The Things I’ve Seen

“I did not tell half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed.” - Marco Polo on his deathbed, 1324, apparently? Uncharted said so.

“I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this, which this margin is too narrow to contain.” Pierre de Fermat, though that was about maths.

This time we’re going to get a hastily-written eulogy for an Athens, GA local business. Akademia Brewing Company announced mid-June that its last day would be Sunday, 28 June 2026. Seemingly suddenly, a local favorite was going to fall off the map. We often talk about discovery here, things I’ve seen that still exist or things that have failed to exist in their intended form long ago—historical markers for the casual explorer. This is the first time I would say that I’ve discussed something as it is actively being stricken from the map itself¹ . Come, join me as I wash away a local landmark.

What Was Akademia?

Founded in 2016, Akademia is a local brewery in Athens, GA. It found a home next to the slowly failing Georgia Square Mall. Part bar, part brewery, part restaurant, part event venue, and not all of it at all times, Akademia felt more like a passion that never found its project. I mean that in a loving way, as it was always great. Until the last few years, it always felt like I was stepping into a place that would have some kind of novelty on a regular basis. The beers were good, and yet they were constantly trying new things and collaborating with other breweries. The food was great, and while they definitely had some staples there were regular menu updates. Events came and went, seemingly based entirely on vibes.

Akademia, as I knew it, was always in a state of becoming. In its decade in Athens, it never really felt like it found its groove. There was a constant sense that, despite being a brewery with a good kitchen, it never really knew all of what it wanted to be. Perhaps that’s just a symptom of surviving capitalism. Somehow, at the same time, it knew the core of what it was. Akademia never gave up on itself, either: while I don’t think it ever fully found itself, it never stopped looking. I could be reading too much into it—honestly, I feel similarly sometimes. If it was indeed continually trying to improve while holding true to its core, well, that’s all you can ever truly ask of a business, or even of a person, really.

Yes, it was a business, but it was a business run by people. I don’t want to lionize “small business” with broad gestures, as that feels hollow. Being small is not in and of itself a virtue. That aside, there is a demarcation point where a business becomes so big that the people become incidental to its existence. Smaller, intentional businesses can reflect their constituent owners and staff. It’s no guarantee, but Akademia was one of the Real Ones, with a personality. I suppose something like this can’t last forever, but it’s nice while you have it.

The Shenanigans of it all

The character indeed shone through. Outside was a rotating cast of rat rods, just hanging out for you to enjoy. It wasn’t a fast rotating cast, but then again, a good, reliable rat rod will end up being a money pit despite its aesthetic. If you’re expecting frequent turnover, they’re probably just not going to be as cool. It takes time, sweat, and a good chunk of change to make a piece of art.

You have a massive “Casey’s Magic Rest” sign, for efficiency apartments, just slung up in a corner. The Magic Rest was a dry Irish stout frequently on tap, though this particular brew didn’t make it to the closing day. It’s my favorite of the style locally, though it’s apparently not well reviewed. No accounting for (my poor) taste, I guess. It also carries one of co-founder’s surnames. It’s a larger-than-life instance of buying a novelty with your name on it.

I saw your usual bar happenings. I’ve seen staff come and go. I’ve also seen a retirement after a long, storied career. I’ve seen and even been a part of a wedding. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the nascence of a divorce² . So many phases of life have passed through Akademia, so many life events. They exist everywhere, of course, as people move through space. Akademia was a bit special though, in that these were on full display. These events were celebrated (or mourned, or rued, perhaps) in full display. Akademia was home to them all, a community for those who needed one³ .

Food and Drink

As a brewery, they obviously had beer. They also had other local and regional breweries’ offerings, on tap and packaged, and they often (though not regularly) had collaborations with other breweries. Until the past few months you could count on a variety of beers on tap, such as the Magic Rest. Their last week they ran out of their in-house beers except for four final kegs which they tapped at 4 PM on Saturday, their penultimate day of service. It was lacking luster, barely an event. Unfortunately, most of the last week was a somber affair. I didn’t expect a party, but I was hoping to see more regulars and a bit more ceremony for the milestone. Perhaps the actual end of service did: I wasn’t able to be there. I did offer my thanks to the staff though. The final four beers were:

