YUCHiKiOKEE Arts Festival - Mar 21/22

Hey AGS, on Sat/Sun @CCCEvents_etcp will host an arts festival with a beer twist!  The Augusta Homebrewers Association will be out to give brewing demos and advice, and will be joined by Augusta's only Homebrew shop, Poplar Creek Brewing.

YUCHiKiOKEE Arts Festival

Feeling like a craft beer, great music, and the opportunity to purchase some local artwork?

Check out the varieties of craft beer at the YUCHiKiOKEE Arts Festival from The Vineyard! Also, don't miss the Craft Beer Demos from The Augusta Homebrewers Association and Popular Creek Brewing!

Founder’s All-day IPA: Grand Rapids, MI
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale: Kalamazoo, MI
21st Amendment Brew Free of Die: San Francisco, CA
21st Amendment Back in Black: San Francisco, CA
Anderson Valley Boont Amber: Boonville, CA
Costal Empire Savannah River Brown: Savannah, GA
Costal Empire Savannah River Blonde: Savannah, GA
Highland Gaelic Ale: Asheville, NC
Oskar Blues Mama’s Lil’ Yella Pils: Brevard, NC
Oskar Blues Dale Pale Ale: Brevard, NC
March 21 & 22 | 

More Info @ www.evanstownecenterpark.com

See you there!

Augusta Shamrawked Pub Crawl

Augusta peeps, mark your calendars for March 14th!

Red Hare Brewing Company presents SHAMRAWKED Pub Crawl - Saturday, March 14, 2015

Tickets are $10 and will be available for purchase starting at 4p at the corner of 11th & Broad (1102 & Metro Coffeehouse)

Get your stamp at Farmhaus Burger • The Playground • 1102 • Metro A Coffeehouse • Blue Sky Bar&Kitchen • The Soul Bar • Joes Underground • The Loft of Augusta • Bar On Broad • Firehouse Bar • Sky City • Whiskey Bar (kitchen) • Soy Noodle House • Stillwater Tap Room!

SouthStar Trolley will be offering FREE rides to participating bars for all Pub Crawl patrons.

This event benefits the the The Greater Augusta Arts Council!

Ponce de Leon Beer Festival

This Saturday, @PonceBeerFest will be held at the Yaarab Shrine in Atlanta.

$35 for General Admission, $45 for VIP.  Doors open at 1pm, though VIP tix will get you in at 12 noon.

"With this festival we look to accomplish bringing out these new styles to the public and enlighten people on styles of beer. We would also like to surprise the beer lovers out there with new brews that they have not experienced. For example, many breweries are making a one off beer not available to the public yet. We are trying to keep it in a more intimate feeling with only allowing 1500 people in at the door. We feel this will be able to give the attendees more room to move around and try each beer selection.
The 2014 event will be an amazing experience in taste and sound being held on November 15th 2014 from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm."

This will be a very regional festival with the following breweries available to General Admission:

If you buy a VIP ticket, you will also have access to some special brews from the following:

Ticket prices will increase on the day of the festival, and part of the proceeds will go to support the Children's Hospital.

Enjoy!

Augusta Beerfest Special Offer!

@GravityGrowlers is offering a special deal for those dressed appropriately at the Augusta Beerfest: 

"Hey Folks, we are really excited for Augusta's first beer festival. From the sound of it, the attendance is going to be great, and that should really help elevate Augusta on the Georgia craft beer map. For anyone who is unsure about going, please do. Supporting events like this only increases the likelihood more craft beer related events will happen in the future. There are lots of reasons Augusta, with its population and resources, should be an active venue for craft beer enthusiasts, so vote with your dollars and support stuff like this!

We have a fun promo for those attending. If you have one of our shirts and wear it to the festival, take a picture of you wearing it...show us the pic next week and get 20% off of any 64oz growler fill. If you don't have a shirt, get one!! We just reduced the prices!"

So get your butts over to 341 Furys Ferry Rd in Martinez tomorrow and get yourself a shirt!

