Our Story
The Silver Lining
The impacts of the Covid 19 pandemic, and ensuing lockdown, will have a lasting effect for years to come. While the negative impacts have been well documented, one of the positives that will continue to emerge is the ideas and successful businesses that have grown out of this time. And that is where the story of Brock’s Gap Brewing Company begins.
Hoover's First Brewery
Our story starts a little differently than some brewery’s origin stories. It starts with a bike ride and a piece of land. One of our founders was spending an afternoon in lockdown teaching his young son to ride his bike in the Hoover Met Sports Complex parking lot. While there, he spotted a prime parcel of land directly adjacent to the Met. As a resident of one of the many neighborhoods in the Brock’s Gap area of Hoover, he knew one of the things missing and sorely needed was a large social gathering space for the community- and what better place to gather and socialize than a brewery. After some calls the team began to dream bigger than just a small local brewery. What if it could be more than a brewery- a concert venue, a place to hold community events, and a vehicle to give back to the community. With that, the first brewery in Hoover was born.
So Why Brock’s Gap?
What is now a regional sports hub, a home to thousands of residents in surrounding neighborhoods, and the home of Brock’s Gap Brewing Company was once one of the most historically significant areas in central Alabama. After a geological survey found large pockets of coal and iron throughout the region, there was a push to develop a way to mine and transport those resources. A railroad line was needed, but one significant obstacle stood in the way, and that obstacle was Brock’s Gap. Brock’s Gap was a natural pass through Shades Mountain that contained a hard, solid rock summit, steep grades, and natural culverts. No easy feat for 19th-century engineers and technology.
