Your mission for the weekend, and you should definitely choose to accept it, is to go out and find whatever Foam Brewers beer is still remaining in the Atlanta market.
Burlington, Vermont beer maker Foam Brewers is known for an eclectic and diverse offering of brews. Their lineup shows off huge range, from Saisons and lagers to mixed-fermentation ales and nationally-renowned New England IPAs. Their beer arrived in Atlanta early last week with an almost audible hype and the beer scene has been buzzing since.
Foam opened its doors in 2016 and has typically kept its distribution footprint to within a 30-mile radius of the brewery. But when taprooms shut down due to Covid in early 2020, Foam decided to engage in a limited number of new distribution relationships. Atlanta was one of the lucky landing spots.
Eric Levin founded Modern Hops, the distributor that brought Foam Brewers to Atlanta. He said he’d been after Foam for years.
“I had their beer four years ago,” said Levin. “They were relatively new. I was chasing down all New England Style IPAs. Nobody in Georgia, at the time, had really perfected that, so I was bringing a bunch of stuff in for myself or traveling to get it.” Levin had invited Foam to a number of Atlanta-area festivals since 2017 to no avail. But in the fall of 2020, Foam decided to take Modern Hops up on their offer and give Atlanta a try.
Breweries prefer to be visible in a market when they launch their products as new to a city. Jon Farmer, who is one of the co-founders of Foam Brewers, said it’s been difficult not being in Atlanta and having to watch the Atlanta market react to Foam from Vermont. Social media has helped, and Farmer said he’s gotten nothing but glowing remarks from people he’s spoken with.
“We are definitely aware online and it seems like people are excited for our beer down there,” said Farmer. “Eric said the beer sold really, really fast. That’s definitely a testament to nice success. We’re just having to go with what we hear from folks.”
If you’ve already gotten your hands on some of the beers Foam Brewers sent to Georgia, you’re one of the lucky few. If not, you can still find them around town.
“Out of their IPAs, we sold out very quickly - within days,” Aaron Williams, Marketing Director for Hop City Beer & Wine, said. “As of this writing, we still have a couple cans of Alien Observer (gose) as well as The Factory (dark ale) and Endurance (Pilsner). We also have some Foam on draft at our Krog Street location.
“The feedback was amazing. We always pride ourselves in providing the best craft beer available in the state. When we found out that a stellar brewery like Foam was available, we jumped at the opportunity. As someone who has been “around the block” when it comes to craft beer, the amount of stellar breweries that have been available down here has been nothing short of incredible.”
It’s been fun to watch social media react to people finding Foam at different retailers or watching restaurants and bars announce that they just tapped a new Foam keg. Here are a few details of what you should be looking for:
Built to Spill - Double IPA, 8% ABV
Named for a band out of Idaho (the folks at Foam Brewers are music aficionados and base the names of many of their beers around music), Built to Spill was the first Double IPA the brewery ever made back in 2016, and it’s the only beer still around from their original lineup. Farmer called Built to Spill “a very special beer to us.” It was also the first beer Foam ever put in cans.
Alien Observer - Fruited Sour, 5% ABV
Alien Observer is actually a reference to the band Grouper, and this beer was developed for a Fourth of July party. “We were looking for a refreshing fruited kind of crusher,” said Farmer. “We decided to go with a Gose style using some sea salt and we also conditioned that in grapefruit, dragonfruit, and sea salt.”
Damage Control - Double IPA, 9% ABV
Foam just released Damage Control for the first time in December. They have been working with the combination of Strata and Bru-1 hops and decided they found a winning combination here. “It presents a nice, subtle bitterness,” said Farmer. It features “Gooseberry and wet grape notes.” This beer was a collaboration with some friends at the brewery in the band The Vacant Lots.
The Shining - Double IPA, 8% ABV
Being from New England, it’s appropriate that this beer is named as an homage to one of the best horror fictionists ever, Stephen King. It’s a hazy with pineapple and mango notes.
Pop Crimes - Imperial IPA, 10% ABV
Pop Crimes came from Foam’s test kitchen as the brewers had been trying a lot of Triple IPAs. It features a bunch of local (Vermont) Peterson malt and flaked wheat. “We were really going for a super soft Triple IPA that tastes like it’s 6 or 7 percent with just really flavorful tropical and pineapple characteristics with notes of mixed berry and a very soft dank resinous quality to it,” said Farmer. “It’s one of our favorite labels that we’ve ever done.”
The Factory - Dark Ale, 10% ABV
Dark ales are sometimes referred to as Black IPAs, but this IPA is nothing like Foam’s hazy offerings they sent to Georgia. It’s made with lots of oranges and features wheat and cocoa nibs. The 10% sneaks up on you because of how smooth the beer drinks, and it definitely has a big malty feel.
Endurance - Pilsner, 5% ABV
Endurance is a dry-hopped lager with Motueka and Nelson hops, and actually went through a name change right before it was canned. The name was Good Times, a reference to a trip a couple of the brewery’s founders took for hop selection. “There was this specific night where they were all around a bonfire and it was a really beautiful moment for them,’ said Farmer. “So we named the beer after that but it didn’t feel very appropriate to be releasing a beer called Good Times and promoting a bunch of people drinking around a fire in early April of 2020. We changed it to Endurance, which seemed a little more fitting to the time. We kind of kept on with that because we loved the beer so much and it still feels like we have to continue to stay strong and try to be positive and we’ll get through it.”
The biggest question now, as people clamor for what’s left around town from Foam Brewers, is when do we get more in Atlanta. The brewery is still working on that answer.
Foam Brewers intentionally keeps their production facility on the small side, and Farmer says they're getting close to that point. They want to stick to sourcing local ingredients and they love the ability to be creative with their ever-changing rotation of beers.
“There’s a lot of things our business is built around that would make a shift to a larger production brewery a challenge, maybe a challenge we don’t necessarily intend to take on,” said Farmer. “That gives us a lot of freedom to do cool things in other places here and there without feeling like we’re beholden to big, macro beer. We have some nice flexibility and can keep it fun.”
But both Foam Brewers and Modern Hops say the Vermont brewery will be back in Atlanta with new beer.
Farmer said Foam will never claim to have a flagship beer, but Built to Spill makes its way into the rotation more often than other beers. It’s also their most popular canned beer.
“There will be a variety of other beers that are new that are coming out that could be in that [next] shipment,” Farmer said. “It might be easier to keep a set schedule, but we like to be able to have the flexibility to have an idea or a concept and execute that pretty quickly. I’d say that the next shipment to Georgia will probably be 80 percent beers that weren’t there last time.”
When? How often? "It’s going to be a little more sporadic," said Farmer. "Maybe a few times a year."
That’s about as solid an answer you’re going to get from a group of brewers who pride themselves on spontaneity and epic quality.