Edgemont Farmhouse Ale, a Tribute to a Place and the People That Define It

Condensed Version
April 3, 2018
Madison Rozakos

Friendship gained over ale can prove to be as strong as a centuries old family home. There’s nothing quite like it—or like that of the bond between Atlanta’s Corner Taverns owner, Mike Rabb, and founder and brewmaster of Hapeville’s Arches Brewing, Jamey Adams.

Back in 2002, Rabb opened his very first Corner Tavern in East Point, GA where Adam’s quickly became a Tavern regular. Shortly after, the two were making routine camping trips to Mike’s multi-generation milled pine home in Edgemont, NC. Now, after a decade and a half of friendship, it would seem as though Rabb’s cabin has become the catalyst for an age-old friendship, and its conduit, the long-time-coming collaboration beer, the Edgemont Farmhouse Ale.

Brewed by Adams and commissioned by Rabb, the aptly named saison is a talisman of a place. Its narrative so easily lies within its namesake, making its history a true one-off in a sea of modern collaboration beers and commonplace friendships.

Yet, while Adam’s homebrews remain the centerpiece of countless weekends at Rabb’s cabin, the two have now invited us into their camp by way of the Farmhouse Ale as Corner Tavern’s flagship offering from Arches. It’s safe to say this collaboration is built upon life’s greatest friendship, with perhaps yet another century brimming with history.       

The History of a Place, The History of a Beer

Full Version
April 3, 2018
Madison Rozakos

There’s something to be said of the kindness that passes between total strangers in the South. The kindness of common and miraculous blind trust that somehow cocoons itself together like a campfire under a North Carolina mountain sky. And like a small crease outstretching its narrow arms, one finds a cabin in the woods of the slack-jawed, mill-town elegy of Edgemont, NC.


The cabin’s owner, Mike Rabb of Atlanta’s Corner Tavern, inherited its multi-generation milled pine home with the kind of drawl known only to the great heart of the South, and of course, to his long-time friend, Jamey Adams, founder and brewmaster of Hapeville’s Arches Brewing.


While chance may have played a part in the two becoming fast friends: Mike opening his very first Corner Tavern in East Point, GA in 2002, and Jamey becoming a Tavern regular shortly thereafter, there is no mistaking their unspoken bond—it’s palpable. Even after a decade and a half of friendship, there’s a relentless promise between them. It’s grounded in truth and further accented by the bygone era of that tiny cabin in the woods, and the yee-old practice of drinking cold beer.


How odd is it that a piece of land, a cabin, became the catalyst for an age-old friendship, and the foundation of a would-be collaboration beer, Edgemont. How odd is it that the idea of that beer could embody the memory of that place, and yet how insightful and honest that observation is.


It would seem as though the many narratives Rabb and Adams have traveled, both solely and jointly, were existential dice-rolls that led them to this point, to this moment of friendship and collaboration.


Edgemont, the aptly named Saison, brewed by Adams and commissioned by Rabb, has long since been an opportunity idling at the edges of their two careers. In truth, the existence of this beer was inevitable. Long before Arches, Adam’s homebrews were the centerpiece of their many weekends at the cabin. In a sense, Adam’s beer became the anecdote of a time and a place. Like the rush of river water made satiny by a camera’s slow shutter speed, those memories were forever tinged in the unmistakable bond of place.


It’s these types of enigmatic relationships that we can wait all our lives to fall into. The kind of relationships that give us an ineffable rush of feeling and objective absolutism. There’s no ambiguity, just the facts. It’s the art of friendship. And sometimes, the biggest part of a relationship isn’t how it begins, but where it begins. If only for a fraction of a second, we may not know where a friendship is going, but like Mike and Jamey, we know where it started.