Little Bird Is a Dolly Parton Cider With a Book Drive Attached

A mixed berry cider inspired by Dolly Parton, arriving September 25 on a day the brewery is collecting books. Bring one and a beer costs a dollar, which is closer to the honoree than most tribute pours get.

Style: Cider
Release Date: 2026-09-25
ABV: 5.5%
Soul & Spirits Brewery (Memphis, TN)

Soul & Spirits Brewery will release Little Bird, a 5.5 percent mixed berry cider, on Friday, September 25. The brewery says it is inspired by Dolly Parton.

That makes it a slight departure from house practice. The brewery usually names beers after songs written by, performed by or featuring musicians from the Memphis area and greater Southern region. Here the credit goes to the artist rather than a particular record, and East Tennessee rather than Memphis.

The release is timed to the brewery's Dolly Day and Book Drive, running 1 to 9 p.m. the same Friday at 845 N Main Street. Anyone who brings a new or gently used book to donate gets a beer for a dollar. The offer also applies to anyone who donates to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library and shows the receipt. Dolly's catalogue plays all day, and Smoke & Toast is parked outside.

The book drive is the detail that makes the pairing hold together. Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995, inspired by her father's inability to read and write, and the program mails a book a month to enrolled children from birth until they start kindergarten. It has since delivered more than 300 million books across five countries. A cider named for her, released on a day the taproom is collecting books, is a closer fit than most tribute pours manage.

Soul & Spirits has not published tasting notes beyond mixed berry, and the cider does not yet appear on the brewery's online beer list. It arrives on draft September 25.

Editor’s Take

Tribute beers usually stop at the label. You get the name, you get a nice bit of illustration, and the connection to the person being honored ends at the bar. Little Bird goes a step further and lands on the one day of the year the brewery has a cardboard box by the door collecting picture books. Dolly Parton started the Imagination Library in 1995 because her own father could not read or write, and it has been mailing books to small children ever since. So the cider is named after her, and the release day quietly runs her errand. A dollar beer in exchange for a donated book is the rare taproom promotion that would survive being explained to its namesake.

Mixed berry is all the brewery has said about what is in the glass, which after a 9.01 percent imperial IPA and a liter of Oktoberfest feels like a deliberate change of pace. A 5.5 percent berry cider on the last Friday in September, with Dolly playing on the speakers from open to close, is not trying to be the most complicated thing on the list. It is trying to be the thing you can drink for six hours while people carry books in.

Source & Editorial

JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.