Midway 154 Brewing LLC

10/18/2026

Come on out and enjoy a pint or two with us. We’ll be here till six.

10/17/2026

🖤✨️🧙‍♀️

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10/16/2026

B**r, always supportive 🙌 Happy Friday!!

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10/16/2026

10/16/2026

WHAT MAKES B**R CARBONATED?

Ever wonder where all those tiny bubbles in your b**r actually come from?

Here’s something interesting.

B**r produces carbon dioxide naturally during fermentation.

But that doesn’t mean all b**r gets its carbonation the same way.

When yeast consumes fermentable sugars, it produces alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Some of that gas dissolves into the b**r.

But during ordinary fermentation, much of it can escape.

So how do brewers get those bubbles into your glass?

One method is to retain more fermentation-produced CO₂ by controlling pressure.

Brewers can use a technique called spunding to help capture that natural carbonation.

Another method is bottle conditioning.

Yeast ferments a small amount of available sugar inside a sealed bottle, producing additional CO₂.

And many breweries use forced carbonation, introducing carbon dioxide under controlled pressure.

Here’s where things get interesting.

Carbonation doesn’t just create bubbles.

It changes how b**r feels and how we experience its aromas and flavors.

A highly carbonated German Weissbier often feels lively and effervescent.

A traditional English cask ale generally has gentler carbonation and a softer mouthfeel.

Neither is necessarily better.

They’re simply different drinking experiences.

And those bubbles rising through your glass?

When you open a b**r, pressure drops, allowing dissolved CO₂ to escape.

Tiny imperfections in the glass can provide places for those bubbles to form.

So carbonation isn’t just decoration.

It’s part of what makes each b**r taste and feel the way it does.

𝗕𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗢𝗠 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪𝗟𝗘𝗗𝗚𝗘

B**r gets its bubbles from dissolved carbon dioxide.

How much stays in the b**r helps determine how it feels in your glass.

**rSchool **rFacts **rCarbonation **r **rLovers

10/16/2026

THE BIG FOUR OF SAVANNAH — GEORGIA’S UNDERGROUND LIQUOR EMPIRE

In 1923, federal investigators uncovered a bootlegging organization based around Savannah, Georgia, that they believed was moving illegal liquor across much of the eastern United States.

Their investigation reached all the way to Chicago and St. Louis.

And the men at its center weren’t Al Capone or New York gangsters.

They were four men operating out of coastal Georgia.

Federal authorities identified them as William “Willie” Haar, C. Graham Baughn, Sam Goldberg, and Richard Bailey.

Together, they became known as Savannah’s “Big Four.”

According to contemporary newspaper reports, federal investigators accused the organization of importing liquor from the Bahamas, the West Indies, and Europe.

Ships brought alcohol toward the southeastern coast.

Investigators alleged that shipments entered through ports in Florida, Georgia’s coastal region, and the Carolinas before moving into inland distribution networks.

The alleged destinations included cities hundreds of miles away.

Why Savannah?

Geography.

The region offered Atlantic access, tidal rivers, coastal waterways, and connections to inland roads and railroads.

But transporting liquor was only part of the business.

Keeping shipments moving meant navigating federal enforcement and, investigators alleged, corrupt protection arrangements.

One particularly revealing detail appeared in a 1924 federal appeals case.

Testimony described an alleged $5,000 payment intended to secure protection from a Savannah Prohibition official, allowing liquor shipments to move through Chatham County.

The appellate court excluded that evidence as improperly admitted in the particular case. It did not establish the payment as proven fact.

Meanwhile, federal authorities were building an enormous investigation.

In August 1923, newspapers reported 84 arrests connected with the Savannah operation.

The investigation involved more than 50 Bureau of Investigation agents, according to the FBI’s historical records.

And by the summer of 1924, 142 people had been sentenced for offenses connected to the broader investigation.

Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt’s office helped lead the federal prosecution effort.

Several principal defendants received prison sentences and substantial fines.

The case demonstrated something Americans often overlook about Prohibition.

The underground liquor economy didn’t revolve entirely around Chicago and New York.

Southern ports, coastal waterways, transportation networks, and regional organizers played important roles too.

Savannah wasn’t simply another city where people bought illegal liquor.

It became the center of a major federal investigation into a multistate alcohol-smuggling network.

𝗕𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗢𝗠 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪𝗟𝗘𝗗𝗚𝗘

Prohibition’s underground alcohol economy connected Georgia’s coast to markets hundreds of miles inland.

The South was part of the story, not a footnote.

10/16/2026

WHY DID BARS STOP USING WOODEN B**R BARRELS?

Believe it or not, Guinness once employed workers whose job was literally to smell empty b**r barrels.

And they weren’t checking for delicious b**r aromas.

They were looking for barrels that had gone bad.

For generations, breweries shipped b**r to taverns in wooden casks.

Keeping those barrels in good condition was an enormous job.

Breweries employed skilled craftsmen called coopers, who built, repaired, and maintained them.

At Guinness’s St. James’s Gate brewery in Dublin, some workers were even assigned to identify returned casks that smelled foul.

They were known as “smellers.”

Why was that necessary?

Because wooden b**r barrels required constant attention.

They could leak, become damaged during transportation, or develop contamination problems if they weren’t properly maintained.

And cleaning them wasn’t always easy.

Then metal b**r containers began transforming the industry.

They offered several major advantages.

Metal was easier to clean, required less maintenance, and provided a more durable container for repeated transportation.

Guinness began introducing aluminum b**r containers in 1946.

Meanwhile, Heineken was experimenting with metal keg designs by 1949.

On September 8, 1961, Heineken formally marked the retirement of its wooden b**r barrels.

And in March 1963, Guinness filled its last wooden b**r cask at St. James’s Gate.

Think about that.

A brewing tradition that had lasted for generations was rapidly disappearing.

And with it, much of the demand for the skilled coopers who had maintained those barrels.

But here’s something interesting.

Traditional cask ale didn’t disappear.

Many British pubs still serve cask-conditioned b**r today, often from metal casks.

Because cask ale describes how the b**r is conditioned and served, not whether the container is wooden.

And wooden barrels still have specialized roles in modern brewing.

The next time you see a stainless steel keg behind a bar, remember:

It’s the result of a major transformation in b**r history.

𝗕𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗢𝗠 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪𝗟𝗘𝗗𝗚𝗘

Wooden b**r barrels didn’t disappear because they couldn’t hold good b**r.

Metal made cleaning, maintenance, and transportation easier.

**rHistory **rFacts **r

10/15/2026

Are you one of us?

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