By Donna Cornelius
Birmingham is home to quite a few beer breweries, and Joe Pilleteri thinks there’s not a bad one in the batch.
So when he decided to open his own brewery, the Vestavia Hills native looked for a way to set it apart from others in the city, he said. That’s why he chose to make his Red Hills Brewing Co. the first business of its kind in Homewood.
“I’ve always been interested in craft beers and about six or seven years ago started home brewing,” Pilleteri said. “All these breweries started popping up all over town. I thought, can people make a living doing this? I worked on a business plan and thought, yes, it could work.”
He said the idea to build a brewery in Homewood struck when he and his family were eating at the city’s Little Donkey restaurant on Father’s Day two years ago.
“I looked up and saw this building,” in the Central Avenue shopping center that also houses Little Donkey, Octane Coffee and Steel City Pops, he said. “I talked to the owner. I got investors and got a loan. We started construction Aug. 8, 2015.”
Pilleteri said his investors include Raj Parikh and Monjri Shaw, Anita and Sal Maniscalco, Rick McKibbin, Matt Brewer and Jacqueline Hancock, Holly Richter and C. Bruce Christianson, Vincent Bivins, Rupa and David Kitchens, James Samford, Andrew Strang, Anurag Gandhi, Nicole and Stanford Massie, and Warner Huh.
Red Hills Brewing Co., which includes a taproom, opened Sept. 10 at 2823 Central Ave.
“Homewood – it’s a cool town,” Pilleteri said. “The people here are very Homewood-centric and support local businesses. It’s cool to see all the different types of people who come in.”
Pilleteri is a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy in New York.
“I sailed for two years – one year while I was still in college and one year after,” he said. “I graduated college in 1998 and got married in 1999.”
He and his wife, Kate, have two daughters. Bella is 11, and Sophie is 7. Since he has children of his own, he wants Red Hills to be a family-friendly place, he said.
“A lot of people in Homewood are young to middle-aged professionals with children,” he said. “We’re working on our own line of sodas for the kids.”
Of course, Red Hills also is working on its beer. Brewmaster Eric Baumann was the assistant brewmaster at Avondale Brewing Co. before joining the Red Hills team, Pilleteri said.
“But he’s (a) chef by trade, and it’s unreal what he can do with flavors,” Pilleteri said. “Brewing is a lot like cooking but with a more limited group of ingredients. I love to work on recipes with him. Selfishly, I’d love to be involved with everything, but I lean more toward his expertise.
“I look at formulas, he looks at flavors. He’s the other side of my brain.”
On Red Hills’ menu of beers now are A Pound A Brown, a mild brown ale; Homewood Hefeweizen, made in the style of the classic German breakfast ale; Gangsta Rap Friday IPA, a super-hoppy India Pale Ale; and the Tribute Session IPA, named to pay tribute to those who helped Red Hills become a reality.
“Session beers are between 4 or 4½ percent to 5 percent alcohol,” Pilleteri said. “Most people enjoy the effects of alcohol, of course, but if you look at craft beer, you want to taste the nuances of each beer. Most of our year-round beers will be 5 percent alcohol or lower.”
As information on Red Hills’ website says, “By concentrating on session beers, customers will be able to enjoy a pint or two without being, as the British call it, ‘snockered.’”
Red Hills will offer some seasonal brews, too.
“For the fall, we have a rye IPA, and we’ll do a double IPA for winter,” Pilleteri said. “Those will have a higher alcohol content. When you have a bitter or a big roasty beer, you need more alcohol to keep it from being too bitter.”
Pilleteri said construction of the taproom, which can be rented out for events, was a real family-and-friends affair.
“Five of my friends actually built the bar and taproom,” Pilleteri said.
Baumann’s cousin Missy Miles, an artist from Hamilton, did the paintings in the room.
“Right now, we’re doing live music on Friday nights,” Pilleteri said. “We’re trying to stick with local bands. I have great memories of going to places like The Nick, Zydeco and Bottletree and wanted to re-create that here.”
Taproom guests can’t help but notice the friendly salamander painted behind the bar. That’s the brewery’s mascot, “Sal,” and the inspiration for the brewery’s name.
“I love the fact that a lot of breweries pay homage to our state,” Pilleteri said. “You’ve got Red Clay and Yellowhammer, and of course Avondale is named for its neighborhood.”
Some of his first choices for brewery names with an Alabama connection were already taken, he said, so he searched for other ideas.
“I looked at the list of our state symbols,” he said.
He discovered that Alabama’s state fish is a largemouth bass.
“I didn’t think that would make a very good name,” he said, laughing. “But our state amphibian is a Red Hills salamander. I thought that would be such a cool mascot. And Homewood has a salamander festival every year, so that solidified the name for me.”
Red Hills Brewing Co. is at 2823 Central Ave. in Homewood. It’s open Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays from 4 p.m. to midnight, Saturdays from noon to midnight, and Sundays from noon to 10 p.m. For more information, visit redhillsbrewing.net or follow the brewery on social media.
