Tap Takeover

11:00 AM - 11:00 PM | West Asheville, NC

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Birds Fly South is migrating to The Whale!

Birds Fly South Ale Project is coming to The Whale in West Asheville for a tap takeover! We’re excited to feature this fantastic Greenville brewery. We also can’t wait to have some of the Birds Fly South flock in the house.

We’ll be pulling pints of Birds Fly South brews all day so make sure to join us!

About the Brewery:

Shawn and Lindsay Johnson met in Florida and started their family there. They moved several times due to Shawn’s aviation career in the coast guard. They enjoyed experiencing new and local beers wherever they went. The vanguard of which was traditional style beers while living in Alaska. During their station in the northernmost state, Lindsay bought Shawn his first homebrew kit for Father’s Day. Homebrewing in Alaska wasn’t easy, most of the supplies had to be shipped to where they lived on Kodiak Island, but this is where the passion project really started to take flight.

Once they moved back down to Florida, they were introduced to a local brewery owner, Bob of Saint Somewhere Brewing, through a mutual connection. This is where Shawn truly got to roll up his sleeves and immerse himself in a brewery and began his understudy of wild beer. It made for working long days at the coast guard followed by nights and weekends learning everything he could at the brewery. But now that he had a taste for the future, he couldn’t turn back.

Greenville had a lot to offer; mountains, hiking, camping, local artists, a good place to raise a family, and it also had a need for more local beer. Shawn and Lindsay also noticed that no one in the area seemed to be focusing on wild and funky beer. So, they decided to open a brewery and do the opposite of what everyone else seemed to be doing. Instead of focusing on clean beer and trending styles, they decided to focus on wild, funky, and throwback-style ales. They began renting space from another local brewery, Thomas Creek, and the passion project took flight. The results were surreal.

How They Got Their Name:

The name Birds Fly South came about as an homage to the Johnson family’s life and migratory flight from Florida, Alaska, Florida, D.C., and eventually to Greenville where they’ve settled down and bypassed harsh winters. Originally hailing from Florida and the Carolinas, their family (their flock), was always looking to find their back to the south.

Come out and give Birds Fly South a try! Check out the other Whale happenings here.