Tag: Goldcrest 51

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Highlights and Lowlights of 2015

January

• Redevelopment plans for the Tennessee Brewery building were unveiled. Developer Billy Orgel plans to convert the historic building into apartments, build an adjacent six-story residential structure called the Wash House, and build a four-story parking garage across Tennessee Street.

• Wanda Wilson, the flamboyant and much-loved long time proprietor of Midtown’s P&H Cafe, died. Wilson was beloved by generations of Memphis’ artists, actors, journalists, students, and eccentrics of every stripe.

February

• Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) President Paul Morris announced that he would step down in the summer. Morris has gone on to work with his family business at Jack Morris Auto Glass. In September, Terence Patterson was selected to replace Morris. Patterson was treasurer of the DMC’s Center City Development Corporation.

Zeke Logan

• WXMX 98.1 radio personality Zeke Logan, co-host of the Drake & Zeke show, died. Logan, whose real name was David Millar, was diagnosed with cancer several months earlier.

March

• Mayor A C Wharton announced his intention to hire Jack Sammons, former Memphis-Shelby Airport Authority board chair/former city councilman/president of Ampro Industries, Inc. hair products company, as the city chief administrative officer. Sammons replaced George Little, who was moved to the position of special assistant for minority and women’s affairs and safety.

April

• Long time Memphis City Councilman Shea Flinn resigned his post after accepting a new job as senior vice president of the Greater Memphis Chamber’s Chairman’s Circle. Attorney Alan Crone was appointed to Flinn’s seat, but in January, newly elected Philip Spinosa Jr. will take the seat.

• Goldcrest 51 beer enthusiast Kenn Flemmons of Little Rock recreated the classic Memphis beer. He offered the first taste at the Revival beer garden in the Tennessee Brewery. Select bars across the city continue to sell Goldcrest 51 on draft.

• Bass Pro Shops opened its long-awaited super store in the long-vacant Pyramid. The sporting goods store features a bowling alley, a swamp with live alligators, a restaurant and hotel, and elevator rides to the top of the Pyramid.

May

• Blues legend B.B. King died in his sleep at age 89. He had been struggling with diabetes and was in hospice care.

• The Tennessee Department of Transportation announced that they planned to close the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge (the “Old Bridge”) for up to nine months in 2017 during a proposed, three-year construction project on the I-55 interchange at E.H. Crump. In July, TDOT decided to pause the project and further study its economic impact.

• Noura Jackson, who was sentenced to 20 years and nine months for second-degree murder in her mother’s 2005 stabbing death, accepted an Alford plea and will be released from prison in spring 2017. Her conviction was overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court last year, which cited then-Assistant District Attorney Amy Weirich with suppression of evidence in the case and illegal statements in her closing argument against Jackson.

June

• Ballet Memphis unveiled plans to raze the old, crumbling French Quarter Inn in Overton Square and erect a new studio space.

• Local same-sex couples lined up to marry after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality. Memphians Chris and Bradley Brower were the first Shelby County couple to marry.

July

• Nineteen-year-old Darrius Stewart, who was unarmed, was shot and killed by Memphis Police officer Connor Schilling during a traffic stop. In November, Weirich recommended Schilling be indicted for the shooting, but a grand jury failed to indict. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation file on the case was released in December, and it shows discrepancies between Schilling’s story and the stories of multiple witnesses.

Darrius Stewart

• A macaque monkey named Zimm escaped her enclosure at the Memphis Zoo, sending Zoo officials on a wild, um, monkey chase through the Zoo’s culvert system. Someone quickly launched a @Zimm901 Twitter account. Zimm was located a few days later.

• Widespread Panic fan Troy Goode died after being hog-tied by Southaven Police. Goode had taken LSD and was acting erractically when police attempted to subdue him. An attorney for Goode’s family ordered an independent autopsy, which concluded that Goode died from complications related to being hog-tied. The Mississippi state autopsy report claimed Goode died of an LSD overdose.

August

• Memphis Police officer Sean Bolton was shot and killed by Tremaine Wilbourn after Bolton stopped to check on an illegally parked car that Wilbourn was a passenger in. Wilbourn ran but turned himself in a few days after the shooting. In December, Wilbourn was indicted on federal carjacking charges and felony possession of a firearm. He also faces state charges for murder.

• After white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered nine church members at a historically black church in Charleston, North Carolina, in June, Memphis joined other cities and states in calling for the removal of Confederate symbols. The city council approved an ordinance allowing the city to remove the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue in Health Sciences Park, and they also approved a resolution to move the remains of Forrest and his wife, which are buried at the park.

• Longtime Action News 5 chief meteorologist Dave Brown retired after a 53-year career in radio and TV.

Robert Lipscomb

• Robert Lipscomb, the director of Housing and Community Development, was relieved of duties following an anonymous complaint that he had sexual relations with a minor. After news broke, other accusers alleged similar relations with Lipscomb. Lipscomb was also suspended from his role as director of the Memphis Housing Authority.

September

• Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong announced that officers will begin wearing body cameras. By year-end, he said they should have 2,000 cameras deployed.

