9 Numbers

Just over one year ago, tragedy struck. Alabama’s only distributing brewery was destroyed by fire. Now Olde Towne is just a couple weeks away from serving Hunstville local beer once again. Birmingham will have to wait until late fall.

Saturday i had the good fortune to speak with Don Alan Hankins, co-owner and brewmaster. I also got to taste a sample of not-yet-fully-fermented pale ale right out of the fermenting tank. A thrilling experience for a beer geek like me.

Unfortunately for Olde Towne, a hop crisis struck the world while they were finding a new location and building a new facility. Brewers everywhere are having to reformulate their recipes to use different varieties of hops, while hoping to avoid changing their staple beers to something customers won’t recognize. Olde Towne is no different, but their year-long absence may actually work to their advantage as no one has a fresh memory of what any particular OT beer tasted like before the fire.

I was fascinated to learn that while Hankins previously utilized all Cascade hops for his pale ale, he is unable to get sufficient quantities of that hop now and has brewed his first new batch of pale ale with Chinook for bittering and Glacier for flavor and aroma. I was happy to hear that he did 30 minute, 20 minute, 10 minute, and whirlpool additions of Glacier. That should produce a hoppy delight perfectly suited to a hop head like me.

After a long drought, the recent arrival of Good People and the rebirth of Olde Towne are finally supplying North Alabama with local beer once again. It nearly brings a tear of joy to my eye. Now if Birmingham can finally join the ranks of Mobile, Montgomery, and Auburn by getting a brewpub, i could die happy.