Wild Heaven Beer Offering Coronavirus-Inspired Brews

ATLANTA, GA — An Atlanta brewery has debuted two coronavirus-inspired beers. Last month, Wild Heaven Brewery announced its new brews: Fauci Spring and Don't Stand So Close to Me.

Fauci Spring is a pale ale brewed with acai and not-yet-named experimental hops, with tropical, earthy, cocoa and berry notes. The brewery said it has a 4.25 percent ABV.

Don’t Stand So Close To Me is a classive Vienna, German-style lager brewed with Saaz and Hallertau hops. The brewery says it is crisp, floral and refreshing, and has a 5.5 percent ABV.

Newsweek reported that Wild Heaven Brewery President Nick Purdy thought that beer named after Fauci would make people happy.

"We were inspired to try to put some smiles on people's faces," Purdy told Newsweek. "That's the job of a brewery on most days, and it seems even more so right now. This beer and 'Don't Stand So Close to Me' were beers that were already in process with a different plan of distribution, but things changed. So, we had to decide what to do with these beers, and canning them up and having some fun with the name just seemed like the thing to do."

A third coronavirus-inspired beer is in the works, titled the "We Will Meet Again" rye IPA.

"That really comes from Queen Elizabeth II," Purdy said. "She gave a beautiful and inspiring speech to the British people, and it's actually pretty rare, aside from her annual Christmas message, that she has ever spoken to them. So, it was historic even for that, but it was also an inspiring thought as we start to maybe see flickers of light at the end of tunnel. I think having something to look forward to is a great idea."

Wild Heaven distributes its beer in Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama and Greenville, South Carolina, but the coronavirus-inspired beers are available only in Georgia.

"We've gotten hundreds of requests and phone calls and emails from around the country of people wanting to buy the beer, and we're not allowed to ship it direct to consumers by law," Purdy told Newsweek. "So, the only way to get it is at our breweries — and we actually sold out [Friday], but coming back soon — and there's a few stores around Atlanta that actually got a very small amount.

"I think it's important that breweries, who are already community-minded, we just keep trying to figure out ways to be servants of our communities during a time where everybody's just pulling together. We take the crisis extremely seriously, and it's completely upended how we do business. But at the same time, we're in the happiness business — if we can provide a little bit of light in the middle of all this, then job well done."

Wild Heaven has two locations in West End: 1010 White St SW, Atlanta, GA 30310, open daily noon to 8 p.m.; and Avondale, 135B Maple St., Decatur, GA 3003, open daily from 1 to 6 p.m.