Decatur Beerfest 2011

15th of October,

Atlanta Beer Week, 2011

Started this weekend and goes through the next weekend. Offically it started on the 8th, Events I want to check out: 11th, at the Porter Beer Bar, Duvel Glass night Terrapin Week at T-Mac Suwanee

Founders CBS, not found

On Friday I stopped in at a new Beer store, Pop's Wine & Spirits, they said they had some CBS but none for me. :( All the beer was spoken for already, sad.

German Bierfest, not for me

I didn't get to the Beerfest last weekend. Maybe I should have.

International #IPADay

International #IPADay was founded by Ashley Routson (aka The Beer Wench) and Ryan Ross but it was inspired by similar worldwide wine events such as #ChardonnayDay and #CabernetDay. Ashley, more commonly known in the beer world as The Beer Wench (Wenchie or just Wench) witnessed how these events brought people together around the world to drink wine, whether they normally drank wine or not.

Suwanee Beerfest

It was extremely HOT and the fest was not all that organized IMHO. The VIP stuff was marginal at best, they had said FREE water but I never saw any. The beers were really good though, lots of micro brews, Dogfish Head, Rogue, Bells, Lefthand, New Belgium, Highland it goes on and on. The tents may have been put up better with more air circulation but basically a great time. Saw a bunch of folks from all the Taco Macs.

A Large Beer run, Total Wine,

Two Wild Heaven brews, Invocation and another. from Wild Heaven in Decatur, GA

Indiana Krunkles from Terrapin in Athens, GA

Dogfish Head Headwater Ale

KBS and not able to go

They are having a Kentucky Breakfast Stout cask over at the Porter Beer Bar in Little Five Points but I'm already committed to going to the Tilted Kilt with Patty and the gang, I maybe could bow out but I'm Patty's ride. :( sad.

Atlanta, American Craft Beer-week

Atlanta Celebrates American Craft Beer Week | AtlantaBeerMaster.com.

Beers on the TO GET List.

This one by Thomas Creek, the Terrapin Indiana Krunckles and some from the Wild Heaven and O'Dempsey Breweries.

Prado Beer Festival

 On the way down to the Prado we stopped in at two woodworking stores, the Woodcraft off of Holcomb Bridge and then the other off of Roswell Rd in Sandy Springs.  Stopped in at the Trader Joes and picked up a 2011 Anniversary Mission Ale and some munchies as well.  Got to the beerfest and after parking just walked right in, no waiting, cool.

The beerfest was WONDERFUL, had a bunch of great beers, got to even see KatieB from Thomas Creek Brewing in Greenville again, looking wonderful as always.  Saw the dudes from Suwanee, Mike and Mike also two of the servers from Suwanee Lori? and the black girl with tattoos, damn can't remember her name.  They didn't have as many volunteers I guess.

The beer highlights were 1. the Wild Heaven Brewery, brewing currently at Thomas Creek I think and soon to be at their own place in Decatur.  Then a nice Belgian Imperial Porter from Thomas Creek, Monachus.  Also heard the the Moon River Brewery in Savannah, GA should be in the area soon.  A new IPA from the O'Dempey's Brewery who is now brewing @ Redbrick but soon to move to Thomas Creek.

We had dinner at the Taco Mac there, after trying to have something to eat at the 5 Seasons Brewing but getting some crap from the bartender maybe a bit snarky is all but it rubbed Brian the wrong way and didn't do much for me either.  Went back and had more beer after that and picked up the bottle of Thomas Creek.

I've been away but not gone..

Last week had a big pint night on Thursday, two glasses from Summits and another from T-Mac. Summits has glasses from Magic Hat but I don't think I'm going.

I've been trying to go through some of the beers I have in the cellar that are not long time keepers. Haven't been doing well at it though.

Beerfest on the 30th of April, the Prado Beerfest to be exact, should be great fun.

Koningshoeven Dubbel @ the Porter

Here’s a photo of the Koningshoeven Trappist Ale glass I got from the Porter Beer Bar last night. I also stuffed myself on a Chicken Schnizel Sandwich and fries. It was a good evening, wish I fit into the crowd in Little Five Points a bit better.

The dubbel was smooth with a sweet malty flavor. You could taste the alcohol a bit during but it smoothed out on the finish. The aroma was all malt and molasses.

