Sunday, September 13, 2009

Hotlanta and HolzBrew Happenings


During my stay in the glorious south I learned a few things. Chiefly, that Atlanta is a bad ass city for beer. I was somewhat surprised considering that until 2003 the state of Georgia was restricted to beers with 6.0% ABV or lower. Second, Sweetwater is the king of the thing in Atlanta.

While in Atlanta for the Hokie - Tide game (the game that need never be mentioned again, from hereon forward) I managed to sneak in a little beer travel. On the flight, I remembered to bring a BeerAdvocate from last year that featured Atlanta. We were put up in Midtown at the Hotel Palomar (great name, sounds like Shalamar). The closet bar to the hotel was Marlow's Tavern and as this trip was for a bachelor party, we spent many an hour at Marlow's. I was pleasantly pleased to find that Marlow's had a nice selection of draft craft. I got by with a steady diet of Sweetwater's 420 Pale Ale and IPA.

Other haunts that we hit up while on the prowl were The Vortex, a biker style bar with an impressive selection of draft and bottled beer; Engine 11, a cool bar setup in an old firehouse, make sure to ask for Quickie, he'll buy you a shot on the house; Taco Mac, this place wins hands down for most robust draft selection I have ever seen with 140 on tap; Sidebar, a sister bar to Engine 11; Front Page News, a New Orleans style bar with a bloody mary bar and plenty of Sweetwater on draft; and STATS, a massive sports bar, that I was lucky enough to find Terrapin Rye Pale Ale at.

I tried a whole lot of different beers while in ATL, but I'd have to say Sweetwater's IPA was the most impressive. A very balanced IPA, the maltiness and hopiness are quite evenly dominant. The hops provide an intense floral flavor. The malt gives a bready and biscuit flavor.

My only regret was that I did not get to visit the famous Brick Store Pub in Decatur. Oh well, I guess you've can't check everything off the list, because then you'd never have a reason to go back.

Other happenings lately in the homebrew world, I racked the Tripel Sunrise today to secondary. I siphoned off a little for a taste and was pleasantly surprised. Real sweet and fruit juicy up front with a noticeable hop kick. The only thing negative was that it was somewhat dirty in appearance, with lots of yeast in suspension. But considering that I plan to shelf it for at least another 2.5 months before bottling, I hope some of that yeast with fall out of suspension.

I also brewed a Belgian brune ( or brown) ale today. This one I kind of threw together without much in the way of research, but sometimes I find that you are pleasantly surprised when brewing with nothing but an idea. I racked the wort on top of the Tripel Sunrise's yeast cake. Instead of using my usual immersion chiller setup, which frequently takes well over an hour to chill to 75 degrees, I immersed the copper tubing in a bucket of ice water and ran the wort through the tubing. Next time I am going to have to add more ice, because the wort came out around 95 degrees, which is most likely going to mess with my brune.

Last, I have been kicking around a brew project in my mind for the last week or so. Operation barleyquor, why stop at barleywine? Barleyquor would be a naturally fermented libation hopefully reaching 25% ABV. Is it even possible? I have no idea. I have read up on some homebrewers making 120 IPA clones such as Homebrew Chef at 21% ABV. I think this would be a great novelty to brew that could be enjoyed over the next couple of years.

That's all for now. Stay inspired!

-HolzBrew

6 comments:

Camden Vincent Trammell Fund said...

Georgia has come a long way in such a short amount of time. They still have a ways to go (still no Sunday sales or beer over 15%) Hop City in the West End of the city is the best beer store in the state.

Definitely go to Brick Store next time you come. While the other places are pretty good, The Brick Store sets the bar.

HolzBrew said...

Vincent,

I'll have to come back even if it's just to visit the Brick Store. Another regret is that I did not get to try anything from Atlanta Brewing Co.

Thanks for your comment!

-HolzBrew

Anonymous said...

yo dawg i'm glad you had fun in hotlanta. we don't need to discuss the game haha.

"ster"

HolzBrew said...

Ster,

Keep on rocking in the free world (aka Blacksburg). Hopefully we bring our A game this week against Nebraska.

-HolzBrew

Anonymous said...

will do, we're gonna kick some azz this weekend. mom and dad are going.

g. funk larry monster

Anonymous said...

The Brick Store is definately worth a pilgrimage back down to Atlanta. One place you overlooked that also must check out is Summits Wayside Tavern. They have 3 locations just outside of Atlanta proper. I believe i went to the one in Woodstock a couple of years ago. They had about fifty beers on tap with a good 3/4 of them micros. I had a Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale (Yes, this was two years ago) poured through one Dogfish Head's "Randall"s (basically , a tube full of fresh hops for those who don't know). Hop Heaven on Earth! Definately worth the trip! -Andy