In my recap of the Craft Brewers Conference, held last month in Nashville, I admit I totally buried the lede. In addition to the great showing by local breweries as part of the general festivities of the conference, a Hendersonville brewery took home a gold medal in the World Beer Cup. It was one of only two awards earned by Tennessee breweries from more than 10,000 submitted beer entries.
Actually, Half Batch Brewing isn’t just “a Hendersonville brewery” — it’s the first and only one in town. Their Scottish ale, the Fulkin, was awarded a gold medal for the category, joining Knoxville’s Xui Beer Company — who won a bronze — as the only medalists in Tennessee.
Nathan Newton with his World Beer Cup award
Half Batch, the brainchild of Nathan Newton, started up in 2017, when he left a job in IT to follow his passion of brewing craft beer. Betting his retirement account on the new venture, Newton has created a neighborhood hub for the community and brews some outstanding beers, ranging from IPAs and pale ales to Belgian-style brews and cream ales. But it’s Newton’s Scottish ale that really wowed the judges with its balance of malt and hops — and completely sessionable ABV level of 4.9 percent.
Newton’s recipe for The Fulkin goes back to his home-brewing days, and the beer has been a bestseller at the brewery and in distribution since the brewery opened. Taking home one of only 101 gold medals from a combined total of 307 awards to breweries representing 51 countries is a pretty darned big deal, and my apologies for not sharing the great news sooner.
There will be more excellent developments coming from Half Batch later this summer as they move to new digs with expanded production and taproom space. Stay tuned for more details, and kudos to Newton and his team!
