Alehouse finds home on Athens Square by offering place to hang out

Sep. 14—ATHENS — The Athens Alehouse and Cellar has established a niche in downtown over the past year by providing a place for local residents to socialize while sipping craft beers not readily available elsewhere in the city, and an owner hopes eventually to serve his own recipe brewed locally.

"It's nice to have somewhere in Athens that's like this instead of having to go out into Madison or Huntsville and deal with the traffic," said Haley Turner of Athens, who sat outside the Alehouse with a drink and her dog, Koda, on a recent evening. She was making her second visit to the establishment after her brother and sister-in-law told her about it.

The Athens Alehouse and Cellar marked its one-year anniversary last month, and its ability to thrive hasn't surprised Holly Hollman, Athens' communications specialist and grant coordinator.

"Based on what I've seen, people talk on social media that they like having a place downtown to go and hang out. And they offer different activities from games to music night to I think the library even does a book club meeting there," she said. "I think it's more about socialization than anything."

Ken Hill and his wife Lori own Athens Alehouse and Cellar, and he said most of the craft beers they sell can't be found in stores. Ken Hill said they wanted to open only if they could find a location on the Athens Square and have found acceptance downtown by giving people a unique social option.

Lori Hill is an Athens native and Ken is retired from the U.S. Army. They first toured their Alehouse location about five years ago but it wasn't until April 2021 that they were able to lease the property after the previous barbershop closed its doors.

The couple wanted "to build something recession-proof here on the square," Ken Hill said. "We love that Athens is becoming more progressive culturally, so we took a chance, and we did it. ... We wanted to do something to add to the quality of life here on the square that's for everybody."

Hill said his plan for next year is to contract brew and add his own craft beer to the Alehouse's offerings.

"You essentially rent equipment from a larger brewer that's already established, and you can do small-batch releases," he said. "By using their equipment, it saves you money, saves you on licensing and everything for manufacturing. So, the idea is to go through another brand which we're already working on."

Hill hopes to work with Old Black Bear Brewing Company of Madison, which plans to open a brewery in Athens in the late spring of 2023. There are currently no breweries in Limestone County.

"This is a business opportunity for them as well," Hill said. He said brewing will start "hopefully first quarter of 2023 but looking more like second quarter of 2023. ... There's no rush. We're going to make sure we put a good product out."

Hill said he has been home-brewing for about 10 years, and would brew several hundred gallons with Old Black Bear. In addition to selling at the Alehouse, Hill said he hopes to sell it elsewhere through distributors.

"If you brew a product that's not worthy of being on the shelf, they're not going to sign with you," he said. "If a distribution company here in Alabama, which there are several, if they want to take on that product then they'll market it for us and sell it through retailers."

John Smith from Athens is a regular at the Alehouse, has been going since it opened, and tries to go one or two nights a week. He said he enjoys hanging out with the other regulars he has met over the past year.

"Love the atmosphere. The location is nice because Athens has an alehouse now, something they've needed for a while. ... I like the fact that they stepped out and made something happen in Athens," he said. "I like it because it's local, they have beers here that I like."

The Alehouse serves about a dozen appetizers as well as hard seltzers, slushies and wines in addition to craft beer. It has music bingo every Thursday, comedy tours, a book club, and music almost every weekend. It will host Athtoberfest, the Alehouse's version of Oktoberfest for Athens, for the second year in a row on Oct. 1.

Hill said sometimes 1,000 people come in on a Saturday night. "We want to keep business in Athens; we want to keep money in Athens."

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.