Breweries & Taprooms

Das Stahl Bierhaus & Kaffeehaus is a craft beer bar, bottle shop and coffee house in South Huntsville. According to its website, it opened as a bottleshop and taproom and grew into a family-friendly gathering spot with board games, built around the German idea of gemütlichkeit, or coziness. The taproom runs 32 rotating taps, including a nitro tap, cider and mead, and German imports. The bottle shop side lists more than 450 beers, ciders, wines, meads, sake, seltzers and kombuchas, plus a large non-alcoholic selection, and you can build your own six-pack or buy a single bottle. Mornings start in the Kaffeehaus with coffee and breakfast, and lunch, dinner and pizza are served later in the day. The website also promotes seasonal events, including an Oktoberfest celebration.

Old Black Bear Brewing Company is a craft brewery with two taprooms in north Alabama: this one on Main Street in Madison and another in Athens. Its website describes the Madison taproom as a spot serving the brewery's beer with good food. The beer list on the site covers a range of styles. Cave City Lager is the flagship amber lager, and the list also includes a roasted porter, a Belgian tripel, an extra special bitter, a hazy IPA, a tropical IPA, a Scotch ale and a tart sour ale. Some beers are marked as available at one taproom or the other, so check the site before you go. The website also sells gift cards, and the Madison taproom has its own food menu there.

InnerSpace Brewing Company is a brewery on Clinton Avenue West in Huntsville. Its website says the brewing focus is farmhouse ales, saisons and easy-drinking ales and lagers. The taproom has a sci-fi theme and a shelf of board games, and the brewery describes it as family friendly. The kitchen turns out wood-fired Neapolitan pizza and deep dish pizza, and cider is poured alongside the rotating beer list. The site says dogs are welcome on the front patio and in the biergarten. The brewery also takes event bookings and has a wholesale page. Its site lists regular taproom hours Tuesday through Sunday.

Straight to Ale is a craft brewery at Campus 805 on Clinton Avenue in Huntsville. According to its website, it was founded in 2009 by a group of local home brewers and moved into its 45,000-square-foot campus in 2016. It makes beer and cider. The same campus is also home to Shelta Cavern Spirits, Ale's Kitchen (scratch-made food) and Campus Grounds Coffee. The brewery runs an Anti Temperance Society beer club with member socials, and it sells merchandise and gift cards through its online shop. You can walk in, call in an order or order online for pickup, and the site lists food and alcohol delivery options. It also offers rentals of its biergarten, Lipz Lounge and speakeasy spaces. The site says the brewery does not take reservations because seating is limited.

Mad Malts Brewing is a brewery and taproom at 109 Maple Avenue NW in northwest downtown Huntsville. Its website says it has been brewing since 2012. The taproom pours the brewery's own beers, and the site has a page for the current lineup on tap. There is a beer garden and several named indoor spaces, including Center Stage, The Loft, The Zone and The Cave. Growlers, merchandise and kegs to go are also listed. The brewery says its beer is distributed through Turner Beverage across North Alabama. Mad Malts hosts live music, and an events calendar on its website shows what is coming up.

La Famiglia Vineyards & Winery is a small family winery in Toney, on the northern edge of the Huntsville area, with views toward the Appalachian foothills. Its website calls it a boutique micro-farm winery run by a couple, and says the vineyards are grown in North Alabama, in Toney and Harvest. The wines are made from American and European hybrid grapes, in styles the site says range from very dry to sweet dessert wines. The site describes the winery as family and pet friendly, with leashed pets welcome. La Famiglia runs a seasonal schedule, and its site lists Saturday and Sunday visits through the end of the season. The site also has pages for events, food trucks, live music and reservations or rentals, so check there before you go.

The Beer Hog - Madison is one of two Alabama locations of The Beer Hog, a craft beer bar with a food menu. The brand's website lists the Madison spot on Plaza Boulevard alongside its Pelham location. According to the brand's website, The Beer Hog offers a large rotating selection of draft craft beers and many bottled and canned beers. The brand's menu includes pizza, wraps and cheese bread. The brand's website also has a form for party and event requests, gift cards, and a jobs page.

Yellowhammer Brewing is a craft brewery and taproom on Clinton Avenue West in Huntsville, at the Campus 805 complex. According to its website, it opened in West Huntsville in 2010 and moved to its current home in 2015. The brewery says its ales and lagers draw on Belgian and German traditions with a Southern twist. The site also lists spirits (the brewery has added a distillery), a taproom draft list and Earth & Stone Pizza. Yellowhammer has a private event room called The Lounge, plus a Bierhall space for events. You can also shop merch, glassware, growlers and gift cards, or use the store finder to look for its beer around town.

GuajanaRum is a rum distillery in Madison, Alabama. Its website describes the Guajana name as the flowery spike of the sugar cane, a word from the Taino language of Puerto Rico, and says the family follows the island's rum tradition. The distillery makes rum, vodka and gin from sugar cane molasses. The lineup listed on the site includes Guajana 86 and Guajana 89 rums, Sagrav vodka and Guajana 80 gin. The vodka is described as small-batch pot still distilled. Visitors can book a distillery tour on the website. It is billed as a trip back to a Caribbean distillery in the 80s, led by a guide who explains how the spirits are made. Visitors must be 21 or older to enter the site.