Evergreen's Daryl Harper taps into foreign beer import business

Some would say that Daryl Harper has a dream job: He travels the world. Visits foreign beer breweries. Samples their beers and arranges their import to the United States for crowds of beer-lovers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee.

With a climate-controlled warehouse in Evergreen and administrative offices in Atlanta, Harper’s company, Olde Cask Imports, has been in business for nearly a year, since November 2012, and business is booming, Harper told The Courant in a phone interview last Thursday.

“This is something that I’m very excited about,” Harper said. “And the sky is the limit.” Harper, who previously worked as Evergreen’s Economic Development Director, said he got the idea to begin importing unique craft beers to the U.S. during a trip to the United Kingdom with his son. During the trip, they visited a number of breweries in England and Scotland, and it dawned on Harper that many of the beers they tried were not only new to those breweries, but they weren’t being sold in the U.S. either.

“A light bulb went off in my head,” Harper said. “These were beautiful beers that weren’t being sold widely, and I saw an opportunity.”

Harper, who has traveled all over the world, has a passport full of stamps to prove it and has been to England at least 100 times, had another door to open that paved the way for the creation of Olde Cask Imports.

“For years, I worked for an English company (International Performance Textiles) and one of my colleagues there in England actually had a son who was a brewer at the Ilkley Brewery in West Yorkshire,” Harper said. “I paid him a visit and the rest is history. Ilkley’s now our No. 1 seller.”

Currently, Harper’s company is importing six varieties of beer from the Ilkley Brewery, including Lotus India Pale Ale (IPA); Mary Jane IPA, a Trans-Atlantic IPA; Siberia, a Rhubarb Saison; Stout Mary, an English Oatmeal Stout; The Chief, a Triple-Hopped IPA; and The Mayan, a Chocolate Chipotle Stout. In addition to those beers, he’s also importing beers from three other U.K. breweries, including the Blue Monkey Brewery in Shropshire, the Hobsons Brewery in Nottingham and the Hawkshead Brewery in Yorkshire.

“These aren’t the typical beers you’d buy at the grocery store,” Harper said. “They’re not Bud Light or Miller Light. They’re beautiful blends of American and English styles and people enjoy them. They have unique flavor profiles and usually have higher ABVs (alcohol by volume).”

Harper noted that he’s hoping to expand the business, but it is a slow process due to licensing and bottle labeling requirements in other states, but it’s worth it, he said.

“The growth in sales of these types of crafts beers have been off the chart in the past two years, especially in Alabama,” he said. “We saw an 18-percent growth in the market last year and expect it to go even higher in the near future, and we’re hoping to capture some of that market.”

For more information about Olde Cask Imports, visit www.oldecaskimports.com, call 578-1043 or 404-414-4083 or e-mail dh@oldecaskimports.com.