Hops Meet Heavy Metal: Little Cottage Brewery Delivers Bold Flavor

Jon Shari owns Little Cottage Brewing with his wife Aimee. Photographs by Ben Rollins.

Story by Brandy Wilson
Photos by Ben Rollins

In 2022, just two years after opening, Avondale Estates’ Little Cottage Brewery earned the title of the sixth Best New Brewery in America by USA Today.

And this is not a traditional brewery experience. It should be obvious by the ginormous skeleton (Big Fred) that meets you at the entrance that this is something unique.

A first-time business owner, Jon Shari, and his team wanted to fill a void in the Avondale brewery scene and opted for something different.

“It’s a little sci-fi. A little horror. Fantasy. A little mix of everything with heavy metal music in the background,” Shari described. “We’re just trying to create a different environment than what you typically get at other breweries. I just feel like they’re all a little too similar.”

The vibe here is tried-and-true heavy metal from the brew kettles to the music to the stainless steel taps. The walls are covered with beautiful, edgy murals of minotaurs, skulls, a giant mutated spider, and Warbeast a giant coyote, all created by Shari’s daughter. Her art also adorns the labels of beer cans and bottles throughout the location.

The heavy metal-themed brewery houses the Faucets of Fatality, where you’ll also find “Vega Brothers: Royale with Cheese” (Double Dry-hopped Double IPA), “Balthazar” (KÖLSCH), “Me & My Ray Gun” (Gose), Two Blind Mice (a nitro milk stout featuring coffee from local roaster Opo Coffee)” and their bestseller “404 The Number of the East” (a refreshing lager). These offerings add to their already wide variety of homegrown flavors on tap.

Speaking of homegrown, Little Cottage Brewery began at home…a little cottage in Sandy Springs (hence the name). Owner and head brewer Jon Shari gifted a home brewing kit from his wife, began making craft beers as a hobby.

Over time sharing his beer with friends, attending festivals, competing in (and winning) competitions, and collaborating with other brewers, his little hobby began to generate quite a following. So when he lost his job during the 2020 Covid pandemic, he took a leap (er, maybe hops) of faith and started a brewery.

Fast forward three years, two brewers and 9 employees later: Little Cottage Brewery has found a home right here in Avondale Estates.

It’s not unusual to come in one night and experience a heavy metal concert with headbangers, people rowing around on the floor and jumping off of the bar, or on a chill day hanging with some furry friends from Paws Atlanta, you can do it all while enjoying one of Shari’s tasty crafted brews.

Little Cottage Brewery recently held a live wrestling event. We repeat – you can find live wrestling right here in Avondale Estates.

“We were very happy to capture it in Avondale first. It’s been pretty wild” GM Will Reynolds shared of the experience. Reynolds has plans tapped for more events like this in the future.

Also on tap is boozy soft serve. (We had a spiked pumpkin spice one, highly recommend it). In the mood for a cocktail? LCB incorporates their craft beers into inventive creations like the Apple Pie Cocktail and classics like its Hard Seltzer Margarita.

If you get hungry, food vendors do evening pop-ups throughout the week. When a food vendor isn’t there, pub grub like soft pretzels and meat pies are available to help you soak up that alcohol.

“We try to have fun. It’s beer. We try to have a good time,” says General Manager Will Reynolds.

Little Cottage Brewery is located at 120 Olive St, Suite 500, and is open every day of the week except Tuesdays.

This story is from the Winter 2024 Edition of The Verge Zine.