• Trader Joe’s finally confirmed they were opening a store in Germantown in 2016.

October

• Memphis City Councilman Jim Strickland defeats incumbent Wharton in the mayoral race. Strickland will begin his new job as city leader in January.

• Armstrong, who has served as police director since 2011, announced that he’ll retire once Strickland finds a replacement.

• Police officer Terence Oldridge was shot and killed outside his home, apparently after a dispute with neighbor Lorenzo Clark. Clark was indicted for being a felon in possession of guns.

November

• The Urban Land Institute suggested a portion of the Mid-South Coliseum should be saved and used for concerts, but they also suggested the Fairgrounds needed a youth sports facility. The issue of what to do with the Coliseum had been a point of contention all year between preservationists and the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development, which had been pushing to raze the arena, acquire TDZ status for the land, and build a youth sports facility.

• The Economic Development Growth Engine approved an extension of IKEA’s PILOT agreement, and the Swedish retailer officially announced that it would open its Germantown Parkway store in the fall of 2016.

December

• Eugene Cashman, president of the nonprofit Urban Child Institue (UCI), announced his retirement plans in December. A Flyer story in August reported that critics say UCI sits on a huge investment fund but gives little of it to the community and also noted that Cashman has for a long time made a top-of-the-line salary.

• Strickland announced his transition team, which includes new Memphis Fire Director Gina Sweat, Chief of Staff Lisa Geater, Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen, and former reporters Ursala Madden and Kyle Veazey on his communications team, among others.

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Tennessee Brewery: The Revival’s Virtual Time Capsule

There are only two weekends left for Tennessee Brewery: The Revival, so organizers of the weekly pop-up beer garden are gathering memories from attendees for a virtual time capsule. 

They’re asking people to share any memories relating to the Tennessee Brewery, whether from last year’s Untapped beer garden or The Revival or from any time in the lifespan of the long-vacant, century-old former home of Goldcrest 51 beer.

Memories can be shared on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #BreweryMemory or on the brewery’s Facebook page, and they’ll be documented for the future era of the brewery. Developer Billy Orgel has plans to turn the space into a residential facility.

The Revival is open this weekend and runs through May 31st.

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Little Rock Man To Bring Back Goldcrest 51 Beer

It’s doubtful that anyone alive today knows as much about Goldcrest 51 beer as Little Rock resident Kenn Flemmons. The collector of Goldcrest paraphernalia and author of Goldcrest 51 Beer: Finest Beer You Ever Tasted even knows the beer’s original recipe.

Beginning this week, Flemmons will introduce the historic Memphis beer back into the market. Using the original recipe, Flemmons is having it brewed at Blue Pants Brewery in Alabama, and it will be available for sale beginning this Thursday at the Tennessee Brewery Revival and Westy’s in the Pinch.

Goldcrest 51 was brewed at the old Tennessee Brewery (the site of pop-up beer garden Revival every Thursday through Sunday until May 31st) until the facility closed in the 1950s. In its heyday, the lager was one of the most popular beers in the region.

“I think a lot of people understand that this is not just a beer. This is history. This is Memphis,” Flemmons said.

— Bianca Phillips

Kenn Flemmons

Flyer: How did you get the recipe?

Kenn Flemmons: I published a book in 2003 on the Tennessee Brewing Company called The Finest Beer You Ever Tasted. When we were doing the research, one of the challenges I had was to find people — still alive — who had anything to do with a brewery that had closed 50 years before. We were able to connect with a half-dozen or so and some spouses whose husbands had worked at the brewery. One of those was the person who had the recipe and had no idea she had it. Her husband had worked in the brew house.

And you own the patent now?

On a lark one day, I went online to look up Goldcrest 51 beer on the U.S. Patent Office website to see who owned the patent. No one did. It had gone back into the public domain. So I filed on it and spent a couple thousand dollars in legal fees, but I was able to get the name and all the logos that go with it. If you have the recipe and the name and all the old logos, then the question becomes, What do you do with it?

A couple years ago, I got a phone call from a local distributor, A.S. Barbaro, and they asked if I’d ever thought about bringing it back. They said they’d love to sell the beer for me. Through A.S. Barbaro’s connections, we were able to make all the other pieces fall into place.

Did you plan the launch date to coincide with Revival?

I came over in January and met Billy [Orgel, who bought the brewery building last year]. I mentioned to him that we were working on this beer project and that I hoped we’d be done by June. He said, ‘Is there any way to get it done sooner?’

The Untapped promotion [last year] drew 35,000 people through there. And there’s no reason to think that same number won’t come through this time [for Revival]. If we’re going to reintroduce a Memphis brand, where better to do it than the building where it was made?

Will it be available in other bars?

We are delivering the first keg to Westy’s, which is owned by Jake Schorr, whose family owned the brewery. When we first started talking about this, I knew we needed to make sure that Jake gets the first keg because that would mean the world to him. [As for other bars], that will be up to the distributor. There is limited quantity.

Do you plan to grow the business and get into bottling?

