Creature Comforts is still chasing dreams in the Classic City.

Independent craft breweries are often measured by growth: barrels brewed, cans sold, states entered. But for Athens’ Creature Comforts Brewing, growth has always meant something more personal: building a company rooted in creativity, community, and the belief that passion can shape a meaningful life.

When the Classic City brewery opened its doors in 2014, the craft beer landscape in Georgia looked very different. Georgia law at the time limited breweries to only a few public hours of operation each day, and breweries were prohibited from selling their beers directly to customers. Nevertheless, Creature Comforts launched with a small team, a handful of beers, and a vision years in the making. What followed then was one of the most recognizable success stories in Georgia’s modern craft beverage industry.

But long before Tropicalia became one of the south’s most sought-after brews, Creature Comforts existed mostly as an idea shared among five people who each spent years chasing the same dream from different directions.

“We all chased our dream to open this place for almost eight years before it opened,” said Katie Beauchamp, Director of Customer Experience and one of the brewery’s original founders. “That was just a dedication to following our passion.”

The brewery’s story begins in the early 2000s, when co-founder David Stein, then a student at the University of Georgia, imagined opening a brewery called Creature Comforts after being inspired by the artwork of a friend. Around the same time, future CEO (and future husband to Katie) Adam Beauchamp was leaving a PhD program in genetics to pursue a career in craft beer after witnessing the rapid growth of breweries like SweetWater Brewing in Atlanta.

For years, those ambitions developed separately. Stein worked on homebrew recipes and branding concepts while Beauchamp gained hands-on brewing experience at SweetWater, learning every aspect of brewery production and expansion. Meanwhile, Katie built her own experience in hospitality and customer service through years spent working in restaurants.

Then came the call that changed everything.

In 2012, Athens investors approached Stein with an opportunity to transform the former Snow Tire facility downtown into a brewery space. Stein immediately contacted Beauchamp.

“David called Adam and said, ‘Do you want to move to Athens to start Creature Comforts with me?’” Katie recalled. “We talked for like two minutes and said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

From the moment Creature Comforts opened, demand surged.

The brewery’s flagship IPA, Tropicalia, quickly became a phenomenon across Georgia. Only being able to operate tasting rooms for limited hours and customers' inability to purchase directly created an immediate scarcity within the market. That scarcity, combined with the brewery’s distinctive branding and quality-focused approach, created immediate buzz.

“We just instantly were popular,” Katie said. “People were talking about how good the beer was, how cool the space was. It really happened organically.”

Still, growth did not come without challenges. The brewery regularly struggled to keep up with demand, often adding fermentation tanks almost as quickly as new ones could be installed. Within just two years, the original downtown facility had already become too small.

In 2017, Creature Comforts began transforming a long-abandoned textile mill into what is now its larger Southern Mill production facility. The space, Katie said, was in rough shape when the team first saw it.

“It looked like a tornado had come through it 30 years ago and then it just sat rotting,” she said.

Progress came steadily, and today that facility produces roughly 93,000 barrels annually, making Creature Comforts one of the largest independent craft breweries in the country. Yet despite its scale, the company has remained committed to operating independently and investing deeply in the Athens community.

Giving back was never an afterthought for the company. Katie said community investment was embedded into Creature Comforts from the beginning.

“When we all sat down, giving back was immediately one of those things that we said we wanted to do,” she said. “Whatever community we’re ever in, we want to give back to.”

Over the years, the brewery’s community initiatives have evolved into significant long-term programs. Through its Get Comfortable initiative, Creature Comforts works alongside the Athens Area Community Foundation and local partners to support childhood literacy efforts in Athens-Clarke County schools. The brewery also organizes volunteer projects, hosts nonprofit events, and supports local causes through its Brew for One program.

That commitment has already resulted in thousands of volunteer hours and millions of dollars reinvested into the local community.

For Katie, those efforts reflect the same philosophy that launched the brewery in the first place.

“Life is short,” she says, “If you find your passion and work that into your everyday life, that’s how you truly find happiness.”

More than a decade after opening its doors, Creature Comforts continues to grow; not just as a brewery, but as a company intentionally rooted in the community that helped shape it. Whether through craft beer, philanthropy, or creating spaces for people to gather, the Athens-based brewery remains committed to the idea that successful businesses can also be meaningful neighbors.