WHAT'S BREWING
BREWERY SPOTLIGHT:
Ironshield Brewing
Lawrenceville’s newest brewery is making a name for itself with its authentic reproduction of famous European styles of beer. By Alicia Carter / Photos by David Rice OCATED JUST blocks from historic downtown Lawrenceville, Ironshield Brewing has found a home in the building that once belonged to the Gwinnett Daily Post. The history of the building and its evolution into a craft brewery, which opened in July 2020, speaks to both the writer and the beer lover in me. To have been able to see those Heidelberg printing presses in all of their glory would’ve been a treat, but to walk among the towering two-story tanks that are helping to create Ironshield’s next batch of beer is just as fun. Equally as entertained is Ironshield’s co-founder and CEO David Rice, who leads me on a tour of the massive 55,000-squarefoot building, beginning with the taproom, which feels as though it was
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plucked from a small neighborhood in Germany, and through the warehouse, home to the brewing, cellaring and packaging operations. We trek through each section of the building, passing brewers checking on beer and operators readying packaging lines as Rice speaks to the history of the building and the budding future of Ironshield. “People who have owned the building are now regular customers here,” he says. “They love seeing the transformation and how it went from what it was and the history of the building to what it is today. They’re very pleased that it’s a brewery now.” Rice’s background in manufacturing for companies like Coca-Cola and Microsoft combined with his love for beer uniquely positioned him to open a brewery like Ironshield, one that
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emphasizes authenticity through the science of brewing. “With a lot of the breweries there’s a lot of hard labor,” he says. “People are watching their watch, measuring temperatures and monitoring the process — a lot of brewing with their back. We wanted to put in a system where we are brewing with our minds, so we do a lot on the science side. And that’s really to drive the quality and reproducibility of a product.” That reproducibility has come in handy with Big Kettle Brewing, another trademark, which offers contract brewing and packaging services to other breweries. While Big Kettle may currently be their bread and butter, growing Ironshield is a major focus for David and his team, and rightly so. The beer Ironshield produces is not just an homage to those famous European style beers, it’s a true reproduction of them and a welcomed addition to our local craft beer scene. We recently spoke with Rice to learn more about Ironshield Brewing and the craft beer experience it’s bringing to Gwinnett.
