Hop Soul Brewery

A new microbrewery is getting ready to convert the Old Shoney’s building off I-95 and 341 into a brewery! The Golden Isles area has long been deprived of fresh craft beer, and Brewer/Owner, Justin Crandall is going to change that. Coming in Late Summer of 2018.
Hop Soul Brewery will feature 12+ taps of locally made fresh beer focusing on hop-forward styles including IPA, Pale Ale, and Pilsners. About ½ of the taps will be hop-forward while the other ½ will focus on testing the limits with modern styles like pastry beers, fruit beers, and ciders. For the kids, Hop Soul will have house-made root-beer and sodas as well. And, since we all need some food when drinking beer, there will be gourmet style pizza to go with the great selection of locally made craft beer.
Hop Soul’s brewer and owner, Justin Crandall, has been home brewing for 12 years and has received several awards at local and national levels for his beers. He earned an Electrical Engineering degree from GA Tech and began his career in controls engineering, but as he continued to brew on the homebrewing scale, his passion pushed him to the professional scale. Crandall started his journey by working at a commercial brewery in the mornings before his “desk job” as an engineer, learning the ropes. Over the years his desire to brew beer grew, so he decided to go in head first and start the training process to open his own brewery. Since then he has become a certified Master Brewer from the American Brewers Guild, a Fellow of the Colorado Brewers Immersion Course, and is now the local president of the Golden Isles Brew Club.
“I’ve been dreaming of opening a brewery since I started homebrewing in my kitchen 12 years ago. My passion for making beer has driven me to bring a modern brewery to Brunswick. I am excited to share my vision with the Golden Isles.” says owner Justin Crandall.
Hop Soul Brewery has signed a lease and will soon begin the transformation process. The location will feature a mix of coastal and industrial decor, with indoor/outdoor seating and games. Mixing a fresh new vibe with the modern brewery experience.
“I want beer lovers to come and hangout, bring the family, play some board games or giant jenga, watch a game, enjoy flavorful craft beer and delicious pizza.”
The Old Shoney’s at 271 Warren Mason Blvd has sat vacant for some time, but is located centrally to the majority of people living in the Golden Isles as well as tourists driving down I-95.
“People give me funny looks when I tell them that I’m converting the Old Shoney’s into a brewery. What they don’t realize is the massive kitchen already has all the infrastructure to operate a brewery, allowing us to open faster and get great craft beer to the people of the Golden Isles sooner. We are completely revamping the interior, flipping 90’s americana into a cool, relaxed, modern brewery space. It will look completely different when we are done!”
Hop Soul Brewery is targeting an opening date of Late Summer 2018.

Author: Dirk Jahn