C O V E R
S T O R Y
WILD LEAP BREW CO.
T
he beginning of the Wild Leap story is well known. Two enterprising and ambitious Atlanta friends and a gifted brewer left thriving careers to follow their dream of creating approachable and inventive styles of craft beer in the former Westbrook Tire building in downtown LaGrange. Now, less than five years after founders Anthony Rodriguez and Rob Goldstein and brewmaster Chris Elliott took their personal wild leap, their vision has not only taken shape. It’s taken off. In January, Wild Leap was named 2021 Brewery of the Year by Beer Connoisseur magazine. “For the first time in our history, a brewery submitted a staggering three
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February 2022
beers that received World Class rating, making them our runaway Brewery of the Year for 2021,” the Beer Connoisseur editorial department wrote. This marks the first time in the twelve-year history of the Official Review that a brewery received three World Class ratings in a calendar year. Wild Leap also submitted an additional nine beers that received scores in the Exceptional range and a whopping 16 beers within the Top 150 Beers of the Year category. It was the second significant honor in just the past six months. Last August, Wild Leap was named to the Inc. 5000, the business magazine‘s annual list of America’s 5,000 fastest-growing private companies. Not just beverage companies,