Oconee Brewing Company, Greensboro, Georgia

“He was a wise man who invented beer.”

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Oconee Brewing Company is located in the charming town of Greensboro, Georgia. I felt as if I just stepped into the town of Mayberry. Everyone was so friendly and the town has that southern charm you don’t see everyday. If you haven’t been to this town, you need to put it on your list of places to go. You will love the quaintness of the town.

Oconee Brewing Company was the idea of Nathan McGarity and his father, John McGarity who live about an hour from Greensboro in Henry County. On a drive home from Greensboro, they discussed what Greensboro needed and came up with the brewery idea. It seemed a perfect place since it was halfway between Augusta and Atlanta and not to far from Athens and the University of Georgia.

Event Room

They started looking for the perfect home for their idea and found the old 103 year old broken down warehouse on N. West Street in historic downtown Greensboro. The warehouse was in horrible shape with needing a new roof and floor along with a major upgrade. Most of the people who lived in Greensboro thought it should be just torn down, but they had a plan and put it to work to save this building. The people of Greensboro embraced his idea and helped in any way they could.

Sign on the side of the building

Nathan loved the history of this building and wanted to bring it back to life. Originally it was built to be as a plant for bottling Chero-Cola. When that shut down, it was used as a textile/cotton mill during The Great Depression. He thought the 6000 square foot size was perfect and loved the 18 foot ceilings.

12 Taps

The McGarity’s put there heads together and made this the home of Oconee Brewing Company, a craft beer production facility and tasting room. They have 12 taps and have many varieties of fine craft beer including Kolsch, Marzen. Dunkelweizen, Brown, Red, Blonde Pale Ales, Saison, Sweet Stout along with many others. After they make the beer, they send the spent product to Farmers Feed and Seed next door which is fed to his black Angus cattle and when the beef goes to market it comes back to community.

They also have a 3,600 square foot event center that is beautifully done with exposed brick and an amazing glass wall that opens to the outdoor patio. It can seat 250 people and standing room for about 500. When events are not happening, families and friends come and bring games, pay Corn hole and darts, and just spend quality time together. They even welcome friendly dogs.

Taylor Lamm is the co-founder and Master Brewer and he grew up in Augusta, Georgia and went to University of Georgia. He started out as a personal banker in Greensboro but his heart wasn’t in in so he started as an assistant brewer at Triangle Brewing Company in Durham, NC for two year and then worked for Brewery 85 till he started here. The other co-founder and project developer is Nathan McGarity who graduated from Valdosta State with a degree in Marketing and started working with his dad. John McGarity, his father is the project developer partner of Oconee Brewing Company and graduate of University of Georgia. This is a great team along with Jake Vogel, assistant brewer, Leslie Tillery who does all their media, Bobby Craig who is the friendly bartender, and Cathy Lamm who is the event center manager.

Outside patio

The outside patio is very artistically done with a wall that has bricks and stones placed in an appealing design. Nathan said he got most of the dug up stones from cotton fields just outside of the town. They have live entertainment here some days, just check their schedule. It is just a laid back friendly atmosphere making you want to come back again and again.

Fancy new bathroom 

Fancy bathroom sink

We discovered Oconee Brewing Company when we came to Greensboro about a year ago. We were lucky enough to just happen upon their first year anniversary party. How lucky was that. We were there early but discovered this fun place. It was amazing with lots of people showing up to do flights of beer, tasting all their varieties. On that day they had a band set up on the outside patio and in the parking lot were a few food trucks. Joe loved the beer and bought a growler before we left to bring some of their excellent beer home with us.

Patio set up for a wedding

Event area set up for a wedding

We stopped by this past weekend and they were not open that Saturday because the entire facility was rented for a wedding. What a great place to get married. We walked in from the patio which was all decked out with chairs set up for the ceremony and spoke to Taylor Lamm. Joe was carrying his grower from the last visit and Taylor let us know they were not open but nicely filled our growler to take with us. He didn’t have to do that and we really appreciated it since we came from Augusta. He apologized for not being open and said this was the first time they ever closed like this. We were fine with it and were happy for him to have rented out the building. Thanks again Taylor for being so nice.

They are open Thursday and Friday 4 pm to 8 pm and Saturday 12 pm to 8 pm. They are located at 202 N. West Street in Greensboro, Georgia. There phone is 706-920-1177. Check them out at: www.oconeebrewingco.com. This brewery is worth your trip.

Till next time. Bye for now.

“Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger