Braided River Brewing Co: Beer for Untapped Adventure

Malteurop Celebrates Craft Breweries During American Craft Beer Week

American Craft Beer Week takes place May 10–16, 2021. This annual nationwide event celebrates small and independent craft breweries throughout the U.S. Malteurop (MMC) has joined forces with a few of these phenomenal breweries, highlighting their stories of strength and camaraderie during a time when struggles are common, but support and community continuously shine through.

About Braided River Brewing Company

Meet David Nelson, Owner and Head Brewer at Braided River Brewing Company in Mobile, Alabama. Originally a chemist in Raleigh, North Carolina, his love of science continued with his hobby as an avid homebrewer.

Also a lover of craft breweries, David embarked upon a brewery tour at a nearby brewery. During the tour, there was mention of a need for volunteers. David stepped up, and his transition from chemist to professional brewer began. He spent two years doing grunt work once a week, and was able to turn that into a full time job as a brewer at Lonerider Brewing in Raleigh, NC.

Moving soon after to Mobile, Alabama, David recognized a need for more breweries in the Gulf Coast region and jumped on that. Also looking for outdoor activities, he came across a documentary about the Mobile Delta, nicknamed America’s Amazon. Multiple rivers flow into Mobile Bay, and as they do so, they slow down, spread out and cross paths with each other, forming a braided river system. He latched onto that analogy between the rivers and the brewing community.

“What’s cool about craft beer is that you make these little connections, that little braiding of community. Beer is such a great way to connect with people and build community.”

Combining this philosophy with the outdoor activities popular in Mobile Bay, such as kayaking and canoeing, David leaned fully into that braiding ideal.

“What I like doing here is taking some beer on the water on the kayak or canoe or beach. Highlighting the cool area that we live in as part of the brand. This is what we want to be doing, drinking beer outside on a kayak.”

In February of 2020, Braided River Brewing Company became a reality.

A Passion for Brewing

It’s the science of brewing and the community behind it that makes brewing a passion for David. The ideas and creation of recipes for a new beer, and then being able to taste what he created is just the beginning of it. There’s the added fun of always tinkering with it and trying new ingredients, wondering if it can be even better or somehow different. “I have that sciency background of always wanting to experiment and change the variables.”

Along with the science of brewing, David recognizes that the industry is braided as well. Paths consistently intertwine throughout. “Having that community of fellow brewers is awesome because we can bounce ideas and techniques off of each other. I have a community of knowledge that ranges across the country. All of us trying to help each other out is nice.”

The Future of Craft Beer

David is certain there will be more new styles. People are still adding everything possible to beers. But he’s also quite certain that the IPAs and sours that are quite popular now are here to stay. In the Mobile Bay area, they’re starting to see more traditional sessionable light beers. Some of those regional trends will continue to cycle.

Something new that he feels may be here to stay is the hard water styles. And one of the newest trends, hop water, for example, he feels there might be more of that coming down the channel. And why not? We all need water. Why not add some of our favorite hop flavors to entice us more into water? Especially on the Gulf.

Summer’s Always Brewing at Braided River

Braided River is known for lighter, refreshing beers. But more than that, they are known for their innovation and flavor within those crushable beers.

Hoppy by Nature is their take on the traditional IPA and one of their most popular brews. Built for the Gulf Coast, it has notes of tropical, fruity flavors with just the right touch of hoppy bitterness to keep you geared up for the outdoors.

First in the region to come out with sessionable sours, Braided River keeps the summer alive all season here. Meet Winter Crush and Summer Crush. Both are highly crushable and imbibed with tropical fruits. Winter Crush has a few spices added in for that bit of extra warmth needed for those chilly beach days. Summer Crush has a touch of sea salt for those lazy summer afternoons spent on the water.

Braided River is here to keep those summertime vibes going all year long.

Accomplishments and Achievements at Braided River

Only open just over a year, David has aspirations of many Great America Beer Festival medals. We have no doubt there will be a few hanging in the brewery soon. After all, brewing with Galen Smith, MMC’s Craft Sales Manager for the Southeast, while they both worked at Lonerider Brewery, they won two GABF medals.

In the meantime, David celebrates the success of Braided River, itself. “Getting this place started was a massive milestone. It definitely felt unattainable at the beginning and we went through a lot of ups and downs of whether or not it was even going to open.”

