After overcoming multiple setbacks and delays owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the much anticipated collaborations of breweries, The Brewers Cooperative, opened for business in April.

Originally announced in 2019, The Brewers Cooperative is a 10,000-square-foot collaborative effort between Huntsville’s Straight to Ale Brewery, Salty Nut Brewery and Druid City. The collaboration also includes the Birmingham based Good People Brewing Company and Avondale Brewery.

The idea of the cooperative is one based around variety and collaboration in the craft of brewing. Owners of Straight to Ale, Dan Perry and Bruce Weddendorf, sat down with The Huntsville Business Journal to discuss the planning behind Stovehouse’s latest addition and what the future holds for the cooperative.

“The logic behind the Brewers Cooperative came from the realization that while we were all (the five participating brewers) looking to expand across the state, it would be better for us all to expand together and build something really unique that offers a bunch of variety instead of each of us trying to build smaller locations in each city,” explained Perry.

One aspect of the cooperative that makes the experience unique from Straight to Ale or other standalone breweries is its commitment to the food aspect as well as the craft beer. “We have an enormous kitchen in the back with some high end food. It’s not a brewery with a small kitchen tacked on to it like what we evolved from Straight to Ale. While it is beer centric, it’s a 50-50 focus on the food as well,” said Perry.

Simeon Hill from Straight to Ale and Marcy Mayes of Old Black Bear Brewing Company serve as head chefs.

“The mindset was to get these two individuals who both had experience with food and beer pairings and give them a larger kitchen to make something more expansive,” explained manager Ryan Colvin.

The Stovehouse location will not be the cooperative’s only location for long. Construction is well underway for a second location at Guntersville’s new City Harbor and is set to open this summer. Straight to Ale owner Bruce Weddendorf commented on how adding more retail experiences, like taprooms and cooperatives, helps breweries create more wholesale customers and distribute more product in general.

“We realized that the Straight to Ale taproom had been such a huge benefit to us because it lets our customers bond over our beers. From a distribution standpoint, we sell most of our beer in Huntsville. We think that’s not only because we are a Huntsville brewery but also because people in Huntsville come to our taproom and they remember the great experience of drinking that delicious beer while hanging out with friends or meeting new ones,” Weddendorf said.

“So we want to bring that positive retail experience to new markets along with the four other breweries and let the public interact with and enjoy these products.

The co-op is also offering tiered memberships that will provide discounts on food and merchandise to its patrons, access to special happy hour sessions with brewers and a 32 ounce can of the cooperatives “beer of the month” that will be a collaboration between the different breweries.

Anyone can apply for membership online at www.thebrewerscooperative.com.

Images provided by Straight to Ale Brewery.