Athens brewery makes USA Today’s list of best in the country
Published on:
January 28, 2026
Head Brewer/Owner Johnny Osborne, Dean of Drinks Nathan Gebhard, and Pizzaiolo and Kitchen Consultant Wesley Skopp. Photo contributed.
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ATHENS―Twenty new craft breweries from Maine to California have been named as the best in the entire country, including one right here in Athens.
Night School, home of Deep Fried Beers opened at 21 Second Street in April of 2024 and is among the score of breweries selected this month by USA Today’s panel of brewski gurus. Now the national news outlet is asking the public to vote for their favorite.
“The nomination was a very pleasant surprise,” said Johnny Osborne, head brewer and owner of Night School.
“When HopCulture Magazine named us one of their best new breweries in the world last year I was amped. Being recognized in very beercentric publications is a huge honor. That said, I never anticipated that same level of excitement for our operation being held by the folks at major publications like USA Today,” he added.
Quickly becoming one of the area’s hottest watering holes, Night School is known for local beer, crushable cocktails, and fantastic pizza, wings and burgers. A curated list of craft beer cans is also available to enjoy on site or to-go.
So, what’s on tap? Some uniquely named choices include Homeroom, an East Coast pale ale, and Study Hall Stout, a full bodied nitro stout. There’s also Sout Patchwork, a raspberry double fruit imperial sour, and Porgs in a Blanket, a hop saturated ale, to name just a few.
USA Today’s selection process was conducted entirely by a team of industry experts and writers that they put together to select the nominees, Osborne explained.
“By the time I knew about the process, we had already been selected,” he said.
Voting can be done once per day, every day, through February 23 by visiting https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/deep-fried-beers-night-school-athens-new-york. No signup is required and USA Today does not ask voters for any personal information.
According to USA Today, hundreds of new craft breweries open across the United States each year and their 10BEST will honor the top new ones that opened since the beginning of 2023.
“Other than a strong sense of my work being validated, I’d imagine making the list could draw a lot of attention to our brewpub Night School and sister brand Deep Fried Beers,” Osborne said.
The exposure from making a national list can go a long way toward driving traffic from tourists and motivating locals to drop in, he added.
Night School is open seven days a week, starting at 4 p.m. on weekdays and noon on weekends.
“We’re hoping to expand our beer production capacity and restaurant operations in 2026 and we could definitely afford to bring in more equipment and folks to help me run it sooner if we got more visitors,” Osborne said.