Sweetwater Brew Your Cask Off

It was getting close to 6pm so I printed my ticket to the "Brew Your Cask Off" and headed on down to the Sweetwater Brewery. It was just beginning to rain again, not much but enough to give you pause. They were ready for that, it whole area was under cover but the area wasn't as big as it needed to be. I'm not sure how many people were there, must have been over 2000 I'd say maybe closer to 3 or 4K. It was beginning to actually warm up outside and it was wall to wall people in the tent with all 89 Casks lined up on one side. There was an area in the SW parking lot were there was food and tables for "sponsors" The Beer Connoisseur folks were there along with a few others.

I don't really think that the event was worth the $35 that I spent for the ticket. I wish I had been able to drink a few more beers than I got to. It was just so crowded and I really didn't research enough of the beers to know what to drink. I found out on Sunday that Jason from the MallOfGA T-Mac had a brew, a Porter that I wish I had gotten a taste of. I'm going to have to get a digital recorder to "tape" my thoughts on beers during these types of events.

Chatted with the gal at the Spring Beerfest (at the Masquerade) about photography, she was a bit of a photographer herself and I gave her one of my cards.

The people on the right brewed what I thought was the best beer I tasted at the event. It was a Pumpkin Porter, very chocolaty with a bit of pumpkin spice to give it a unique taste. They also gave me a $5 off coupon for their establishment.

Brew Your Cask Off 2011

Went, and #62 knocked my socks off.

Infinium by Samuel Adams and Weihenstephan Breweries

Brought this bottle over to a friend's house for a cookout and a group of us had a taste. I think everyone liked it, even the gal (Shannon) who was drinking wine most of the night. James, Rob, Ted and I took care of most of it giving sips to anyone else who wanted to try it.

drank up a bunch from Arizona

On my trip to Arizona over Valentine's Day I had several beers from the area.

Two from the Grand Canyon Brewery, the Pale Ale and the Whitewater Wheat. I had these both in downtown Sedona, the former the first night and the other the last.

Then three from the Oak Creek Brewery in Sedona, AZ: the Nut Brown Ale, the Porter and the Amber. All three were very nice, the Brown in a bottle, the Porter at the Brewery and the Amber in downtown Sedona.

botm, homebrew at the white house

Abita Purple Haze, the glass tonight at the TMac. I didn't have one but I did have the Porter instead. I then had the Double Red Ale by Bridgeport, it was OK but just standard, like the Abita.

They had some Homebrewed beer at the Whitehouse for the Superbowl made with some of the First Lady's honey (from bees). I'm thinking so what? Did they have wings as well?

Terrapin Brewery and some beers

I went over to the Terrapin Brewery in Athens along with stopping into the Five Points Bottleshop for a few A++ beers. The Heaven & Hell from Brouwerij De Molen and a JW Lees Harvest Ale Sherry Cask 2005. I'm looking forward to these but think I'll be waiting a bit, possibly. :)

Distinctively Brown.

I just love it when the advertising can poke fun at itself along with showing how stupid and frivolous people can be.

Two Beer Tastings in the winter

Two Beer Tastings are in the next several weeks. The Atlanta Winter Beerfest at the Masquerade on Jan 29th and then the Winter Beer Carnival on Feb 9th.

Both are about $30 and shown on the right ---->

Winter Beerfest

Winter Beer Carnival

Trip to Athens, GA and the Terrapin Brewery

I took this trip about 2 weeks ago, since then we've had a snow storm (snowed in for 3 days) and another weekend has come and gone.

I stopped in first to the Five Points Bottle Shop off of Lumpkin St. Got a couple of Dogfish Head World Wide Stout (12oz) and may well be keeping it for some time. Also picked up another 10 or so bottles of stuff, Sam Adams Infinium, the next two Terrapin Georgia Theater releases; Sound Czech and Hoptaneous Combustion, a couple of Terrapin Side Projects; Capt'n Krunkles Black IPA and Big Daddy Vlady's Russian Imperial Stout. Lastly, a Left Hand Oak Aged Wake up Dead Imperial Stout and a Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura, Dark Dawn Stout. That's only nine beers, I spent over $130 for all of it and feel like I may have missed a few.

I then went over to the Terrapin Brewery which is always a fun time. Due to the fact that it is located in the same town as the University of Georgia (UGA) you know that a large majority of the crowd is in the 21-25 age group. Lots of people on a Saturday night. The place was packed and also VERY cold, they had several heaters but it's the beer that truly warmed everyone up. There was a band playing as well belting out some nice rock tunes.

Good Times.

Sign of the beast

Notice the number of Total Credit Earned:

I've been trying to catch up on some of the beers I should be getting on my Taco Mac Brewniversity list.

I just hit 666 last visit.

Well, now it's 667.