Augusta Nerdfest..errr...Beerfest!

@TheMetroSpirit has a great interview with reps from 4 Georgia craft breweries coming to Saturday's Augusta Beerfest.

Nerdfest
Its official name is Augusta Beerfest, but craft beer is serious business

If you think those who work for craft brewing companies are rock stars, they are....But if craft brewery employees are part rock star, they’re equal parts marching band geek.

Recently Metro Spirit sat down for a conversation about being small craft brewers in the south with Jonathan Parker of Jekyll Brewing in Alpharetta, Wes Sessoms of Red Hare Brewing Company in Marietta, Josh Kirssin of Monday Night Brewing in Atlanta and JJ Mercurio of Eagle Creek Brewing Company in Statesboro.

Here is a sampling:

"JK: I think the coolest part of beerfests is taking your domestic drinker and putting him out of his environment that he’s not comfortable with and testing his palate, see what he’s comfortable with and trying to figure out really what it is, because I was a domestic beer drinker when I went to Georgia Southern.

JJ Mercurio: I still am!

WS: Personally, when I go to beer festivals I start to treat it like a wine tasting. I have a restaurant background and we would do these wine tastings and you start with the whites and move on to the reds. Everyone’s got a lighter beer, a pale ale or a lager, so you start there and gear up to those high alcohol and those bigger flavors as you go on throughout the day so you’re not starting off with something like an imperial IPA that’s going to wreck your palate.

MS: Why IPAs? You all have one, right?
JK: Every brewery has an IPA.

JJM: We don’t. We have a pale ale. And I’ve given it to the nerdiest of the nerdy beer nerds and they thought it was an IPA. Nope. It’s a pale ale.

WS: There’s an emerging style between all of our breweries of an East Coast or a Southern IPA. It’s not as dark, it’s not as heavy of an IPA and that’s the thing that I have tried to tell people more recently, you know, don’t compare us or any of our IPAs to a Stone or a Lagunitas or any of these West Coast breweries because it’s a completely different environment. It’s hot here in the summertime. You can’t have an 8 percent, hoppy, dank IPA. That’s just not refreshing, so the one thing that all of us do is that style, more of an emerging, Southern style."

But the best part to read was this:

"MS: What will you be offering at Augusta Beerfest?

JP: Three regular styles and two specialty casks.

WS: The same for us; three regular styles and two specialty casks.

JK: Five and a specialty cask.

JJM: Two and two specialty casks.

WS: The cool thing about specialty casks is you’re not going to find that beer anywhere else. It’s just for this event. The beauty of it is that it’s super rare and super special; you gotta be there to have it. The downside is if you really, really like it you’re never going to see it again."

And that people is what beerfests should be about. Widening your beer experience, and tasting cool new things (i.e. specialty casks!) you may never see again.  Chances are, if you are going to the later session, you won't see those specialty casks...sorry!

Augusta Beerfest!

If you haven't heard already, Aug 16th at the Bell Auditorium.  Details below....

"It’s Augusta’s largest celebration of craft beer, Augusta Beerfest 2014 on August, 16! With sampling of over 75+ of some of the region’s most popular craft beers, it is a beer lover’s dream. So, if you consider yourself a beer connoisseur, you won’t want to miss Augusta’s signature beer event, the inaugural Augusta Beer Festival at the Bell Auditorium!

Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door. The Bell Auditorium provides a historic, unique, and intimate atmosphere. Two sessions are available, 12:00pm-3:00pm and 4:00pm-7:00pm. Your ticket includes a souvenir cup and beer samples. Local food trucks will be providing food for purchase.

This is a 21 and up event, rain or shine (mostly inside event, with food trucks outside), no refunds."

Dont Forget About Beer Camp!

In less than a month, @SierraNevada will host #BeerCampTour at its new NC facility. Tickets are still available!

"Beer Camp Across America will feature seven stops—in cities with thriving craft beer cultures—moving geographically west to east, much like the craft movement has historically spread. Each tour stop will feature that city’s local and surrounding regional brewers. The festivals will appropriately begin and end at Sierra Nevada’s two brewing locations, kicking off in Chico where it took root in 1980, and culminating in Mills River, NC for the grand opening of its East Coast brewery."

