Call me Trimtab.
These 3 words define our Past, our Purpose and our Passion.
“Something hit me very hard once, thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Elizabeth again: The whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there’s a tiny thing on the edge of the rudder called a trim tab. It’s a miniature rudder. Just moving that little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the rudder around. It takes almost no effort at all. So I said that the individual can be a trim tab. Society thinks it’s going right by you, that it’s left you altogether. But if you’re doing dynamic things mentally, the fact is that you can just put your foot out like that and the whole ship of state is going to turn around. So I said, ‘Call me Trim Tab.’“
- Buckminster Fuller -
Our Story.
We are a small, gritty brewery founded in 2013 and located in Birmingham, Alabama that focuses on expressive IPAs, experimental stouts, and fruited sours. The end. And thank you for coming to our TED talk.
Oh, you’re still here? Alright then nosey pants, here’s more about why we exist.
For us, “why” we make beer is as important to us as “what” beer we make. And that says a lot, because we literally obsess over making the best beer we possibly can.
TrimTab Brewing began with an idea. We are inspired by the possibility that we all have the capacity to change the world with the things we can affect; that you can “Create A World You Love!” We believe that the small things matter and that they are responsible for the big impacts we want to see in our lives. That is our message, and craft beer is our bullhorn.
But, what is a Trimtab? Great question. The answer to it is why we are here today, and is actually the reason you’re on this Earth too.
A trimtab is a very small, unassuming piece of equipment on ships and aircrafts. It’s the small rudder on the larger rudder, and at first it doesn’t look like much. It almost looks insignificant. But it’s a metaphor for something much larger. The trimtab takes almost no effort to move, but it creates huge impacts far beyond its size. It’s literally what pulls the larger rudder; It's what guides the ship, no matter how big it is. At the end of the day the trimtab is the actual source of how all direction and balance is achieved.
You are a Trimtab.
Buckminster Fuller — genius humanitarian and engineer – recognized this phenomenon and created it as a metaphor for humanity. We see daunting challenges in our lives, and our usual response is to feel that they require solutions of similar scale, of similar magnitude. However, nature overwhelmingly tells us that it's the small sources – the trimtabs – that are the true source of large lasting change. On Bucky’s tombstone, the epitaph simply states, “CALL ME TRIMTAB.”
Heavy, heady stuff right?! Right. Damn right.
You are a trimtab! We each have the ability to make huge lasting impacts on the world, most notably with the small things in our reach. So, whatever your means might be, Create A World You Love. And have a damn good time while you do it!
Craft beer is our way to spread that message and is a way to extend an invitation to make our world a better, more inspired place to live. Our mission is to push ourselves to explore the boundaries of beer making, and to support the people, organizations, and ideas that embody small sources of big change. The journey of bringing that Gravitational Nectar to the people has spanned five years and has expanded our reach across the states of Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. It has been a pure joy building a community around our brand and defining our unique, innovative approach to craft beer. And yes, we too have had a damn good time while we’ve been at it!
Please explore this site as a way to get inside our collective brains. Learn more about our award-winning and nationally ranked IPAs, stouts, and sours. Learn about RECwater – the South’s Original hard seltzer. Learn about our team. Learn about our overweight cat. Learn about our logo and be convinced that we are not in fact a cult. Learn about our most recent ramblings in our blog. And most importantly learn where you can find our beers and our upcoming events so that we can connect and become best friends.
XO - The TrimTab Crew