Ferus Artisan Ales set to open in downtown district this summer

Residents and visitors awaiting the completion of the new downtown Trussville entertainment district may get a taste of one of its unique offerings as early as July.

Ferus Artisan Ales, a craft brewery, plans to begin its operation at 201 Morrow Ave. in July with a five-barrel (150-gallon) brew house and add a 30-barrel operation by the fall. The brewery, which will be inside a 23,000-square-foot warehouse to the left of the Pinchgut Pavilion, will produce clean beers (pilsners, IPAs and stouts), as well as saisons and sours. 

Plans for Ferus also include opening a distillery for vodka, gin and whiskey. There will be a 4,000-square-foot taproom, which will open up into a restaurant serving shareable meals such as pizzas and flatbreads and other casual options such as salads, sandwiches and wings.

It is one of the first of many downtown businesses being developed by Coby Lake, co-founder and former co-owner of Avondale Brewing Company.

Lake is bringing in his former head brewer, Nate Darnell, and sales manager Gaines Turpin from Avondale to serve as co-operators of Ferus Artisan Ales. The two have spent the last year and a half researching equipment and planning the new space.

“People in Trussville have been very friendly.” Darnell said, “I like going out and talking to people about what we’re doing. It’s been very receptive. I’m really excited and happy to get to know everybody out there. It’s exciting to be able to start something from the ground up and build and design it the way I’d like. The beer game is an ever-changing market, so we’re getting things done the right way from the get go.” 

At Avondale, Darnell also helped developed The Sour Room and created beers such as Train Hopper Pale Ale, Warning Shot Double IPA, Rainer Tart Saison and many more, including a wild yeast brew called Ferus Will, part of the inspiration for the new location’s name.

“We let the yeast do its thing and what came out, came out,” Darnell said of the wild beer process. “We really liked that beer, and when I started thinking about the name for the new place and wanting to do sour stuff, Ferus just stuck with us.”

The new brewery will incorporate the meaning of its name from the logo to new wild and sour beer creations to creating a “naturistic feel” through the use of wild animals in its design and a living wall to decorate the facility.

“We’re trying to bring the outdoor feel indoors,”Darnell said.

While Ferus plans to make a wild or sour beer as one of its four core brews by the end of the year, Turpin said they will likely begin with a hoppy pilsner as its flagship, something “easily drinkable for the masses.” They will also start out with an IPA and stout among their first three brews this summer.

“The people I’ve talked to, everybody is pretty excited about it,” Turpin said. “Bringing the brewery and the restaurants that will come with it, I feel like it will be big for Trussville. I’ve talked to a few retailers who have said, ‘As soon as you get product, bring it to me. We’re going to start selling from day one.’ I think everybody has been pretty happy about it.”

Turpin said Ferus will be producing product immediately and expects to produce 1,500 barrels (more than 45,000 gallons) of beer in the first year and work its way up to 2,500 to 3,000 barrels in year two or three. 

“With the craft brew industry and where it is going, I feel there’s a lot of upside to it. There’s a lot of buzz about it, and I wanted to be a part of it,” said Turpin, who spent 12 years as a distributer before becoming a craft beer supplier. “Not many people get to start something fresh, and it’s been a great opportunity working alongside Nate.”

Darnell and Turpin hope the brewery can help start a trend of seeing others from the downtown Birmingham area open new operations outside the city.

“I hope we start to see more suburban areas start to put breweries in. It’s always nice when you can have a place right down the street,” Darnell said.

For updates on development of the brewery and distillery, follow Ferus Artisan Ales at facebook.com/ferusartisanales.