And when opening Braided River, David knew all along he wanted a sustainability program set in place. “There’s so many ways to be wasteful, so we started off with things in mind to figure out how to chip away at that waste.”

Partnering with environmental organizations and groups that focus on area cleanups, Braided River donates their used grain bags for trash bags. These cannot be recycled and end up in the landfill, so David thought that if it’s going into the landfill anyway it might as well carry trash with it and reduce the use of plastic trash bags.

Another sustainability tactic at Braided River is the use of large bands instead of shrink wrap around the kegs headed out to their distributor. As long as the distributor knows the purpose of these, and that they are reusable, they get sent back to the brewery to be used again in place of the shrink wrap that immediately ends up in the landfill.

The little things add up. “Trying to find the best efficiencies and doing things in a more mindful manner is all it takes.”

COVID-19 Challenges Faced Head On

You might say that same thing when it comes to dealing with the unknown of COVID. With plans of being a production brewery as well as a taproom when Braided River first opened gave them a leg up from the beginning. While they weren’t planning on starting their canning runs quite so soon, their ability to do so kept them going throughout one of the toughest years for probably any brewery. Using mobile canning to start, Braided River has progressed to their own canning line, purchased at the end of 2020.

With their dedicated customers and employees, the canning line combined with curbside pickup helped keep hope alive, keeping Braided River alive.

“Just adapting to everything and trying to figure out the best plan forward trying new things, seeing how they work, making our best decisions, having to go with the flow as much as you can. It’s been a constant balancing act.”

Sounds almost the same as opening a new brewery. David and the entire team at Braided River have demonstrated ingenuity and adaptability from the beginning. Why would they stop now?

Moving Forward with Support

Canning, before they had plans to do so, had a tremendous impact on keeping Braided River afloat. The beer they brew is meant for the outdoors and six-packs to go are perfect for adventures. They made their name by having these available for the summer season.

“Most of our vendors have had the attitude that we don’t want to see you go out of business.”

The Latest and Greatest Beers Brewing

As beer and outdoor lovers, too, we have that same attitude. We don’t want to see any brewery go out of business. Especially when they are always brewing up creativity. Braided River is currently brewing a Hazy IPA with New Zealand hops, a Maibock to keep our taste buds hoppy, a lemon sour with the perfect amount of pucker and even a historical Altbier to remind us of our beer roots.

Brewing for American Craft Beer Week

Speaking of brewing, there’s something special in the works for American Craft Beer Week. David’s excitement is catching. “Breaking News! The return of one of our fan favorites from last year, Oops All Mango. Who left the mango valve open?”

This hazy IPA full of mango puree and mango forward Azzaca hops sounds like the perfect way to kick off American Craft Beer Week and summertime fun. Is it time to float the river yet?

Getting Personal with Beer

Behind the beer is the brewer. And we love getting to know the brewer just as much as we love getting to know the beer he creates. Is there really any better way of getting to know a fellow beer-lover than asking them about their favorite styles of beer? How about asking what beer describes them best?

David immediately knew the answers to these thought-provoking questions. He loves IPAs. He will drink everything, but an IPA is his go-to style of beer. No hesitation, there.

And when you love a style that much, it makes sense that he would also describe himself as an IPA. He looks at his personality of always tinkering, always changing things up just a bit as matching up with how he is constantly tinkering with his IPAs, and always changing up his recipes to match the needs of his customers. “I’m all over the map. IPAs are all over the map.” I think he answered wisely.

Thank You!

Galen Smith, MMC’s Craft Sales Manager, David’s former co-worker and long-time friend has been braided in with David for years. Because of this, it works well for him to make this honest and simple statement about his friend. “Brewers by nature are innovative and very adaptable and I’m very glad for that because you have had to deal with a lot of stuff this past year.” We all need connections like these. Braids that are consistently intertwining in every aspect of the craft beer industry and the world we live in.

“The biggest reward is the day-to-day. And thinking, ‘Wow! I opened a brewery and I work here every day!’ Being able to actually live in the moment every now and then and finding awesome people to work with. Actually living the dream. That’s super rewarding.”

Thank you, David, for living your dream. It goes with us in the beer you have meticulously canned. And every time we crack one open, we are reminded that we are living the dream, as well.

“It’s been an interesting year (2020) and looking forward to this one.”