ATLANTA — When he's not spitting bars, Fish Scales mans the bar at Atlantucky. The rap group Nappy Roots opened the brewery in the Castleberry Hills neighborhood of Atlanta in 2021, coming off the pandemic and a number of obstacles while trying to open up shop.
"Just being the second Black-owned brewery in the state of Georgia, that lets you know how hard it is to get to where we are," Scales said. "We were here during the pandemic, so it took a while for people to feel comfortable and come back out. But breweries are a place people meet, socialize and it’s a watering hole for the community.”
Scales has weathered a few storms, but none like what his neighbors in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida experienced in the last two weeks. After seeing the devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Atlantucky is now pouring into other communities, one glass at a time, to help them heal and recover.
“Asheville is a big beer community, and we have a lot of love for breweries that have lost everything," Scales said. "We want to use our platform to help out the beer community as well. We just want to show them a good time, give them some relief from what they’re going through and welcome them into our community here.”
Atlantucky has teamed up with the nonprofit Caring for Others to collect canned goods and financial donations to send to hurricane victims. Scales said he was even brewing a specialty beer specifically for hurricane victims called Relief. As they will soon get a taste of the proceeds, Scales looks forward to extending a little southern hospitality to those in need.
“Atlantucky is our platform, and we always try to use beer in our location as a way to raise funds, as a way to give people shelter," Scales said. "We have to work together. In times like these, you see people come together and that’s what we’re doing.”