This festival, the seventh and final on the 2014 Beer Camp tour, will be held on August 3rd, 1-6 pm.  Tickets will be $65, and of course you will have to be over 21.

Sierra Nevada is boasting: "...we’ve invited every craft brewer from these states to serve their beers at the Southeast Edition: NC, SC, GA, AL, MS, FL, LA, AR and TN—more than 300!"  

Right now it looks like over 120 have signed up, including these Georgia & South Carolina breweries.  
 

BLUE RIDGE BREWING COMPANY

Greenville, SC

BLUE TARP BREWING COMPANY, LLC

Decatur, GA

COAST BREWING COMPANY

North Charleston, SC

CONQUEST BREWING COMPANY, INC

Columbia, SC

CREATURE COMFORTS

Athens, GA

EVENTIDE BREWING

Atlanta, GA

HUNTER-GATHERER BREWERY

Columbia, SC

MOON RIVER BREWING COMPANY

Savannah, GA

NEW SOUTH BREWING

Myrtle Beach, SC

PALMETTO BREWERY

Charleston, SC

QUEST BREWING COMPANY

Greenville, SC

RED BRICK BREWING CO.

Atlanta, GA

RIVER RAT BREWERY

Columbia, SC

RJ ROCKERS BREWING COMPANY

Spartanburg, SC

SOUTHBOUND BREWING COMPANY

Savannah, GA

STRAWN BREWING COMPANY

Fairburn, GA

SWEET WATER BREWING COMPANY

Atlanta, GA

TERRAPIN BEER COMPANY

Athens, GA

THOMAS CREEK BREWERY

Greenville, SC

WILD HEAVEN CRAFT BEERS

Decatur, GA

WRECKING BAR BREW PUB

Atlanta, GA

So, if you are looking for a fun break to the summertime doldrums, hop on up to NC!

Beercast Shoutouts

I would like to thank the @CLTBeercast 'brahs', for giving me shout-outs in their two most recent podcasts.

The first was a good old fashioned mention, while the second was a multi-multi-Stout infused drunken challenge to get off my ass and visit the upcoming CLT Craft Beer Week.



 As usual, both episodes are great listens, while the second does devolve (matriculate?) into the aforementioned Stout-infused drunkeness.  Entertaining to say the least!

Episode 21 - Brah is the new Backside Guy

 

Episode 22 - Redacted

Unfortunately, I probably will not be able to make it up to enjoy CLT Craft Beer Week's Tap Takeover at Vintner's, as I have two other upcoming beer trips which have depleted my current stockpile of kitchen passes.  Thus I will have to miss out on the warm hospitality of @CLTBeerBlog that everyone keeps mentioning...

Next week I will be heading down on a special trip to some breweries in ATL, and in May the Augusta Homebrewers Association is going to caravan up to Asheville to enjoy the vibrant craft brewery scene.  Both trips should make for some great reviews...

Coming Soon: 1st Annual Georgia Craft Beer Festival

@GaBrewersGuild and @RedBrickBrewing have announced the 1st Annual Georgia Craft Beer Festival to be held on March 22nd at Red Brick.

Red Brick is hosting an unprecedented festival which aims to gather all currently operational Georgia breweries under one banner for a day of celebrating our local craft beer culture. The VIP area will feature 12 specially crafted beers, each one by a different participating brewery. There will also be food trucks and some of the best local live music that Atlanta has to offer. The event will benefit the Georgia Craft Brewers' Guild (insert anything here that you want to say about the guild).

Tickets will go on sale on Jan 24th.

World Beer Festival - Columbia, SC UPDATE #1

@AllAboutBeer has released the latest brewery line-up for this weekend's World Beer Festival in Columbia, SC.  By my count, 17 entrants fell off and 9 new ones were added. (New additions in italics)

Additionally, they have included the preliminary beer line-ups for each brewer.  Take a gander!

