Southern Ale House to Celebrate 10 Years of Service with Saturday Block Party

A beloved north Tuscaloosa restaurant is bracing to celebrate its 10th anniversary this weekend with a block party featuring great food, live music, cornhole and much more.

Southern Ale House opened off of McFarland Bouelvard north of the Black Warrior River in early March 2014, and this weekend they'll mark the occasion by not only celebrating the last ten years but also raising funds to send students experiencing hardship to culinary school.

"It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years serving Tuscaloosa County, we are honored by all the support over the years," said Justin Holt, a founder and owner of the restaurant. "We opened in March 2014 to start a small business and hoped to grow something on our own; to make a mark in Tuscaloosa County. In the past ten years, we’ve grown to over 80 employees with a full-service restaurant and bar, a full-service catering department and a boutique deli across the street. We have more plans for the near future to give all of our people opportunities to grow, but we couldn’t have done any of this without the support of our regular customers, our friends, the University of Alabama, and the entire Tuscaloosa County community."

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Holt said part of the festivities will be in homage to the late Fuller Goldsmith, a local chef who died in 2021 after a long battle with leukemia.

Goldsmith was an aspiring chef and an integral part of the Southern Ale House family for years, and Holt said they marked their 10th anniversary by "retiring" his chef jacket and permanently installing it over the restaurant's kitchen.

Holt said SAH will also be coordinating a philanthropic effort to raise money for Fuller's Fund, an endowed scholarship in his name to The Culinary Institute of America, where Holt said Goldsmith dreamed of being educated.

The scholarship in his name is awarded to potential students who have had some sort of hardship in their lives, and Holt said the cause is dear to the restaurant staff - donations can be made out to Fuller's Fund and dropped off at Southern Ale House.

As for this weekend, Holt said on Saturday SAH will celebrate the anniversary with a block party featuring a regional corn hole tournament hosted by T-Town Corn Hole, three live bands playing over all afternoon and evening and prize giveaways.

Holt said the Alabama Heathens out of Huntsville will play at 2 p.m. Saturday, Tuscaloosa's Jackson Chase plays at 4:30 and Jason Jones from Nashville, Tennessee takes over at 7 p.m.

Above all, management at the restaurant said they are grateful for a decade of support and success in Tuscaloosa - no small feat for a small business in this city.

"Having the great opportunity for the Southern Ale House to serve this community and to see this community support us like we are family is truly a blessing," said Brad Morris, who is a former GM at SAH and is now managing partner at their next concept the Deli Press.

“Celebrate the fun, food, and laughs we’ve had over the last 10 years. Join us Saturday for our 10-Year Anniversary Block Party for us to say thank you to all our patrons," said executive chef Brett Garner. "We’ll have a concert stage set up in our front parking lot with beer and grill stations for us to celebrate with you. We can’t thank you enough for your support!”

The fun kicks off Saturday at Southern Ale House, 1530 McFarland Boulevard North.

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