Beer Quest for Brewfest: Blue Pants Brewery | Arts & Culture

Blue Pants Brewery

• Began: 2010
• Owners: The Spratley Family: Michael "Pants" Spratley, Allison "Blue" Spratley, Clint Spratley,Albert Spratley, Cindy Spratley, Al Spratley, and Charles Acker
• Location: Madison, Alabama
• Flagship Beer:  Knickerbocker Red
• Tap Room Hours: Thursday 3-8pm, Friday & Saturday 3-10pm

My next stop on my beer quest for the Rocket City Brewfest took me to Madison, Alabama to the family owned business of Blue Pants Brewery.

If you know how to find Walmart on Madison Blvd., then you can find Blue Pants.  It's located at 500 Lanier Road in Suite A. 

And their new digs are definitely sweet.  They have more than 10,000 square feet of space, all new equipment, and a new tap room.

I stopped by to speak with Blue and Pants, AKA Allison and Michael Spratley.  They had their latest addition with them, a new baby and the smallest supporter of local craft beer. 

Blue Pants Brewery gets it's name from the couple at the helm of the business. Michael calls Allison "Blue" because of her blue eyes and his nick name in college was Pants.  I didn't get into why his nickname was "Pants" because there are somethings I just accept and move on.

They started up in 2010 and have recently moved into the aforementioned building.  They have big plans for that building.  Plans that everyone in the family helps to make come into reality.  Michael's Parent, his brothers, and friends all put their heart and soul into the brewery.  They all also work daytime jobs as well.

So what's it like to work with family?  Both Blue and Pants say there is nothing like it.  While it can be a bit tense at times, Michael says at the end of the day you know that there is nothing but support from everyone.  He said he has a smart group of people who care about the brewery as much as he does and Allison adds in that's the best part is that everyone cares.

Michael is the brewmaster and he usually takes Fridays or Sundays to brew up the beers.  They have brand new equipment that he say works like a dream and helps keep every batch consistent.  Both Spratley's said that Free the Hops have played a huge role in their lives. It significantly helped to enable them to start a brewery in 2010. 

In 2010, they had some slightly used equipment in a teeny tiny space, but once they moved into the new location, they said they were going big or going home.  And they have plenty of space to play with -- there are talks about a possible projector to put movies up on the wall.

This month they are opening their tap room.  You can swing by and taste them on tap now but, they are having a grand opening May 19th 3-11pm.  The band Seducing Alice will be playing from 7pm - 11pm and food will be provided by Bush League BBQ.

For the Rocket City Brewfest, Blue Pants plans to bring a barrel aged beer, a strawberry saison beer (whoo hoo!) and a black IPA which is going to be a roasty hop bomb of flavor according to Michael.

They say to stop by the tent and say hello to the who family!  Pick up your tickets today for the 4th annual Rocket City Brewfest.