Spencer Nix
Founder and CEO, Reformation Brewery
Grace is the end of performance.
I'm Spencer Nix. I co-founded Reformation Brewery to build the kind of room the world forgot how to make. A place where you can drop your guard, pull up a chair, and just be here.
Est. October 31, 2013 · Reformation Day
Founder story
How a brew night became a brewery
I was in church ministry for more than fifteen years. My friend Nick Downs was a pilot who kept bringing home these yeast-forward, full-flavored beers from Europe. We'd drink them and talk church history like a couple of geeks.Then he got moved to a plane that didn't fly to Europe anymore. The beer stopped coming. So we started making it.Every third Friday we'd brew and invite a few people. Six months in, it was 100 or more folks on ten acres near Waleska. Food, guitars, firepits, people driving in from Alabama and Florida. We didn't plan any of it. It was way bigger than us.
Reformation Brewery opened on October 31, 2013. Halloween, sure. Also Reformation Day. That wasn't an accident.
We started as the smallest brewery in Georgia at the time. The beer matters, and we make it well. But what people really come for is a little social relief: the moments, the conversations, and whoever walks through the door.
In the brewhouse with the crew.
Georgia's Small Business Rock Stars catches up with Reformation.
Reformation Brewery
What makes the room work
You'll get it faster by walking in than by reading this. But here's what you'll notice.
Nobody's performing
You don't have to prove anything to pull up a chair. Bring who you want. Stay as long as you like.
A place to exhale
A break from rooms that ask too much of you. Dogs, kids, grandparents, college students and trivia regulars share the same space, and nobody's crowding anybody out.
Whatever's in your glass
A well-made beer, a handmade cocktail, a coffee, a mocktail. All of them valid. All of them served with the same warmth. Nobody has to explain what's in their glass to belong.
Come find us
Wish you were here.
Taprooms in Woodstock, Canton and Smyrna, plus an online store if you can't get to us. Same welcome at every one.
Woodstock · 105 Elm St. · Hours and eventsCanton · The Mill on Etowah · Hours and eventsSmyrna · On the Chattahoochee · Hours and events
Beyond the taproom
Local is where the real work happens.
I serve on the board of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild, and I stay busy with the City of Woodstock, the Woodstock DDA, Visit Woodstock and Cherokee County's LEAP program. Breweries don't thrive alone. Neither do towns.
Georgia Craft Brewers Guild · City of Woodstock · Woodstock DDA · Visit Woodstock · Cherokee LEAP
Writing
Thoughts Over Tulips
Notes from a guy who'd rather talk on a patio than post on a platform. Faith, work, hospitality, and the strange freedom of already being enough. Read what you want. Push back if you want. The door's open.
Essay
Authentic Hospitality
Patios over platforms, and why friction is where the warmth is.
Essay
Freedom from Resolving
A new year without the treadmill of fixing yourself.
Essay
[Third essay]
[Pick one to publish next on Substack.]
Follow along
(un)Socials
I'd rather meet you on a patio than a platform. But if you can't make it to the taproom, this is the next best thing.
Guest stories
Humans of Reformation
4.7 stars across 1,500+ Google reviews at three taprooms
[Thomas's words go here. He and his wife were nervous first-timers, and the bartender walked them through everything.]
Thomas B. · Canton · Awaiting OK
"The kind of place where you can instantly unwind."
Theresa M. · Woodstock · Awaiting OK
[Debbie's words go here. Her group had different tastes, and everyone left happy. Dogs welcome too.]
Debbie K. · Smyrna · Awaiting OK
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No hustle tips. No five steps to a better you. Just an honest essay when I've actually got something worth saying.
Contact
Let's talk
A partnership, a question about Reformation, or you just want to argue theology over a beer. Send it. Or come say hi at one of the taprooms.