Taste of Omaha Brewing’s craft beer spreading across Georgia

It has been a seemingly slow boil for Omaha Brewing Co. to get to this point in its relatively short life. But the craft beer brewery, located about a half hour south of Columbus, in Georgia’s Stewart County, is heating up for significant growth.

“The distribution footprint is expanding all over the state, and now we’re opening up the tasting room, so it’s going to be great for us,” Rob Lee, sales and marketing director, said Friday.

Omaha Brewing Co., owned by Lee’s father, Dr. Robert E. Lee, an Omaha native and dentist who has practiced in the Atlanta suburb of Dallas for years, is just over three years old. It began selling its variety of ales and lagers and stourts through a distributor, B&B Beverage Co., nearly two years ago, with Columbus as its first market.

“We went with B&B to open up our production and we only started with a handful of accounts,” said Nick Fowler, brewmaster at Omaha Brewing. “Now we’ve got about 20 accounts in Columbus and we’ve got over 50 accounts in Atlanta. We’ve got some in LaGrange, some in Valdosta, some in Albany, and soon we’ll have East Alabama distribution.”

The Columbus locations where Omaha beer can be found include The Loft, Maltitude Craft Beer and Wine, 11th and Bay, B. Merrell’s, Mellow Mushroom, Locos Grill and Pub and Buffalo Wild Wings.

The company this weekend, on Saturday, is holding an invitation-only grand opening of its tasting room, which is located in an old school house now used for part of the brewery and its office and storage space. But the Lees are hoping those interested in the craft brews and how they are made will make trips to Omaha, just a little east of Cottonton, Ala., for a tour and to sample their flavorful beer.

“It will be open every Friday and Saturday from now on,” said Lee, with the hours from 5 to 10 p.m. on Fridays and from 2 to 10 p.m. on Saturdays. At some point, tours and tastings may be added on Thursdays.

Omaha Brewing’s beers include pale ales, stouts, and weiss creations with names such as Nada-Banana, Hannahatchee Creek IPA, Doc Dweller, Porch Pounder, Like No Udder and General’s Select.

There will be a $20 flat fee for tours of the Omaha brewery and tastings that include up to 36 ounces of beer consumed on site, Lee said. Customers also will be offered one 64-ounce growler fill or two 32-ounce fills to be taken with them.

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Taste of Omaha Brewing’s craft beer spreading across Georgia."