Inner Voice Brewing Will Do Its Decatur Brewery a Little Differently

Opening up where Big Tex used to be at 308 West Ponce de Leon Ave, Inner Voice Brewing is the child of two owners — taphouse veterans Rhett Caseman and Josh Johnson of Monday Night Brewing. The two of them first made the announcement of their opening on Reddit (with an Instagram announcement of the location back in January) and What Now Atlanta (WNA) was able to confirm with Johnson of this opening.

Having worked their entire professional lives in the brewing industry, the pair have set a high standard for what qualifies as a quality brewery, making beer that’s always cold and stored right. Inner Voice Brewing will eventually have a direct-to-consumer sales model, which apparently is booming and more familiar to the Georgia brewery market, according to Johnson. However, Johnson and Caseman want Inner Voice Brewing to be a bar, first and foremost. 

“We really want to operate more like a bar and sell our package beer out of our tasting room,” Johnson told WNA. The distribution aspect won’t initially be in full-affect, but IPAs, pilsners, and stouts, along with various rotating taps in the future, will be served when it opens. That’s the priority. “We’re really just excited to be part of a community,” he said. “We really just want to make super cool beer.” 

While functioning somewhat as a restaurant, Inner Voice Brewing will not have a full-service kitchen. In fact, the existing Big Tex kitchen (which closed its doors six years ago, according to Eater) will be downsized to make way for a bigger taproom. They’re also trying to give the space a little bit of a “facelift” and increase the flow of the bar. In lieu of a fully functioning kitchen, Inner Voice Brewing will be working on making room for a food stall for short term tenants, while looking for something more long-term to eventually take over that space. As for right now, Johnson said he and Caseman want to give local pop-ups the same opportunity they got. Without focusing so much on the food aspect, it will function as a sort of “symbiotic relationship” for local small businesses when it does serve food, but Johnson and Caseman are still working on who those temporary tenants might be. 

Inner Voice Brewing’s setup will be designed to cater to the ongoing impact of COVID, with outdoor seating, to-go packages, and appropriate ventilation for indoor guests. The current space is being remodeled to fit these needs and Inner Voice Brewing’s opening should happen sometime in spring of 2021.