Happy Birthday Porter Beer Bar!

Yesterday was The Porter Beer Bar's first birthday! This gastropub in Little 5 Points is a welcome addition to Atlanta's growing and dynamic beer culture. 3 delicious special casks were on-hand: Avery IPA dry-hopped with simcoe, Heavy Seas Hang 10 Weizenbock and a pumpkin beer from Terrapin. I went back twice for the Avery IPA, as I am a huge fan of the simcoe hop. Here are my tasting notes. Cheers to The Porter and looking forward to your 2nd birthday party!

Brick Store Hop Harvest Festival

This day will be all about the HOP! Hop vines, fresh hop cones, hop soup, Miss Hop Queen 2009.
Saturday October 10th
18 IPAs tapped downstairs, 8 Belgian-style IPAs upstairs
Here's a sneak peak of the tasties:

Smuttynose Big A
Avery Maharaja
Avery IPA Cask (dry hopped with Simcoe)
Lagunitas Lil Sumpin' Extra!
Atlanta Brewing Pliny The Elder clone
One called Hopgasm
Something from Black Mountain, NC & North Charleston, SC
And a few other biguns...cannot wait for this Festival

Hop Heaven

Yesterday, we had our monthly sales meeting over at Project Open Hand, in which we volunteered for 3 hours packing meals for their Senior Lunch Program. POH just happens to be right across the street from Sweetwater, so I just had to pop in. The Minister of Propaganda, Steve Farace, was plugging away in his office when he asked me, "Have you been in the back yet?" Of course he was referring to the "back of the brewery" and I quickly strolled into the brewery. Seemed to be business as usual, until I poked my head into the keg cooler....

Brewmaster Mark had his head down in one of four 100lb boxes filled with wet, fresh Chinook hops. The boxes were overnighted straight from Washington and the aroma was heavenly. These little green pine cones were a sight to behold and I really wanted to eat one. Smiles all around in the cooler. Mark stuffed them into hop sacks, which were going straight to the tank. This one will be the latest in the Dank Tank series, called Wet Dream. I think this name is perfect, as I almost had a wet dream in the cooler. She will be an Imperial Red, clocking in around 7.5%. To my knowledge, a wet hop beer is a first for Sweetwater and their recent creativity has me excited for their future brews. Here's how it went down:

The Best Little Beerhouse in South Carolina

Many great changes have come to South Carolina since their 6% cap was popped in May 2007. And a big part of the exciting beer culture is tucked away between Bay Street and Charleston Harbor in downtown Charleston- Charleston Beer Exchange. I met co-owner Scott Shor a few years ago @ Ted's Butcherblock where he served as the Beer Manager. It was during that visit that I met Jaime from COAST Brewing Co, who was pouring their HopArt IPA & 32/50 Kolsch. She also graciously poured me a hefty sample of their widely acclaimed Blackbeerd Imperial Stout from an super-secret hidden bottle.

I finally popped in to see CBX on a recent visit. Scott and co-owner Rich Carley were slammed on this busy Saturday, but not busy enough to serve my little group of 5. Manager Brandon Plyler was holding down the growler station, rotating the brown glass jugs among their 9 taps of delicious beer. They call him BigSilky for his cat-like precision. I got a 64oz fill of HopArt IPA, which is the #1 seller @ CBX. Back home a few days later, I shared this delicious growler with Willy T Nasty and decided that there could not be a more perfect name for this wonderful IPA.

In addition to the popular growler filling station, CBX sells lots of Founders Centennial IPA, Allagash White, and cans of Dale's Pale Ale. I saw beer from around 20 different countries, including all of the Trappist beers available in the US. Rich says they sell a good bit Chimay, Delirium, La Chouffe, Saison DuPont, St. Bernardus, and Black Albert

A visit to Charleston would not be complete without a stop at Charleston Beer Exchange. For more on my visit to CBX, check out my review on BeerAdvocate

Donkey Sighting Today @ Sweetwater

Very glad to see these 22oz bottles rolling! Had a 6oz pour today, and gave it a solid A on BeerAdvocate:

On tap @ the brewery today, 2009 edition. Bright copper appearance with some orange highlights. Head is super creamy & frothy, near white in color. Quite the tangy citrus aroma- tangerine, navel orange. First sip was surprisingly malty, sourdough bread followed by a big citric hop flavor. But not overwhelming at all...very big and very balanced. Good 10.2 vapor to remind you where you are. Noticeable punch of floral, bitterness in the back of the throat. Finishes very nice...some bitterness, some citrus yet not too dry.
All in all, I enjoyed this more than last year's version. Very big, bad, and worthy of the barleywine tag.

