Deep Craft Beer Thoughts on a Snowy Day

"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself 'It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver'."

-Jack Handy

Do Georgia Politicians Hate Craft Beer?!?

First they screwed up homebrew laws, now possibly on-premise growler sales....

Ironically, in the homebrew arena federal laws are actually pretty common-sensical.  Homebrew "may be removed from the premises where made for personal or family use at organized affairs, exhibitions, or competitions such as contests, tastings, or judging".  Nice and simple.

Of course, never underestimate the ability of well intentioned politicians with no practical knowledge on an issue to screw things up.  Back in 2013, Georgia legislators passed HB99 with the intention of addressing the transportation and consumption outside of the one's household, an activity which previously was not mentioned in Georgia laws.  So one could debate whether this made transport technically illegal, or technically legal.  But either way, the state of Georgia had gotten along fine for decades without it being addressed.  

This where the politicians step in.  And as we know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions...

"Recently, House Bill 99 (HB99) passed and became law matching the federal production limits... It also attempted to legalize transportation and consumption outside of the household. However, instead of following the federal language and treating transportation of homebrew the same as transportation of commercial beer, it only allows for "transportation and delivery by the producer for use at home-brew special events in a quantity not to exceed 25 gallons". By default, these homebrew special events can only be held "at locations not otherwise licensed under this title" and a new special event permit is now required."

Awesome! From fairly unregulated to bureaucracy and required permits (which have to be issued by separate municipalities that probably don't have a process for this requirement) in one easy step!

"To add even more red tape, any homebrew leaving your household is now required to be labeled with personal information as well as the new permit number. No permit, no transportation. Prior to HB99, despite being technically illegal, transportation of homebrew was completely unregulated and monthly club meetings and contests were held at any venue that would tolerate them. No government oversight was needed or wanted.

[...]

HB99 appears to have been written to finally legitimize competitions, but ironically it seems to have had more of a negative impact. Municipalities with little or no knowledge of the aspects of homebrewing and little resources, time, or perceived benefit are now slated to draw up an ordinance allowing an event in their jurisdiction...and several annual competitions are in jeopardy with at least one having already been cancelled.

Thanks again helpful politicians!  Why did we even ask for your help?

If you think that is bad, let's move to the simple idea (in over 3 dozen other states) of letting craft brewers let their on-site customers take some fresh beer home with them.  Surely the politicians couldn't crew this up, right?

Well, initially in 2013 proposed pieces of legislation (HB 314/SB 174) actually took some straightforward approaches "...to allow packaging breweries and brewpubs to sell a limited amount of beer (only 288 ounces per person per day) for consumers to take home."  However, those bills languished in committee, and never got to a vote.  What did get passed however was the establishment of a "Senate Study Committee on Brewpubs and Alcoholic Beverage Tastings".  Yep, it was as bad as it sounds...  

And whodathunkit, the outcome of said committee was pretty craptacular.

"Despite an abundance of compelling testimony from Georgia craft brewers, the Study Committee Report favors prohibition-era, big-government regulation over modern free market principles. After three hearings held in August, September and October, the FINAL REPORT OF THE GEORGIA SENATE STUDY COMMITTEE ON BREWPUBS AND ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE TASTINGS was released on Friday January 17, 2014. While the Committee Hearings provided an unprecedented opportunity for Georgia craft brewers to explain the craft beer industry to our State legislators and the public-at-large, the report reveals ongoing misunderstandings and shortcomings that must be addressed."

Would you like to see stupidity in action?  Check out how the report from this distinguished panel of public servants recommends that growler purchases at breweries and brewpubs should work.

1. The growler contains malt beverages manufactured on the premises;
   

2. The patron purchased and consumed a meal on the premises and consumed a portion of the growler containing 64 ounces of malt beverages manufactured on the premises;

3. The partially consumed growler is capped by the patron and placed by the licensee or its employees in a bag or container that is secured in such a manner that it is visibly apparent if the bag or container has been subsequently opened or tampered with, and a dated receipt for the growler and meal shall be provided by the licensee and attached to the bag or container; and

4. If transported in a motor vehicle, the bag or container with the capped growler is placed in a locked glove compartment, a locked trunk, or the area behind the last upright seat of a motor vehicle that is not equipped with a trunk.

Interesting.  I have never seen politicians actually recommend that people drink a portion of their alcohol purchase before driving home.