BREWERY	BEER	BEER	BEER	BEER
Abbey de Leffe	Leffe Brune	Leffe Blonde
Abita Brewing	Grapefruit IPA	Strawator	Turbo Dog
Allagash Brewing	White	Black Belgian Stout
Anderson Valley Brewing Co.	Spring Hornin'	El Steinber
Angry Orchard	Crisp Apple	Ginger	Cinful Apple
Avery Brewing	Ellie's Brown	Out of Bounds Stout
Bell's Brewery	Amber	Two Hearted IPA
Benford Brewing Co.	O'SOO Stout	Brown	Irish Honey	Southern Tater
Blue Moon	White	Seasonal
Blue Mountain Brewery	Lager	Steel Wheels ESB	Full Nelson IPA
Boston Beer Co.	Boston Lager	Cold Snap	Rebel IPA
BottleTree Beer Co.	Blonde	Red
Brooklyn Brewery	Lager	Brown
Carolina Brewery	Sky Blue Golden Ale	Copperline Amber Ale	Flagship IPA
Carolina/Cottonwood	Carolina Blonde	Carolina Strawberry Blonde	Cottonwood Frostbite
COAST Brewing Company	HopArt	Smoked Red	32/50 Kolsch
Conquest Brewing	Blonde Ale	Sacret Heart IPA	Medusa Stout	Beer Fest Beer
Crispon	Crispin Cider
Crown Imports	Modelo Especial	Pacifico	Victoria	Negra Modelo
Czechvar	Czechvar	Czechvar Dark
Diageo	Guiness	Harp	Smithwicks
Dogfish Head Brewery	Namaste	My Antonia	India Brown
Duck Rabbit Craft Brewery	Milk Stout	Paul's Holiday
Foothills Brewery	Torch Pilsner	Hoppyum IPA	People's Porter
Founder's Brewing Co.	All Day IPA	Porter	Dirty Bastard
Four Friends Brewing	i77	Uptown Brown
Fox Barrel	Fox Barrel Cider
Freehouse Brewery	Brown	Ashley Farmhouse
Goose Island	312	IPA	Sofie	Matilda
Heineken USA	Amstel	Dos XX	Strongbow
Highland Brewing Co.	Oatmeal Porter	Gaelic Ale
Holy City Brewing	Pluff Mud Porter	Slanted Porch
Laguintas Brewing Co.	IPA	Undercover Shutdown	Little Sumpin
Lazy Magnolia Brewing Co.	Southern Hops'pitality	Jefferson Stout
Leinenkugel	Snow Drift
Lonerider Brewery	Peacemaker Pale Ale	Shotgun Betty	Sweet Josie
Magic Hat Brewing Co.	#9	TBD
Merchant du Vin	Samuel Smith Chocolate Stout	Lindemans Framboise	Orval	Ayinger Brau Weisse
New Belgium Brewing Co.	Yuzu	Spring Blonde	Fat Tire	Ranger
NoDa Brewing Co.	Hop Drop	Coco Loco
Olde Mecklenburg Brewery	Copper	Captain Jack	Dunkel
Oskar Blues Brewery	Dales Pale Ale	Old Chub	Mama's Yellow Pils
Red Hare Brewing Co.	Gangway IPA	Long Day Lager
Redds	Apple Ale	Strawberry Ale
River Dog Brewing Co.	Belgian Quad	India Red Ale	Kolsch
RJ Rockers	Good Boy Stout	Witty Twister
Rogue Brewery	Good Chit	Yellow Snow
Shock Top	Belgian White	Raspberry
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.	Pale Ale	Torpedo Extra IPA	Ruthless Rye
	Bigfoot Barleywine	Ovila Plum	Porter
Smuttynose	Big A IPA	Rye IPA	Scotch Ale
St Killians	Carlsburg	Carbbie's Ginger
Stella Atrois	Stella Atrois
Stone Brewing Co.	Levitation Ale	Vertical Epic
SweetWater Brewing Co.	Whiplash White IPA	IPA	Blue
Terrapin Brewing Co.	Hopsecutioner	Rye Pale Ale
Thomas Creek Brewery	River Fall Red	Coffee Oatmeal Porter
Westbrook Brewing Co.	IPA	One Claw Rye Pale Ale	White Thai
Weyerbacher Brewing	Merry Monks	Blithering Idiot	Double Simcoe Double IPA
Widmer Brothers Brewery	Alchemy IPA	TBD
Windy Hill Cider	Ginger Gold	Gala Peach	Hoppin Johnny
Woodchuck	Amber Cider	Pear Cider	Cellar Series

