Burnt Hickory Brewery is slated to close this week after more than a decade in Kennesaw, with plans to relocate in the coming months.
The brewery, located at 2260 Moon Station Court, will cease operations May 31, according to a post on Burnt Hickory’s Instagram account. Owner Scott Hedeen also confirmed the closure to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“The craft beer industry has changed and grown drastically, and Burnt Hickory must grow right along with the industry,” the post reads. “We believe that our focus needs to be on our community and on our taproom. Namely, we will be taking our time to focus on locking down a new location that provides our customers with a top-tier space to enjoy Burnt Hickory beer that it deserves to be served in.”
Hedeen, a retired Emmy Award-winning TV cameraman and punk rock guitar player, opened Burnt Hickory in 2012 “as a fledgling operation that wasn’t much bigger than his homebrewing rig,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution beer writer Bob Townsend wrote at the time.
In late 2014, Hedeen invested in a new 20-barrel brewhouse that expanded the brewery’s capacity to up to 4,000 barrels of beer a year.
The brewery became known for its regular rotation of beers including graham cracker stout Big Shanty and the Down South Helles Lager.
Bob Townsend
Bob Townsend
“We’ve been running an SUV-style, gas-guzzling operation in a world that is now run by electric cars,” Hedeen told the AJC. “The business plan that I started in 2012 has evolved into something new. It used to be that people came for the beer; now, you have to bring the beer to the people.”
Burnt Hickory is the second metro Atlanta craft brewery to close in 2023 — Orpheus Brewing closed in Midtown in May after nearly nine years.
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