But seriously...in order to get a growler of fresh beer one must buy a meal AND drink a portion of said growler before leaving.  Where the heck did that come from?  Before I get more profane, I will let the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild (GCBG) to again express their frustration.

First, the recommendations of the Report entirely ignore packaging breweries. The Study Committee heard testimony that breweries in forty-two other states are allowed some form of beer sales to-go. Further testimony was provided on the bounty of economic and other benefits that would result from the proposed limited to-go business for packaging breweries. Yet, the Report is silent about whether Georgia's packaging breweries should be given a fair opportunity to strengthen their consumer relationships in the same way that out of state competitors can in their home states. The Legislature needs to address laws which impede our craft brewer's ability to effectively compete, before Georgia's craft beer industry loses additional ground to neighboring states.

Secondly, the “merlot-to-go” recommendation on page 20 of the Report for how brewpubs should be allowed to sell growlers shows an apparent lack of understanding of the realities of beer service and quality. The recommendation limits the consumer to only one 64oz growler, WHICH MUST BE PARTIALLY CONSUMED AT THE BREWPUB. The remainder can then be taken home if it is wrapped and sealed in a plastic bag. The report even goes so far to specify where the container can be placed in the patron's car, creating additional burdens and risk on consumers who simply want to enjoy their favorite beer in their own home. Not only would the recommendation require the patron to drink part of the growler before getting back on the road, it overlooks the fact that beer is not wine. A half-filled container of beer will be flat and oxidized before the consumer can return home. The “merlot-to-go” recommendation is unworkable, as written, and does not serve the interests of Georgia’s craft beer industry or the interests of Georgia’s adult consumers.

Another major flaw in the Report is the lack of any meaningful consideration of the consumer demand. The Senate Study Committee was provided with reports, analysis, news stories and other background material that indisputably proves the enthusiasm and sophistication of craft beer consumers in Georgia. The Report does not seem to understand or appreciate this sophistication and the recommendations seem to indicate that these sophisticated consumers in Georgia should just accept the status quo. This is unacceptable for many reasons and the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild will continue to fight to create the best possible environment for craft beer consumers throughout the state of Georgia. It's time to bring the laws governing Georgia's craft brewers up to speed with the rest of our country. The Georgia Craft Brewers Guild is opposed to the Study Committee’s recommendations and will continue to push for passage of HB 314/SB 174 into law.

So....while one can buy a growler of their favorite local beer at growler stations throughout the state (where by the way quality of the beer cannot be guaranteed) and take it all home.  But if they buy an identical growler at that beer's brewery, they must buy a meal and drink some before they go home.  Makes perfect sense!

I don't get why the pols are making things so complicated.  It is not like this is a real threat to the three-tier system (Certainly not here in Augusta). And has been shown in other states in the region, updating these very types of laws can have an immediate and positive affect on the state's brewing industry, and by extension, its tax base.

Changes in State Law Fueled S.C.’s Brewery Boom

"No matter where you go in South Carolina, there’s little doubt that craft beer is experiencing something of a boom. “South Carolina is right on the edge of an explosion,” says Nick McCormac, who blogs about South Carolina beers at drinkblogrepeat.com. 

So, what was the spark that lit that explosion? Two words: Pint Bill. On June 6 of last year, Gov. Nikki Haley signed into law an amendment that granted microbreweries the ability to sell up to 48 ounces of beer to patrons on site instead of limiting their intake to free samples, giving breweries a much-needed up-front source of income beyond selling through distributors. 

While it took a coalition of brewers and enthusiasts lots of hard work to get the bill created and pushed through, the results were immediate and dramatic. “Already [since the Pint Bill passed] there are about 10 different breweries of various sizes and in various locations in the planning stages, and that’s just going into 2014,” McCormac notes" 

Alas this type of progress, as has been advocated by the GCBG, seems to elude the narrow minds of Georgia state legislators.  One can only hope that sanity will prevail, and the original proposed text of the House and Senate bills will become law, without the idiotic recommendations of the esteemed Senate Study Committee on Brewpubs and Alcoholic Beverage Tastings...

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.

New Brew Review: Southern Brewing Co

In pursuit of my goal of seeing good local craft beer take hold here in Augusta, I wanted to look at the question of what would it take for someone to start a craft brewing operation from the ground up.  So it is my intent to talk with some of the newly arrived regional craft brewers, and see how they got (or are getting) their dreams off the ground.

First out of the chute is Southern Brewing Company of Athens, GA. 

