Get on the Brew Bus Gus!

According to @drinkblogrepeat, @ColumbiaBrewBus hits the streets of SC's capital on Nov. 7th!

"The Capital City’s first brewery tour business gets rolling this Friday, Nov. 7, as the Columbia Brew Bus begins its weekly tours of Columbia’s breweries.

[...]

During a preview tour Sunday, Nov. 2, the Brew Bus staff gave an idea of what each of the weekly trips will be like. The rotation of the breweries will change, but the bus will take riders to Swamp Cabbage, River Rat and Conquest where they’ll have the chance to try 24 oz. of beer at each brewery..."

It will be nice to now have a "Brews Cruise" as it were a little closer to the CSRA than Atlanta.  If we wanted to do one here in Augusta we would have to go to our one main growler outlet, and a number of top homebrewers houses....

For more information on the Columbia Brew Bus, check out their website at columbiabrewbus.com!

A photo posted by Columbia Brew Bus (@columbiabrewbus) on Oct 10, 2014 at 12:06pm PDT

Beer Trading Made Easy

thebeerexchange.io

@BeerExchangeApp, the first web app dedicated to craft beer trading. 

Augusta beer lovers, have you ever wanted to get your hands on a beer made somewhere else in this great country, but is not sold here in Beer Purgatory?

Well, look no further than the online convenience of The Beer Exchange.  BEX is the product of Mark Iafrate from Charlotte, NC.  Mark is also a co-host (and fall guy) on the wildly entertaining Craft Beercast, a weekly podcast out of the Queen City by a bunch of guys who don't know how good they have it. ;-)

But to get back to the topic at hand....  

You live in Augusta, but you really want to try Heady Topper or Pliny the Elder.  Top rated craft beers that you will never see sold here locally, since they are never distributed outside their own region.  BEX will allow you to search out and find other beer lovers around the nation who possess those beers that you desire, and then set up a trade with them.  The only "catch" is that you need to have a beer "For Trade" that the other party is "In Search Of".

For instance, above is an example of a trade of a bottle of Terrapin's White Chocolate Moo-Hoo for a can of Alchemist's Heady Topper.  Not a bad deal, if you ask me.

Again, the "catch" is that you need to have beers that others around the country won't have access to.  Think Terrapin's various Liquid Bliss, Side Project, Wake-n-Bake, or Moo-Hoo releases.  Sweetwater's Dank Tank Series.  Westbrook Mexican Cake.  Three Taverns Quasimodo or Theophan The Recluse.  Well, you get the idea.  To land those "whales" that you would never otherwise get to try, you need to be able to offer something exclusive from our region in return.

BEX's Most Sought After Beers

If this sounds like something you'd might like to try, head over to TheBeerExchange.io and sign up.  Then go out and start building your southeastern beer cellar.  Good luck!

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!