Page 74 - Walton Living

The City of Monroe has held o on modernizing its alcohol
ordinance in anticipation of this legislation. Monroe City At-
torney Paul osenthal had suggested the delay, saying while the
new ordinance that the city had proposed allowed for growlers,
wine tasting and outdoor sales, it couldn’t at that time include
language related to craft beer until the state changed its stance
on allowing local breweries to sell direct to the public. Monroe’s
economic development specialist, Sadie rawczyk, said the
changes the passage of SB 8 brings will help the city in much
the same way as it is expected to help all the other business com-
munities around the state.
“We will now have what everybody in the surrounding states
already have. emoving those restrictions makes us more
competitive,” rawczyk said. “We’ve been talking to brewers
for a while, but they were hesitant to do anything because of the
restrictions. This changes that.”
ne local company in the Loganville area is already poised to
take full advantage of this new legislation.
In early 2 1 , the owners of the acclaimed Wrecking Bar
Brewpub in Atlanta’s Little Five Points purchased what was
Dillwood Farms in Loganville with the hopes of building a
brewery or possibly another brewpub at some time in the future.
f course, all that depended on what happened under the
Gold Dome in downtown Atlanta. To help it along, co-owner
Bob Sandage took an active role in lobbying for changes in the
alcohol laws.
But they didn’t let the grass grow under their feet in the mean-
time, choosing instead to work the farm and continue cultivating
crops to service the gourmet meals served at the Wrecking Bar
in Atlanta. Co-owner of what is now named the Wrecking Barn
Farm, Stevenson osslow, said with the passage of SB 8 , they
now expect to break ground before the end of this year on either
Loganville’s first brewery or maybe a restaurant and a barrel
aging facility for their sour beer operation.

74 Walton Living Magazine