Founded by Brian Roth and Rick Goddard, after many years of dreaming and planning SBC is on the verge of production, and well on their way to opening their own facility in Athens.  Below is a Q&A I had with Brian about where SBC came from, and where it is going...

-Tell us a little about yourselves.  Your website says you have a good deal of experience in both industry and homebrewing.  What are your backgrounds, and how has that helped you make the jump to commercial brewing?

Rick Goddard and Brian Roth

I have worked in beer distribution for 22 years and started homebrewing in 1993.  The first craft beer that I had any experience with from a sales standpoint was RedHook back in 1997.  They had signed a distribution agreement with A-B and had started expanding their territory.  I also worked with Red Brick out of Atlanta around that time.  In 2003 I started lobbying for the beer wholesaler side of the beer industry in Washington DC.  The NBWA goes to DC once a year to talk to the house and senate about pertinent issues.  This is where I met Rick Goddard.  Rick was the lobbyist for the Beer Institute and lobbied on behalf of 95% of the brewers in America.  He lived in DC and spent over 7 years working on issues for the production side of the industry.  Rick is friends with a large number of craft brewers and at the time I was working on bringing more craft beer into distribution in the state of Georgia.  That made us a great fit for hanging out and talking shop.  Rick was an incredible resource and I enjoyed meeting everyone in his network.

- What got you started in homebrewing?

We had a gentleman working with us at the distributor named Kenny Havener.  He was one of the greatest draft beer guys I have ever met.  He was in charge of building, fixing, selling and working with all things related to draft beer for the distributor.  I was twenty-four and my wife was pregnant with our son.  At the time I was a sign painter for the distributor and I did banners and murals etc.  Kenny had me design his labels and let me help him brew.  I was the guy that helped sterilize bottles and clean.  Kenny was like a wizard to me back then.  I was amazed at the whole process and how effortless he made it look.  He lived on Nantahala St in Athens, GA so he affectionately named his operation after that street.  Oddly enough there is a commercial brewery by that name now up near Hickory, NC.  Kenny let me help him out but eventually moved to North Carolina.  That left me with a passion for brewing and zero equipment.  It also made me realize that Kenny was the composer and director.  I could do anything he told me to do but I couldn’t solo at that point.  So I spent a few years drinking great craft beer and reading everything I could get my hands on.  Kenny’s operation was a partial grain stovetop setup and I wanted to go all grain.  Back then that felt like jumping out of an airplane without a chute.  I didn’t own a single piece of equipment at the time and that added to the complexity.

- What has been your favorite style to brew?

Lambics.  We've been doing lambics for a few years now and to do it properly takes a ridiculous amount of time and patience.  You have to ferment for an entire year before you bottle and then you have to wait for another year for that to mature.  The complexity will change in the bottle for up to four more years.  It's frustratingly slow but to watch that beer change that slowly has taught us a lot.  Mainly, it taught us that great beer takes patience.  Conversely we love brewing everything.  In the summer we love a Kolsch.  That beer ferments quickly and is so clean and fresh.  Kolsch doesn't age well so we never feel guilty about making that style disappear fast.  We became famous for brewing in a giant pumpkin every year.  We actually plumb a pumpkin and use it as a mash tun.  This year we had two Giant Pumpkins running side by side.  We turn it into an all day event and invite a ton of folks to come over to help.  So from an entertainment perspective that's our favorite. 

- Before you started the process, had you been dreaming of going commercial for a while, or did you have an epiphany one day while stirring the mash?

Rick came up with the idea.  I was constantly picking his brain and using his network to convince people to distribute in Georgia.  He asked me why I didn't just open a brewery.  That was 7-8 years ago.  I laughed at first and then he got serious.  He said, "No really, why don't we open a brewery together?” Rick and I are both Air-Force Brats.  His dad had retired in Warner Robins and my dad's last duty station my senior year had been Warner Robins.  I had never lived anywhere longer than a few years and after I graduated in 1989 I followed my high school sweet heart to UGA and we planted roots.  I love the south and Rick was looking to come back to Georgia.  Brooklyn had just rolled out in the state and Rick is good friends with Steve Hindy the owner of Brooklyn.  Rick suggested that Brooklyn would struggle in Georgia in the beginning because a New York brand wouldn't generate a lot of interest (he was right, they had a hard time those first few years).  Southerners like the south.  So Gary Fish, the owner of Deschutes suggested that if that were the case Rick should open a brewery and call it Southern Brewing.  That was seven years ago and stemmed from a quick conversation that Rick had at a bar with those guys.  I had started partial grain brewing solo about nine years ago and jumped into all-grain eight years ago with an igloo cooler.  I had been saving up a chunk of money to restore a 1973 VW Bug for my son and took all of that and started building an all grain system at the house with a proper RIMS system and a yeast lab.