• Alma, a Mexican-style lager

• IQ, an American-style IPA

• Hoprodisiac, a hazy double IPA

• Skål, a wheat beer

But, it’s not just the beers! Their kitchen was great, one of my favorite restaurants in the area honestly. Nothing too fancy, but all well executed. It was broadly accessible, and you didn’t need to be a beer fan to enjoy it. They definitely catered more to the meat side of the equation with their Cerberus Tripleta, a pile of pork, ham, and pastrami served either as a sandwich on fresh-baked Cuban bread or over cripsy fries. If that’s not your thing, they had a mushroom magician who made what I understood to be a must not miss flatbread, mushroom burger, and mushroom pasta. Their salads were reliable, cheese curds pretty good for Georgia⁴ , and they had a solid bar pretzel.

It Could’ve Been Great

It’s not clear what happened, other than “macroeconomic conditions” or whatever. There just wasn’t enough money for the money machine. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Certainly not helping must have been that its primary neighbor is the Georgia Square Mall, a ghost town of commerce. It’s been mostly dead⁵ for the better part of a decade now, its biggest tenant currently probably being a business that makes LEGO-compatible boards for big playscapes, walls, and other art installations.

There was talk recently about a developer coming in to make a mixed-use property, and preparation was underway for a good bit. The old “dollar theater” was bulldozed, as were several other buildings on the periphery. A new urbanized environment, with people living, working, and shopping right next to Akademia, would certainly have been an improvement over the almost entirely abandoned mall. Unfortunately, the project could not get the local support it needed, and it’s basically dead in the water at this point. The mall has died, and the Best Buy flanking it moved out to the neighboring county a while ago. It’s now a Goodwill processing center, next to a builder’s surplus store that used to be a Toys R Us⁶ . The area seems to be almost cursed with a complete lack of interest from the local government in how it could potentially support businesses crossed with an global trend towards extractive acquisition and destruction of brand names. The commercial Earth here is salted, and even local businesses find they wither and die.

Wrapping it up

Well, that’s it, quite literally, for this one. I hope you enjoyed this eulogy for a real one. I wonder what will happen not only with the space, but with that whole part of town. There will be some next phase, though not necessarily a good one if business and government can’t find a way to keep things moving⁷ . It would be nice to see more local businesses pick up and have a shot. It would be nice to have affordable housing in town, so folks could live and work. And it would be nice to have a third place in the area. Arguably a brewery might not fit that description, though Akademia provided a good community area for socialization and a reasonably priced an accessible event space for bigger life events. You could hang out and socialize with little to no barrier to entry, and that’s key to building good community. Empty buildings are an atherosclerotic system, beating with poor effect, strangling the very life of a community.

Shout out to the Flagpole for some local, independent news. I threw them a donation, because it was pretty helpful for picking up some facts and including an article. If you have a local news org that hasn’t been thrown into a billionaire’s portfolio yet, and the means to do it, might be worth throwing them a few bucks. You’ve always got a friend in the likes of public broadcasting as well.

What’s next? I have a few drafts going. I’ve found that it’s easier to be able to work on a few things, put them down when I hit a mental roadblock or a need for research, and shift gears a bit. Also, a nearly finished article can be set aside for a bit for a little editing pass, or a “hey, I missed a great line here” spark of inspiration. Unfortunately all the drafts in the world can’t push back the tide of life, and a lot has been going on. I don’t think that’s unique to me of course, but it’s definitely killed my momentum. We’ll get back to it though. As always, happy to hear from y’all with thoughts and such. Praise is always preferred, but I’m a big boy and can take constructive feedback.

Thanks for joining me, where I’m one of today’s lucky 10,000! I hope you enjoyed it. Here’s all the beehiiv stuff that is required to be here.

— Lou

1  So to speak. Google doesn’t know something is closed until someone tells them. For all the compute in the world, getting up to date information to accurately represent what you’re computing is still a difficult problem.

2  Oh, there was definitely a divorce…but I think I saw the foundation crack, right there, to crumble under the weight of the ensuing time.

3  Whether they wanted it or not.

4  This isn’t cheese curds country, but you take what you can get.

5  “There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.”

6  Which is still alive as a brand, but only draped over pop-up stores in other dying malls.

7  Obligatory Semisonic “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end”