The Navy put Robert Young III on his current career path, but not in the way you might expect.
Assignments in Europe and the Middle East opened doors to a community where everyone could belong while drinking their favorite beverage.
“I fell in love with the beer culture over there and started home brewing,” said Young, whose brewing company, Tapped 33 Craft Brewery, evolved from that early experience.
You can find his award-winning Good Googly Moogly Juicy IPA at local bars and in area stores, but going from a home brewer to a professional brewer was a process that took time, education, a collaboration with Savannah River Brewing Co. and lots of practice.
Beer only has four ingredients – water, a malted grain (usually barley), hops and yeast. On paper the formula is simple enough, but creating a beer with an enjoyable flavor palette often requires trial and error. And refining the recipes replicate it perfectly every time is a science.
“I made a couple of bad batches. I started out horribly. But then I actually fell in love with the process and got good at it. I wanted to get better,” said Young, who approached Savanah River Brewing Co. in 2021 about volunteering there to learn and eventually became an assistant brewer. He got his master brewer certification in Germany.
He contracts through Savannah River to brew his products. Being at Savannah River Brewing also allowed him to experience that culture Young was first introduced to while overseas.
“Their slogan here is ‘beer for everyone; everyone for beer.’ They really embody that,” he said pointing out the variety of activities people engage in while enjoying beer together. There are groups for yoga, disc golf and stitching; people can enjoy different live bands and even wrestling events.
“It runs the gamut of everything,” he said.
And the community of brewers is also growing and diversifying. Young said it’s been a predominantly White male industry, but now there are more Black and women brewers with Young breaking the color barrier in Augusta.
The Atlanta native said he’d originally thought about moving back home after his time in the military was completed. The Navy brought him to Fort Eisenhower, and he decided to stay in the area.
“I saw opportunity here. I think Augusta has great potential and opportunity to grow,” he said comparing the Garden City to other Southern cities like Asheville, North Carolina that have transformed themselves. “That’s the blueprint to take older cities and revitalize them and make them better.”
Young is currently working on a beer that appeals to wine drinkers.
He said he hears people, especially women, who say they don’t like beer, but prefer wine.
“I think there’s a beer for everybody. You just haven’t found it yet,” he said.
So Young is working on taking the characteristics of wine that people like and translating them into a beer.
His goal is to open a brew pub in the Augusta area within the next year. He wants to offer not only beer and other alcoholic beverages but a full food menu as well. And he has a lot of ideas for new beverages once the pub is open, he said.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