- Your website also mentioned that you have done extensive research, visiting well over 200 breweries.  What were the top questions that you “asked over and over again” during your visits.

I added it up the other day after you asked this again.  My number now is 425 individual breweries.  I feel very lucky to have been able to visit these breweries from a distribution standpoint.  Craft beer guys love to share their knowledge and I had a lot to learn.  I was fortunate enough to be friends with Owen Ogletree who is a huge beer enthusiast and writes for many beer publications.  He runs Classic City Brewfest in Athens every April and that's one of the longest running festivals in the south.  Owen taught me a lot and took me on a couple of trips over to Europe.  We went all over Bavaria, Scotland and England.  Those beer cultures blew my mind.  I had lived in Europe as a kid but didn't pay attention as much to how beer was made back then.  So after talking to Rick I made a list of everything I lacked from a knowledge standpoint and a network standpoint.  If you're going to jump out of a plane and you have to pack your own chute you better do a lot of research.  Obvious questions related to the size of systems or what a breweries SOPs were for various parts of the brewing process.  Those taught me a lot.  The one question that always started a two hour conversation that became a classroom for me is' "What was your biggest mistake.  What would you have done differently?" I realized it's the one thing that nobody asks but everyone loves to talk about it.  It's hard work getting a business going and I think we're all proudest of the moments that define us and shape us.  Those stories are fascinating.  I would love to write a book about those.  It would save a lot of people a lot of headache and frustration.  There were some very funny stories and usually ended hours later at a bar somewhere. 

- What was some of the best advice that you got out of that research?  What was the most surprising? 

One answer covers both.  Quit trying to perfect a recipe or style, and to just brew everything and anything.  I talked to a lot of really good brewers and I asked them how they scale recipes up.  Sam Calagione gave me one of the greatest answers.  He had been brewing on a Sabco system at his brewpub for a long while and that allowed him to do really small batches and to throw in a lot of crazy stuff.  That's where he learned to be creative and throw caution to the wind.  You learn the most from your mistakes.  I love it when we have a life lesson on a batch.  New home brewers that brew with us get torn out of frame when one of their assumptions get kicked in the guts.  To me, great brewers know how to adjust.  They're like fighter pilots.  Something always goes wrong on a brewday.  It might be a pump failure or a stuck mash or any number of things.  It's experience that keeps that batch from failing and sometimes it takes guts to make a split second decision.  It also takes knowing when a batch just didn't work and knowing why it didn't work.  So many young brewers throw failures down the drain.  I bottle them and make people drink them when they come to brewday.  You have to know what off flavors are and why they happen.  Having a living example of a bad batch helps educate.  We bottle everything and we make sure every batch has a short fill and that one bottle is clear glass, etc.  We want to know how time, heat, light and age affect our beers and their ingredients.  I've known brewers that have great breweries and they've only brewed three beers.  They brewed them a thousand times each but it's all they've done.  They have great breweries but they struggle from a creative standpoint.

- Was there any one question that everyone answered the same way?

Great question! It made me snort-chuckle a little.  I've never even gotten two people at the same brewery to answer a question the same.  That's what I love about this process.  It's the art side.  Chef's all have their own tricks and even though we use the same ingredients it's amazing how many variables affect the outcome. 

- In your leap from avid homebrewers to being fully committed craft brewers, how difficult was it to “scale up” your recipes and processes?

This is a big difficulty and we have yet to do it for our system.  You have to brew on a system to know it's efficiencies and the recipe needs to be built around that.  We're going to contract brew at Jailhouse in Hampton and Glenn knows his system inside out.  That will make it easier to dial us in.  However, we'll have to re-do everything again when get our system up and going.  That keeps it exciting.  The other issue is that all brewing ingredients are agricultural.  Each season is different from year to year.  Great brewers are always adjusting their recipes.  When I buy ingredients I taste them first, especially at local homebrew shops.  Grains go stale, hops start oxidizing, and yeast becomes less viable.  I only brew with ingredients that smell fresh and taste fresh.  I don't use close dated yeast.  I don't go to a homebrew shop with a recipe in hand.  I go with an idea and build the recipe based on that.  Brewers that are tweaking recipes tend to buy the same ingredients all the time.  They have to.  It's their recipe.  The problem is that specialty grains sit for long periods at home brew shops and even get infected by weevils, mice, etc.  The humidity in Georgia is ridiculous and that really affects efficiencies. 

