Help Curtis Rebuild 36° Fifty Brewing

Why? The town of Marion in Smyth County, Virginia, has never experienced anything quite like Hurricane Helene. 36° Fifty Brewing was fortunate in some ways, but the storm’s severity still led to significant flooding inside the building, which caused damage to the brewing system, equipment, HVAC system, and the loss of brewing supplies such as grain, hops, and adjuncts. Power outages worsened the situation, resulting in the loss of all remaining beer. Curtis has been diligently brewing on his old homebrew system while working to repair the main system, hoping to reopen soon. He applied for SBA/FEMA funding but recently learned that the funding pool has been depleted, and applications are now on hold.

How you can help: Your support will help Curtis restock on supplies to brew more beer and help him to repair or hopefully replace his brew system & equipment, so he can get back to serving great local beer to the community and to the tourists that help drive Marion’s economic development and hopefully support recovery for other small businesses in their community.

More about 36° Fifty Brewing: After several years of homebrewing success and as a brewer assistant with a brewery in a neighboring county, Curtis decided to make the leap and go pro. Curtis participated in the 2017 Pop-up Business Challenge in his hometown of Marion. After a successful pitch, he was awarded a $5K grant and applied for a small business loan from the town. In 2018, Curtis signed a lease for a unique fixer-upper just a block off of Main Street. Once approved, Curtis got to work building his own brew system to fit the space and with help from family and friends, built the bar, pieced together a walk-in, built tables and thrifted additional seating to create a comfy eclectic space ready to welcome beer drinkers as Marion’s first brewery. After an 18-month wait, Federal & State licenses were finally obtained (and then unfortunately the pandemic hit). After several additional months of renovation, the brewery was finally approved and ready to open. Starting with to-go sales only during the pandemic, 36° Fifty Brewing opened in January of 2021 and has been welcoming locals and visitors alike while expanding hours, adding more beer taps, & competing in competitions.

More about Curtis: Curtis Shupe has been brewing for over 10 years. Starting as a humble homebrewer with a boil kettle and propane burner on the porch, he is now the owner and master brewer (and lead janitor as his email signature says) of 36° Fifty Brewing in Marion, VA. A critical care nurse by night and a brewer by day, Curtis has been working hard to self-fund his start-up brewery and has been working towards operating the brewery full-time. (In fact, his plan for October (before the hurricane) was to add more days open at the brewery!)

Read more about the impact of Helene in Marion.

This campaign was created by Andrew Coplon (Craft Beer Professionals). Andrew met Curtis at the recent Virginia Brewers Conference and looks forward to helping him rebuild, and visiting 36° Fifty in Marion.