Opening in July of 2016, Scofflaw Brewing Company was created by Matt Shirah and Brewmaster Travis Herman. They initially developed beers on a one-barrel system in the basement of the home of Shirah’s mother-in-law in Atlanta before opening an 18,000-square foot brewery nearby, where they self-installed their new equipment.
Shirah walked away from his role as a corporate turnaround executive to pursue his passion. “Travis and I are a couple of guys who are risking it all to brew beer. But we couldn’t do this without the guys who came before us. I don’t think the brewing pioneers from the 1980s and1990s get enough credit for what they did for craft beer.”
Microbiologist Herman left behind a career in the pharmaceutical development industry to attend brewing school at the University of California-Davis and has brewed for The Lost Abbey and Russian River Brewing. “We brew a lot of IPAs and stouts because that’s what we like to drink. I’d hate to walk into a bar where there was one of our beers on tap and not want to drink it.”