About Beer South
Incorporating Frequently Asked Questions
Who we are
The staff of Beer South is comprised of people who crave good craft beer and want to know where we
can find it wherever we are. We especially support local craft brewers as their products are often the freshest and best beers available to us. And we like to go to beer festivals and do beer-type things.
What we do
Beer South is a website directory of brewpubs and microbrewies in 11 southern United States. One
of our main goals is to provide the most up-to-date list of where you can find craft beers when you travel.
If you've researched beer and craft brewing via the internet, you probably have seen a bunch of sites
out there, many, unfortunately, that are out-of-date and are of dubious value. That's why we started
our own site focused only on the region we know best.
The site also includes a number of other resources including a listing of homebrew clubs and homebrew suppliers with an online presence, festival photos, a beer festivals calendar, listings of free beer-related newsletters and other regional beer guides and a page of helpful beer links. Beer South also publishes a
free monthly online newsletter, the Beer South Buzz, which covers beer news in the region.
Why do we do it?
We maintain this site because we think it will help promote local craft beer. And because we think it
will help you find beers you might like. Can you feel the love?
What we don't do
We don't list all the great places to drink beer (other than brewpubs). Keeping up with the craft brewers is challenge enough and keeping up with the opening and closing of bars is basically impossible. For that task we recommend Pubcrawler, which contains user input on the good-beer bar scene in any given area. Along those lines, we also don't try to list beer stores. We'd considered it once, but quickly realized it's
very hard to compile anything resembling a complete list, and that if we could, it would quickly be outdated. Unfortunately, we don't really know of a good resource on that topic. Another area best left to others is homebrewing. For that job, we suggest you start with the Home Brew Digest. Nor do we review beer. Our motto is 'Drink the Best Beer Available' and we leave it up to our readers to decide what they like. Plus there are plenty of sites already engaged in the pursuit of beer opinions. Lastly, we don't sell beer or beer gear. Alas, that would be a cool gig. But we do have a list of clubs and stores that will send
it to you.
How are are our lists created?
Any list or directory we put out is based on several factors. Is it needed? Does it fill a niche not served
by others or can we make our version better than anyone else's? Is the information required to create it reasonably available? Can it be kept current? If the answer to these question is yes, then we add it.
Once we create a directory, we strive to make it a comprehensive as possible and don't discriminate
when compiling it. For instance, in the brewpub & micro guide, if a facility brews its own beer it's on the
list regardless of whether it's a large chain or 5-gallon bucket operation.
Where does our information comes from?
The usual suspects - other beer publications, word-of-mouth at beer events, phone calls, e-mails, etc.
Much of the information we provide comes from our readers and users - people like yourself - who value
the site and want to contribute to it's usefulness. Folks who travel and seek out beer venues are especially helpful. Among our contributors are homebrewers, national beer writers and correspondents, brewers, industry personnel, festival organizers and so on. And we'd like you to contribute if you are interested.
Why isn't Texas in the guide?
The Lone Star State was part of the Confederacy and below the Mason-Dixon Line. But it's not part of
the NCAA's Southeastern Conference. (Yes, the same things do apply to NC and VA.) For a so-called border state like Texas, while it has a lot of the characteristics of the South, it's also generally perceived
to be the eastern edge of the Southwest, and it's included in the coverage area by the regional
How about Maryland or D.C.?
For most southerners, the South ends at the Potomac River. Ya gotta draw the line somewhere.
Got a question about us or southern craft brewing? How about a suggestion? Fire away.
