at the brewery and beer garden throughout the 2019-20 season — which kicks off Saturday with their first game — and GrassLands will also be the official practice jersey sponsor.



Another piece of GrassLands news: They recently collaborated on a beer with Jacksonville brewery Wicked Barley — a Lemon Cake Berliner Weisse brewed with fresh lemon zest, vanilla beans and milk sugar — and that beer will tap in Tallahassee this weekend! It's the first beer of an ongoing collaborative partnership between GBC and Wicked Barley, with the theme being dessert sours.

The TLH Beer Society is a group of avid craft beer lovers co-founded by Danny Aller, who is also the co-host of the Saturday Morning Bottle Share, a radio show dedicated to Tallahassee's craft beer scene on 97.9 ESPN radio. Follow TLH Beer Society at Facebook.com/TLHBeerSociety or @TLHBeerSociety on Twitter and Instagram, or email them at tlhbeersociety@gmail.com.