Take an armchair visit to a unique brewery, pub or other intoxicating venue that has a story you’ll love.
Brick Store Pub:
I love stories that illustrate how travel can produce life-changing experiences to elevate lives or careers. And today’s armchair visit of the Brick Store Pub involves that type of story.
According to their website, “Three friends from Athens, Georgia (Dave Blanchard, Mike Gallagher and Tom Moore) wanted, like so many others with a degree and no idea what to do with it, to own their own pub. Having worked in the bar/restaurant business for a combined 20+ years in Athens and Atlanta, they realized a niche had yet to be filled — a neighborhood pub where conversation dominates, pints are served properly and in the appropriate glassware, service is friendly and knowledgeable and the food is made from scratch every day, all accented by a beautiful historic building located on a bustling town square.”
They opened the Brick Store Pub in Decatur, Georgia on 27 June 1997. And they operated a nice neighborhood pub for 7 years. Now if that were the end of the story, I’d probably not know about the Brick Store Pub.
Brick Store Pub Entrance and Main Room
However, in 2004 GA House Bill 645 brought an end to Georgia’s 6% A.B.V. (alcohol by volume) law and allowed beers up to 14% to be sold in the state. Shortly afterward, the three friends traveled to Belgium and visited a tiny pub in Antwerp named Cafe Kulminator (consistently voted one of the top 5 beer bars in the world). They had heard Cafe Kulminator specialized in cellared beer. The phone book sized vintage beer menu they encountered at Cafe Kulminator opened their eyes and changed their business model perspective.
As a result, the Brick Store Pub opened a Belgium Room on their second floor. There you’ll find the Belgian Beer Bar, featuring 8 rotating draughts and over 120 Belgian/Belgian-style bottled beers.
Belgium Room
You’ll even find a beer on draft created by Belgian brewery St. Bernardus exclusively for the Brick Store Pub. Called St. Bernardus Baksteen Winkel (which is Flemish for Brick Store), this Saison-style beer provides earthy and citrus notes with a delightful bitter finish.
St. Bernardus Baksteen Winkel
And the Brick Store Pub owners created a cellar environment for beers that would improve with age. The cellar opened in 2010 with close to a 1000 different vintages. Curated and filled with Strong ales, Quads, Lambic, Barley Wines, and Imperial Stouts, the vintage beer cellar offers one of the largest selections of vintage beers from all over the world. Today, the Brick Store Pub and its exclusive beer list have received national and international acclaim on the world’s two biggest beer websites — beeradvocate.com and ratebeer.com.
A small portion of the Brick Store Pub beer cellar
Taking a tour of part of the beer cellar
And the Brick Store Pub, especially the Belgium Room, is one of my favorite beer hangouts and a must visit anytime I’m in Georgia. The Belgium Room maintains different hours than the rest of the pub so be certain to visit their website – https://www.brickstorepub.com/ – to plan your visit.