Soul & Spirits buys Memphis Made brand, keeps local beer alive

Memphis Made did not disappear after its Edge District taproom closed on March 29. Soul & Spirits Brewery bought the Memphis Made Brewing Co. trademark and related brand rights after a June 3 bankruptcy auction, keeping one of Memphis’ best-known local beer names alive even as the original brewery’s equipment and physical assets were sold off separately.

The deal matters because Memphis Made was never just another dead taproom. Founded in 2013 by Andy Ashby and Drew Barton in Cooper-Young, the brewery built a recognizable lineup around three year-round beers and seasonal releases, with Fireside Amber emerging as a local fan favorite. By 2024, Memphis Made was the fourth largest producing brewery in Memphis, which helps explain why the brand still had value after the company’s August 2025 bankruptcy and Chapter 11 restructuring.

Soul & Spirits CEO and co-owner Blair Perry said the brewery bought the rights “with the intention of continuing the legacy of the Memphis Made brand here in their home city” and said Soul & Spirits had the production capacity to meet demand. That is the key to this kind of rescue: the brand survives only if another brewery can make enough beer, keep the name in market, and convince bars, restaurants and liquor stores to keep giving it space.

Soul & Spirits said Memphis Made beers will continue to be available at local bars, restaurants and liquor stores, and will soon be available on draft and to-go at its own taproom at 845 N. Main St. in Downtown Memphis. The brewery, which opened in October 2021, has a North Downtown base that gives it both tank space and a retail front, two things that matter when a brand has to move quickly from a closed production site into a new home.

Ashby said, “We started Memphis Made as a way to give back to our city,” and said he looks forward to seeing where Perry and Soul & Spirits co-founder and head brewer Ryan Allen take the brand. That hometown handoff is part of a wider pattern in craft beer right now: the identity, recipes and customer goodwill can outlive the original company if a new owner sees enough reason to carry them forward. Flyway Brewing has already shown the model in Memphis with High Cotton, and Soul & Spirits is betting Memphis Made still has enough pull to justify the same move.