It would be easy to say Smith Matthews has always wanted to own a brew pub. After nearly 8 years building the very popular Southbound Brewing Company, that would be the short cut to happily ever after, right? He says that wasn’t always the case. This just kind of happened.
Hop Atomica opens Friday on the Southern fringe of Savannah’s ever growing ‘downtown’ area. Twenty taps of beer made in house and a friendly menu to feed the hungry. Here’s an abbreviated version of my chat with Smith ahead of the opening of Hop Atomica. You can hear the entire conversation by clicking here for our Eat It and Like It Podcast.
How would you categorize Hop Atomica? Gastropub or something different?
SM: “It’s kind of a weird mix of a gastropub with a brew pub with a production brewery. I don’t know where it falls to be completely honest. Essentially we have a production brewery license and we have a small kitchen.”
How long has this been in the works?
SM: “When the laws changed, that really enabled us to have this conversation. Those laws made it favorable for us to do this. We are primarily selling beer over the bar versus mass distribution like how Southbound is set up.”
The space is beautiful, I think everyone is going enjoy it, but how nuts has it been trying to open a place in a pandemic?
SM: “That has posed numerous challenges that I don’t know that we’ve overcome yet, honestly. Every day is a new day and a new world we are living in. We are doing everything we can to make sure our employees health and our customers health and safety is addressed. But we do need to open. As safely as possible.”
What is your approach to beer here? 20 taps right?
SM: “Yes, 20 taps. We are launching with nine of ’em. They are filled and we are continuously brewing to get to a full 20 one day soon, hopefully. This small system allows us to brew experimental beers that are hard to pull off in a large production scale. Kind of like a chef special on a weekly basis.”
How much thought has gone into the food?
SM: “I would say much much more planning has gone into the food. I know beer. We did put a lot of planning into the beer. But I wanted to put a lot of time into the food so I could learn about that. I brought in a good friend of mine from Charleston to consult and help us put together the menu with what we think is really good food truck food. Tacos, sandwiches, pizzas. We are going to continue to evolve in that fashion.”
I’ve had a few chuckles at your expense lately. You are opening Hop Atomica, you and your bride are expecting your first child. When are you going to find time to sleep?
SM: “Well, I have to thank PERC Coffee for helping me get through all of this, honestly. I’m looking forward to taking a vacation in the next few years. Fortunately, my brother partnered with me in this. It makes it easier.”
For the full conversation, CLICK HERE.
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