The Alabama Brewers Guild is giving people a taste of Old Cahawba with a special brewed beer in honor of the state’s first permanent Capital.

The beer, called Mulberry Road, was brewed in December and is a part of a series of special beers brewed by the guild for the state’s upcoming bicentennial celebration in 2019.

“We’ve been working with Alabama Bicentennial Commission, and there were five different Alabama capitals, so we’ve done a collaboration beer with all of our brewers each year to celebrate the different capitals,” said Amber Schreckenbach, Alabama Brewers Guild programs director.

Schreckenbach said Mulberry Road is the third beer the guild has brewed so far. Two other beers have been brewed for St. Stephens, Alabama’s territorial capital, and the Badlun brothers, who owned the state’s first Brewery, which was started in Huntsville, the capital when Alabama became the 22nd state.

The next two beers scheduled to be brewed are for Tuscaloosa and Montgomery. Schreckenbach said the brewing of Mulberry Road was a group effort by breweries all over the state.

“We kind of work together with planning what our theme will be, and from there we work on the recipe, and then we all get together and brew it,” she said.

The idea came from research the guild was doing on Old Cahawba. Schreckenbach said since the state’s first permanent capital is a ghost town, there is not a whole lot to go on, but she did find a drawing that intrigued the committee that made decisions about the beer.

“I came across this drawing in the memories of Old Cahawba of this beautiful mulberry lined avenue leading up to the state house,” she said. “So I took that along with several other ideas and put it through our collaboration committee.”

Mulberry Road is a dark brown beer with ruby highlights.

It includes dark chocolate with hints of coffee, caramel, nuts and toffee. It also includes mulberry juice. It’s a Belgian Style Dubbel.

“We had participation from all of our breweries in creating the recipe, and they tossed around ideas as far as styles go,” she said. “When the style was decided on they tossed around ideas for the ingredients itself. It was fantastic to be a part of that.”

The beer was brewed at Cahaba Brewing Company in Birmingham. Eric Meyer, brew master and managing partner said the beer turned out great.

“None of us had ever used mulberries in beer before, so we had to do a little research and talk with the local supplier on what type of mulberries we could get,” Meyer said. “We tried them a couple of ways and chose mulberry juice, and added it on in. I think it turned out very well. It’s a unique thing when you add fruits or different ingredients to the brewing process.”

Schreckenbach said the guild is working to hold a tasting to give people in Selma and Dallas County a chance to try it. They are also working with retailers to stock the beer.

“We’re working with several different retailers to make sure they can purchase it down there,” she said. “It will be available in 12-pack cans and kegs. We will have it distributed all throughout the state, so if they can’t find it at one of their local restaurants, they should be able to find it in the grocery store.”

Schreckenbach said she expects the beer to be ready for distribution next week or by Jan. 23.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Cahaba Advisory Committee for preserving the site.