OK, I will take another look at this on Friday, and check for any more changes.

Hope to see you there!

Coming Soon: Secret Stash Bash!

 On Mar 1st, @5SeasonsBrewing and @TacoMacPrado will be hosting the "Secret Stash Bash" at their locations on Atlanta's north side.

What is a "Stash Bash" you ask, since like me you might live in Craft Beer Purgatory?  Imagine a metric buttload of great craft brewers descending on your town (not Augusta of course) with their "stash" of brews that you can't get anywhere else?

What is the opposite of Purgatory?  That's right....Heaven!




Stolen from their website here are the details:

If you are a Craft Beer aficionado, and that description hasn't hooked you already, then check out the list of breweries:

5 Seasons Brewing Company

Allagash

Ass Kisser Ales

Anderson Valley

Artisinal Imports

Avery

Belukus

Bell's Brewing

Blue Point

Brooklyn Brewery

Boulevard

Burnt Hickory

Clown Shoes

Dogfish Head Ales

Duck Rabbit Brewery

Finches Beer Co.

Founders

Green Flash

Highland Brewing Company

Jail House Brewing

Jeckyl Brewing

Lagunitas Brewing

Left Hand Brewing

Merchant du Vin

Monday Night Brewing

Mother Earth Brewing

New Belgium Brewing

New Holland Brewing

Odempsey's Beer to Die For

Oskar Blues

Red Brick Brewery

Red Hare Brewing

Rogue Ales

Sierra Nevada

Stone Brewing

Sweetwater Brewing

Terrapin Beer

Three Taverns

Victory Brewing

Wetten Importers

Wild Haven Beers

Given that these guys will not be serving up their run of the mill distribution, I think my liver has cried Uncle already....

World Beer Festival - Columbia, SC

@AllAboutBeer's World Beer Festival will be making a return visit to Columbia, SC's convention center on January 18th (Ignore the fact that the banner above from their current website still has last year's date on it, as I am sure that oversight does not reflect how the show will be run.....)

This will be my third year in attendance.  I quite liked the first year and had a lot of fun.  Though I hear that the evening sessions ran into some issue with lack of product (under previous organizers).  Last year's was not bad, though I felt that there were not as many booth's, especially with smaller local and regional craft brewers.  Additionally, there was a mix-up in the VIP section, where tastings of Sam Adam's Utopias were advertised, but never materialized.  Organizers made up for it with later tastings, though many of us could not make the drive up to Columbia for those make-ups.  :-(

That being said, the line up for this years looks like it has rounded into shape, and I must say looks rather promising, especially on the aforementioned local/regional brewer front.  Quite a few of the standouts from NC and SC are on the list, though not as many from GA as I had hoped to see.

Below is the list as of this evening, and I have heard that there may in fact be more regional brewers added to the list.  I have highlighted some of the booths that I am especially looking forward to visiting.   How about you?