Brick Store Pub- Over The Top

Lincoln Hawk would be proud. Starting tomorrow to celebrate their 12 anniversary, Brick Store Pub will be tapping 14 special/unique/XXX kegs at 12pm over 11 days. Saturday June 27th is the Finale- 13 kegs tapped throughout the day starting at Noon.

Looking at this list, I am particularly interested in the Sweetwater oaked IPAs and the Cigar City Brewing's Guava IPA firkin. Folks are raving about this newcomer from Tampa on BeerAdvocate. On the 27th, I am looking forward to the wild ales from Allagash, the Stranahan Whisky beers from Oskar Blues, the Pappy Van Winkle Red Brick Winter and the offering from Ballast Point. BP hails from the craft brewing mecca of San Diego, and simply does not make an average beer.

6/16- 2006 Wooden Pin J.W.Lees Lagavulin cask
6/17- Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale
6/18- 2006 Terrapin Big Sloppy Monster (Jack Daniels barrel for 9 months)
6/19- Victory V-12 (Downstairs) Victory Wild Devil (Upstairs)
6/20- 2007 t'Smisje Kerst Wooden Cask(down) Pisgah Solstice Tripel (up)
6/21- Duck Rabbit Dopplebock
6/22- Ola Dubh 30 yr.
6/23- SweetWater Double IPA (Bordeaux barrel 1st run)
6/24- Avery Maharaja (Firkin)
6/25- Lagunitas Barrel Aged Brown Shugga
6/26- Cigar City Guava IPA (Firkin) (down) Hansens Kriek Lambic (Firkin) (up)

6/27- The Finale
noon- Duck Rabbit "Paul's Day Off"
1:00- SweetWater Oak Aged Creeper Belgian IPA (Bordeaux barrel 2nd run)
2:00- Highland Cattail Wheat (dosed with Trappist yeast)
3:00- Allagash Interlude
4:00- 2008 Red Brick Winter (Pappy Van Winkle barrel 1st run)
5:00- Allagash Confluence
6:00- Ballast Point Victory at Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter
7:00- Allagash Victor
8:00- Oskar Blues Stranahan Whisky Barrel Aged Gordon
9:00- Allagash Victoria
Also at 9:00- Terrapin Substance Abuse! (Wake & Bake Coffee Imperial Stout aged in a Jack Daniels whisky barrel)
10:00- O.B. Stranahan Barrel Aged Ten FIDY
11:00- Allagash Hugh Malone
12:00- O.B. Stranahan Barrel Aged Dale's Pale Ale

The Coolest Brother Outlaw Evah!

Well I only have one, but that doesn't matter. Just got a box in the mail from my favorite brother in-law, Darren. Two North Coast Old Rasputin XI and a Twentieth Anniversary Ale, which I haven't even heard of yet. While Old Rasputin is easily available in Decatur, the special edition XI is aged in "12 year-old oak bourbon barrels for nine months. Released only at the brewery's retail store in Fort Bragg." Cannot wait to try this one!

The label on 20 says, "67% Ale Aged in Oak Barrels, 33% Ale Brewed with Agave Nectar." I know that the XI was only available at the brewery in Ft. Bragg, Ca and can only imagine that the 20th was the same deal. While I was in the Bay Area for SF Beer Week this past February, I gave serious thought to making the 360 mile round trip to Ft. Bragg to grab some of the Old Raspy 11. The farthest north I have been in California is Boonville, home to Anderson Valley Brewing Company. But Ft. Bragg is 50 miles north of Boonville, on pretty windy 2-lane roads, from what I have heard.

Anyway, thanks for the ultra rare beers Darren and just remember...payback is a bitch! Cheers Brother