Left to right are friends and brewery owners Evan Scanlan, Philip Leonard and Matt Kapusta, who started the brewery together after a hobby of home brewing.
Abide Brewing Company could be considered a pioneer in the world of business and beer by being Newnan’s oldest brewery, literally. The brewing company is located on Werz Industrial Boulevard, and it all began with friends who had a common interest in beer.
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rewery owners Evan Scanlan, Matt Kapusta and Philip Leonard were all friends and home brewers before they decided to start the brewery. “We were just people who liked brewing beer,” Kapusta said. “Philip and I were neighbors, and one day we were at the bar and met Evan. We started a home brew club called HopBreakers and started brewing every week. A lot of people enjoy the hobby of brewing. We would usually make about five-and-a-half gallons. We were doing beer for ourselves and thought it would be cool to have a brewery in this area.” The three hobbyists decided to bring their dream to life in July 2013, but would not start shipping out beer until 18 months later in February 2015. “There had never been a brewery here before,” Kapusta said. “We did a lot of work getting city approval. They had never had anything like this on the books. We spent a lot of time educating the city and county on the plans and goals of the brewery.” The brewery owners said they had to explain they were a manufacturer of a malt beverage and not a bar. State regulations september /october 2016 | 27