Abbaye de Leffe	Belgium
Abita	Abita Springs, LA
Allagash	Portland, MA
Avery	Boulder, CO
Ayinger	Germany
Ballast Point	San Diego, CA
Batch 19	Golden, CO
Bear Republic	Healdsburg, CA
Bell's	Kalamazoo, MI
Benford	Lancaster, SC
Blue Moon	Golden, CO
Boston Beer	Boston, MA
BottleTree Beer	Tryon, NC
Brooklyn	Brooklyn, NY
Carlsburg	Denmark
Carolina	Pittsboro, NC
Chimay	Belgium
Coast	North Charleston, SC
Conquest	Columbia, SC
Cottonwood/Carolina	Mooresville, NC
Crispin Cider	Colfax, CA
Czechvar	Czech Republic
Dogfish Head	Milton, DE
Duck Rabbit	Farmville NC
Foothills	Winston-Salem, NC
Founder’s	Grand Rapids, MI
Four Friends	Charlotte NC
Fox Barrel Ciders	Colfax, CA
Goose Island	Chicago, IL
Highland	Asheville, NC
Holy City	North Charleston, SC
Hunter-Gatherer	Columbia, SC
Lagunitas	Petaluma, CA
Lazy Magnolia	Kiln, MS
Leinenkugel	Chippewa Falls, WI
Lindemans	Belgium
Lonerider	Raleigh, NC
Magic Hat	South Burlington, VT
Modelo	Mexico
New Belgium	Fort Collins, CO
New South	Myrtle Beach, SC
NoDa	Charlotte NC
Olde Mecklenburg	Charlotte NC
Orval	Belgium
Oskar Blues	Brevard, NC
Pacifico	Mexico
Palmetto	Charleston, SC
Railhouse	Aberdeen, NC
Red Hare	Marietta, GA
Redd's Apple	Albany, GA
River Dog	Ridgeland, SC
RJ Rockers	Spartanburg, SC
Rogue	Ashland, OR
Sameul Smith	England
Sierra Nevada	Chico, CA
Smuttynose	Portsmouth, NH
St. Killian Imports	Various
Stella Artois	Belgium
Stone	Escondido, CA
Sweetwater	Atlanta, GA
Terrapin	Athens, GA
Thomas Creek	Greenville, SC
Victoria	Downingtown, PA
Westbrook	Mt. Pleasant, SC
Weyerbacher	Easton, PA
Windy Hill Orchard	York, SC
Woodchuck Cider	Middlebury, VT
Yuengling	Pottsville, PA

Brew Fest Alert! Columbia, SC

Attention CSRA beer lovers! @allaboutbeer is hosting the World Beer Festival in Columbia, SC on Jan 18th.

Two sessions: 12-4pm and 6-10pm
General Admission: $40, and VIP Admission: $85
Buy tickets here.

This will be the WBF's 6th year in Columbia, and my third time attending.  Last year was a little less impressive than the first, as it did not seems they had as many booths/breweries as the previous year, and there were some snafus with the advertised VIP selections.  Additionally, there have been issues in previous years with lack of supplies for the evening session.  Hopefully all of these will be rectified for this event.

You can see the current "as-of-now" line up here.  The only one that actually catches my eye is Foothills.  Red Hare, SweetWater, Terrapin, and Thomas Creek should provide some solid regional representation.  But I am hoping the expanded list will include smaller regionals from GA (Monday Night, Burnt Hickory, Three Taverns, Southbound, Eagle Creek, Wild Heaven), SC (Westbrook, COAST, Holy City), and NC (NoDa, Olde Meck, Wicked Weed).   Columbia's Conquest Brewing is actually doing a collaboration IPA with the @allaboutbeer staff for the event, and I don't know much about smaller brewers like Lonerider and Hunter-Gatherer but it is good to see them in the door.

I hope that over the next couple of weeks we will see a final list, with some of these great regional choices included.

Classic City Brew Fest - 2014

Here in Augusta, the second Sunday in April usually means one thing.  The final round of the Masters.  But this year in Athens, it will mean the return of the Classic City Brew Fest for its 19th iteration.

 

On April 13 from 2:30 to 6:00 PM, enjoy one of the top beer festivals to be found anywhere, which last year featured over 350 different brews, and 21 cask ales.  Tickets are $39.99, and all proceeds benefit the Athens-Area Humane Society.  As the pictures above suggests, it does sell out, so get your tickets now!  Additionally, if you might want to volunteer to work the festival, you can do so here.