On Facebook, the Memphis Beer Drinkers group is 1,300+ members strong.
They talk about beers they like and beers they don’t. They chat about their favorite breweries, local beer events and where to find rare beers.
Founded in 2017 by Christopher Mantia, it’s a group that celebrates and promotes the craft beer culture in Memphis.
On Saturday, March 1, the Facebook group will commemorate something truly unique: the release of a one-of-a-kind beer, brewed by members of the Memphis Beer Drinkers group in collaboration with Soul & Spirits Brewery.
Black Velvet, 10% ABV, is a German Chocolate Cake Stout, a thick beer with ample notes of chocolate, coconut and pecans.
The beer’s Imperial Stout base was conditioned on Ecuadorian cocao nibs, hand-toasted and untoasted coconut flakes, Madagascar vanilla beans, and toasted pecans from Jonesboro.
“I think it comes across nicely in the blend to really taste like a German chocolate cake,” Ryan Allen, Soul & Spirits’ Master Brewer and co-founder, told Memphis Beer Blog.
The special-release beer will be available on draft at Soul & Spirits’ taproom, 845 N. Main, and in 4-packs of cans to go.
On release day this weekend, Soul & Spirits will be offering $5 draft pulls and $5 cans of the beer to go for anyone who shows that they are a member Memphis Beer Drinkers group.
“The idea here is really promoting the Memphis Beer Drinkers group and trying to shine some light back on what’s going on over there,” Allen said.
“I’d really like to see that community grow. … You know, breweries need help right now. So the more that a craft beer community can come together around a common interest and common good, it’s going to help Memphis’s beer scene … hopefully thrive in the near future.”
Frank Urankar, a firefighter and one of three admins for the Memphis Beer Drinkers group along with Mantia and ANDe Demetriou, is particularly vocal about supporting the Memphis beer scene.
“If you don’t drink local,” Urankar said, “local will die.”
Brewing the Black Velvet collab beer
To get ideas about what to brew, the Memphis Beer Drinkers admins polled members, asking for their favorite styles of beer.
Stouts and IPAs came out on top, but they decided they could get really creative with a stout.
Mantia said the admins chatted with Allen and told him they wanted to brew a really thick beer.
“We told him,” Mantia said, laughing, “that we wanted a spoon to stand up in it.”
Added Demetriou: “We wanted to be able to chew it.”
They ultimately settled on the idea of a German Chocolate Cake Stout, something Soul & Spirits had not brewed before.
Like all beers at Soul & Spirits, the name Black Velvet has a Memphis musical inspiration.
The beer’s name comes from the 1989 song recorded by Alannah Myles, which was a tribute to Elvis Presley and won Myles a Grammy in 1991 for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
Songwriter Christopher Ward wrote the lyrics after riding on a bus full of fans who were headed to Graceland in 1987 on the 10th anniversary of Presley’s death.
Prior to brew day, the group held a contest for people who wanted to participate in making the beer, selecting people at random during a live broadcast on Facebook.
The beer was brewed back In October, with several Facebook group members on hand to help Allen and team with milling, mashing or lugging around heavy bags of grain.
Mantia had brewed his own beer at home, but this experience was on a totally different level.
“It’s just so cool,” he said, “to see how it’s done on a grand scale.”
That educational aspect was key for Allen in hosting the event.
“That’s kind of my mindset behind this. I know we’ve got a group of people that love to drink beer, and becoming part of the process and learning how it’s made I think gives you a better appreciation for it,” Allen said.
Demetriou, owner of Blues City Kayaks, said Black Velvet will be a truly unique beer because so many Memphis beer enthusiasts had a hand in it.
“I consider myself one of the ambassadors for Memphis. I really love Memphis,” Demetriou said.
“And to be involved in something with a brewery that seems like it shares that love … It’s not just something that is fun, but it’s near and dear to my heart.”
Exploring beer through the years
Mantia, Urankar and Demetriou have been drinking beer for decades.
They wax nostalgic about old favorites like Red Dog, Killian’s and Rolling Rock — better beers that came before the craft beer revolution.
Over the years, Mantia has made it a practice, whenever traveling, to visit breweries across the country, seeking out beers that he’s never tried.
“I just became an enthusiast,” said Mantia, who works for a medical device company.
“As the beer styles changed — since the mid-90s to now — it’s been so much fun.”
Demetriou, friends with Mantia since their days at Germantown High School, has only more recently become really attuned to what he’s drinking.
“Until he made me one of the admins, I just liked drinking beer. And I’m still like that, but I like to try to describe what I’m tasting,” explained Demetriou, who posts online reviews of the beers he drinks.
“I’m not by any means an expert. You look at my reviews, you’re going to be like, ‘Yeah, this guy’s not an expert.’ But it’s my take on it. I really want to see people, when they drink beer, think about that stuff.
“I would like to see the group grow from people posting what they’re drinking … but also why they’re drinking it. What do you like about the beer? What do you hate about that beer? Do you recommend this for someone else to try?”
What’s next for the Memphis Beer Drinkers
Saturday’s beer release will be the biggest occasion to date for the Memphis Beer Drinkers, but it won’t be the last.
The group’s organizers are hoping the beer release will be a launch pad for additional things down the road, including in-person events, a vlog series and more.
Said Urankar: “We definitely want to have this as our catalyst to the next evolutionary step of the beer community here in Memphis.”
On Saturday, March 29, the group will be meeting at MFS Brewing, 206 E GE Patterson, for their first Brewer Series event. It will be both a bottle share and a chance to hear from the brewery’s owners about how Memphis Filling Station came to be.
“The beer that’s coming out of Memphis is phenomenal,” Mantis said.
With the release of Black Velvet, he hopes that even more people learn about the great beer you can find in Memphis.
“This could be something really good for the whole beer community,” Mantia said.
“Not just us, and not just one single brewery … but everybody.”
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