I have an 18-year-old son who is starting his first year of college, and he’s enamored by the whole history of the place. He wants somewhere down the line to play a role in this. If it works and people buy the beer, then we have every reason to keep making the beer. Eventually, it will be sold in bottles or cans.

What does it taste like?

Goldcrest is a middle-of-the-road beer. It’s more full-bodied than a lager you’d buy today. It’s the kind of beer that is a gateway into the craft world. It’s very different from the normal beers that one might think of, the mega-beers.

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Goldcrest 51 Beer: The Comeback

Goldcrest 51, the beer that was brewed at the Tennessee Brewery from the late 1800s through the 1950s, will experience a revival at the aptly named Tennessee Brewery: The Revival event this weekend.

Goldcrest 51 beer enthusiast Kenn Flemmons of Little Rock has held the beer’s original recipe for years as part of his massive collection of Goldcrest paraphernalia. Now Flemmons has teamed up with Blue Pants Brewery in Alabama to recreate the old-school lager. The beer will be unveiled on Thursday, April 16th at Tennessee Brewery: The Revival.

It will arrive at the brewery at 10:30 a.m. by horse-drawn carriage, just like the beer was delivered in the early 20th century. Revival opens at 11 a.m., and Goldcrest will be for sale. It will remain on sale throughout the weekend until the keg runs dry. Revival is open Thursday through Sunday. Goldcrest 51 beer will also be sold at Westy’s in the Pinch this weekend.

As part of Revival’s “Goldcrest Weekend,” film productor/director Brian Manis’ new documentary on the Tennessee Brewery will screen at the event on Saturday, April 18th at 8 p.m. The documentary chronicles the brewery’s history and its beer production.

Also at Revival this weekend, artist Michael Roy will paint a large mural in the Atrium throughout the weekend. Live music will include Loveland Duren, Sing for Glenn, and Mason Jar Fireflies.

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Tennessee Brewery Beer Garden Opens Thursday

Last spring, a group of friends and business partners threw a two-month-long party in the rustic courtyard of the long-vacant Tennessee Brewery with one mission (okay, two missions) — to save the threatened building from demolition (and to sell craft beer).

Untapped was so successful that it’s making a comeback this week as The Revival. The beer garden will be open in the old brewery every Thursday through Sunday from April 9th to May 31st.

But this go-round is less about saving the building and more about celebrating the fact that the brewery will soon see new life. Shortly after Untapped ended last year, cell phone tower developer/Shelby County Schools board member Billy Orgel stepped up and purchased the former Goldcrest 51 beer factory. He plans to renovate the building and turn it into apartments.

But his son Benjamin Orgel, a Memphian who recently graduated from the University of Texas, thought there should be one last big party in the brewery before construction begins. So he enlisted the help of his friends Logan Scheidt and Paul Stephens, also recent college grads, and the three are bringing back the spring pop-up party, complete with 22 beer taps, rotating food trucks, live music, live artist demonstrations, and more.

“When I got back to Memphis from Austin, I said, ‘I want to do something to help the city.’ I love Memphis and everything about it,” Benjamin said. “This was the perfect opportunity. Yes, it’s a business, and we’re selling beer. But more than that, this is about community.”

Although The Revival will be very similar to last year’s Untapped event, Benjamin said they’ve stepped it up a bit for round two.

“Last year, the event was so successful because it was in a building that needed to be saved. People were saying, ‘Buy this building.’ So we did, and we understand that means we had to make some improvements,” Benjamin said.

Those improvements include turning the courtyard beer garden into an actual garden filled with greenery from Pettit’s Lawnscapes. They’re also opening up the indoor staircase room, which was sealed off last year. In that room, which they’re calling the Atrium, artists will hold live painting demonstrations. There will also be a piano in that room that anyone can play.

The iconic “Invest in Good Times” graffiti (known as Professor Catfish) on the outside of the brewery has moved inside for photo-ops, and a large window stands in its place so patrons can look out over Tennessee Street from inside the building.

Perhaps, most importantly, last year’s festival-style porta-potties will be replaced with portable restroom trailers with running water.

There will be two bars this year — one inside and one outside — and 22 taps, many of which will dispense local beers. Historian Kenn Flemmons, who wrote a book on the brewery’s history, has recreated Goldcrest 51 beer using the original recipe, and it will be served at the event. Memphis Made has created a specialty American Pale Ale just for Untapped: Revival called Luke McLuke.

“John Schorr, who owned the brewery, also loved horseracing, and Luke McLuke was his horse that won the Belmont Stakes,” said Doug Carpenter, who is handling marketing for Untapped: Revival.

Carpenter was one of four partners who put on the original Untapped last year. The other three — Taylor Berger, Andy Cates, and Michael Tauer — are not involved in this year’s event.

Craig Blondis from Central BBQ is handling the food and beverage operations this year. There will be two food trucks parked inside the courtyard daily, as well as some specialty carts.

To appease South Bluffs neighbors, all live music will be acoustic. Acts will be featured on Saturday and Sunday between 3 and 7 p.m.

Untapped: Revival will be open Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.