One of Memphis’ most recognizable craft beer brands isn’t disappearing after all.
Soul & Spirits Brewery has acquired the Memphis Made Brewing Co. name and related intellectual property following a June 3 bankruptcy auction, giving new life to a brewery brand that was at risk of fading away after more than a decade in business.
While brewing equipment and other physical assets were sold separately during the auction, Soul & Spirits acquired the Memphis Made brand itself for an undisclosed amount.
Rather than reopening the Edge District location, Soul & Spirits plans to keep Memphis Made alive through continued production and distribution of its core beers. Those beers will remain available at bars, restaurants and stores, with the brewery’s familiar packaging and branding remaining intact.
That means Memphis Made’s flagship Fireside Amber Ale — one of the most recognizable and best-selling local craft beers in Memphis and the Mid-South — is poised to remain available throughout the region.
In the near future, Memphis Made beers will also be available on tap in Soul & Spirits’ Downtown Memphis taproom, 845 N. Main.
The arrangement is another example of how breweries are adapting during a challenging period for the craft beer industry. As growth has slowed and breweries have closed or restructured in recent years, established beer brands have increasingly found new life under different ownership.
In Memphis, Flyway Brewing continues to produce and distribute High Cotton beers while operating the former High Cotton taproom Downtown since 2024. Meanwhile, Wiseacre Brewing acquired Nashville-based Bearded Iris Brewing in 2025, adding the respected craft brewery to its portfolio while continuing to brew and distribute its brands.
For Memphis Made drinkers, the result is similar: a familiar beer brand continuing on even after the brewery behind it closed its doors.
Preserving a Memphis craft beer pioneer
Founded in 2021 by husband-and-wife team Ryan Allen and Blair Perry, Soul & Spirits has developed a strong reputation among Memphis craft beer enthusiasts for its IPAs, lagers and German-inspired beers, including Hoochie Coochie IPA and Bring it Home Lager.
Perry serves as the brewery’s chief executive officer, while Allen, who trained as a brewer in Germany, serves as chief operating officer and brewmaster.
Although Soul & Spirits remains a relatively young brewery, Allen and Perry told Memphis Beer Blog that they saw value in carrying forward a brand that occupies a significant place in Memphis beer history.
“We didn’t want Memphis to lose Memphis Made,” Perry said.
“We didn’t want someone else to take it to a different city or a different state and brew this beer that has been made in this town and loved by this town since 2013.”
When Memphis Made opened 13 years ago, Memphis’ craft beer scene was still in its infancy.
Founded by Drew Barton and Andy Ashby, Memphis Made was part of a new wave of breweries that included Wiseacre and High Cotton and helped reshape the city’s beer culture.
Its original Cooper-Young taproom became a Midtown gathering place for a growing community of craft beer drinkers, while the brewery’s expanding distribution introduced Memphis-made beer to consumers throughout the city and beyond.
Over the next decade, Memphis Made evolved into one of the region’s most recognizable beer brands. Fireside Amber Ale became a staple on draft lines and retail shelves, while beers such as Junt, Plaid Attack!!, Cat Nap and Gonerbraü earned loyal followings of their own.
In recent years, Memphis Made outgrew its Cooper-Young location, opening a larger production facility and taproom in the Edge District.
But the move came after years of delays. Memphis Made signed the lease for the project in 2019, only to see COVID-19 slow its progress. By the time the Edge District brewery opened in 2023, craft breweries were operating in a much different environment than the one that existed when Memphis Made signed the lease four years earlier. After years of rapid growth, breweries across the country faced slowing sales, increased competition, rising costs and changing consumer preferences.
Memphis Made’s financial troubles became too much to overcome, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2025 and announcing that it was seeking a buyer. The brewery closed its taproom on March 29 of this year. A sale of the business never materialized, leading to the bankruptcy auction earlier this month.
Ashby, who has left his brewery days behind and joined The Daily Memphian staff as a reporter, said in a prepared statement he is interested to see what comes next for Memphis Made under its new ownership.
“We started Memphis Made as a way to give back to our city, and we really put everything we had into it,” Ashby said. “Blair and Ryan brew good beer, and I’m looking forward to seeing where they take the brand.”
Memphis Made’s legacy is not lost on Allen and Perry.
“It’s an honor that we get to do this. When we were developing our brewery almost 10 years ago, did we imagine that this is what we were going to be doing? Absolutely not,” Perry said.
“But we are definitely going to act as good stewards with this brand moving forward in the hopes that Andy and Drew will still be proud of what they accomplished and can still look back on that time fondly.”
Keeping Fireside on shelves and tap handles
Less than a week in, Soul & Spirits has already started brewing the next iteration of Fireside Amber Ale.
Allen is working quickly in hopes of avoiding a disruption in availability.
“There should be zero lapse,” he said. “That is our goal.”
In Shelby County, Soul & Spirits and Memphis Made shared a distributor, Ajax Distributing, which should make it easier to keep Memphis Made beers stocked locally.
Memphis Made’s distribution footprint extended into Middle and East Tennessee, as well as Mississippi and Missouri. Soul & Spirits hopes to maintain — and eventually expand — that reach, though the involvement of other distributors will bring more complexity.
“Our main goal right now is making sure that Memphis Made beer drinkers can still find their favorite beer in the same place that they found their favorite beer for the last 13 years,” Allen said.
While production is changing hands, Soul & Spirits’ owners said Fireside drinkers should not expect dramatic changes to the beer itself.
The 5.1%-ABV amber ale will remain an accessible, malty beer, and the goal is to keep it as close as possible to the Fireside that Memphis craft drinkers already know.
“Beers are going to taste a little bit different based on whoever is brewing that beer. You could give a recipe to 50 different chefs and that same recipe is going to taste different depending on which chef makes that dish. So people should understand that it may taste slightly different,” Perry said.
“We’re going to try to keep it as close as possible to the Fireside that they know. I think, for us — and this is with any brewery — your main goal is to be consistent. Any time you brew a beer, you want that beer to taste the same every time you brew it. … We want to make sure that beer, and any other beer that has the Memphis Made insignia on it, will be consistent.”
A growing role in Memphis beer
For Soul & Spirits, the Memphis Made acquisition represents a significant opportunity for growth.
Memphis Made produced approximately 3,100 barrels of beer in 2024 before filing for bankruptcy the following year. By comparison, Allen said Soul & Spirits brewed close to 1,400 barrels in 2025.
Allen said Soul & Spirits has the capacity to absorb the additional demand. The brewery’s current facility is capable of producing roughly 9,000 barrels annually and has room to add additional equipment in the future.
“We can put out a lot of beer with very few people,” Allen said. “We’re ready and eager for the challenge at hand.”
The Memphis Made acquisition is not the first time Soul & Spirits has taken responsibility for a legacy Memphis beer brand.
The brewery also produces Goldcrest 51, a historic Memphis lager brand whose roots trace back nearly a century to the former Tennessee Brewing Company, once the largest brewery in the South. Goldcrest has been revived multiple times over the years, with Soul & Spirits taking over production in 2023.
Ultimately, Allen said, the Memphis Made acquisition is about more than increased production and a broader distribution footprint.
Like Goldcrest before it, Memphis Made gives Soul & Spirits responsibility for another well-known Memphis beer label.
“The big takeaway here,” Allen said, “is we’re keeping a Memphis legacy in Memphis.”