- Have you found that being in Athens and close to Atlanta/Decatur, both areas with strong craft brewing cultures, a help or a hindrance to getting a small brewery off the ground?

Yes.  I am a lover of craft beer first and foremost.  The fact that I can drive to some really awesome breweries within an hour of my house is a huge bonus.  I love the Georgia brewing community.  I could write a separate book on each of those guys and their struggles and triumphs.  It’s really a great group of folks.  Out of the 400+ breweries I have been to only two have been uncooperative.  Those two are in the wrong business.  Everyone else always helps.  This is the only industry that I know of that works like that.  If a brewery needs help other breweries are right there helping out, especially locally. 

- What ware the top 3 (or more) things you need to start a small craft brewery? 

1st - You need to really love what you're doing.  Running a business is hard work.  Brewing raises that to a ridiculous level.  As a brewery owner you're doing everything and getting paid after your employees and usually less than them for a long time.  You're going to be cleaning toilets, learning to weld, running tours, brewing, running promotions, selling in the market, cutting the grass, the accountant, the HR person, The counselor, training everyone, developing recipes, and the list goes on forever.

2nd - Make sure you own your brewery.  Funding is really tough.  It took us over two years to put together our team.  Don't give up controlling ownership and make sure there's room to give up more share later without giving up control.  I have seen a lot of people lose ownership of their dream by being impatient.  We had to knock on doors and have heated discussions with a lot of friends and family.  Don't over promise anything and let everyone know that you're not going to generate revenue, much less profit, for a long time.  You need a group of investors that are happy with little or no return.  If you don't have that I wouldn't do it.  Use all your resources and ask a million questions.  Use banks to help learn.  Local agencies are awesome Small Business Development Group, Small Business Administration, etc.  Don't over capitalize but don't under capitalize either.  Right now it takes about two million dollars to set up a proper brewery.  You can do it for less but the work to grow becomes exponential.

3rd- Know the industry.  Beer is a regulated industry that is controlled at the federal, state and local level.  Each of those levels is complex and confusing.  The three-tiered system mandated by the 21st amendment places control of the system with State and Local agencies.  Georgia has a lot of strict enforcement and laws that, at times, make it unfriendly.  When you sign with a GA distributor it's a permanent relationship.  PERMANENT.  Make sure you choose the best system and do your research.  Make sure they have resources and passion for the industry.  Make sure they don't have too many breweries or too few people.  Think about growth and 10 years from now.  Make sure that it firs with your business plan.

4th- Write a business plan.  I spent 5 years researching ours and it took close to another 900 hours to finish it.  We worked with the SBDG at UGA to polish ours up before we submitted it to banks.  Learn how to take criticism.  Realize that you don't have all the information and research all your choices.  Where are you getting your equipment? Draft, Cans, Bottles? Where are you going to get your supplies? Yeast lab? Yeast supplier? Employees? Growth model? You better meet all the other brewers in the state and start making relationships with retailers and distributors. 

- Someday in the future when an avid homebrewer comes to Southern Brewery’s shiny brewing facility, what is the one piece of advice you would give them?

Know what you want in life and figure out how to get it.  Make sure that it doesn't conflict with other plans.  For me, family is my number one priority.  I wasn't going to open a brewery until my son graduated from high school.  I have many friends that own and run breweries with kids still at the house.  They do a great job balancing both.  I knew that I would put too much time in at the brewery to be the dad that I wanted to be.  I wanted to coach my son's soccer team and attend all his events.  Travel soccer requires a huge commitment and you can't coach from a bar on Saturday via phone.  He graduated last May.  I can now devote my time to running my brewery the same way.  Be committed.

- Tell us about the first recipes you are looking to produce when you start production.  And what time frame are you shooting for?

A lot of short run local stuff.  We are going to focus on finishing the brewery out and making that a cool space.  We will have a farmers market and we'll be brewing with local farmers.  I do a lot of growing around the house, Hops and fruit.  We use that to make some really nice short run stuff.  We'll also be working on beers that will work well in the South.  Kolsch, Berliner-Weiss, Pale Ales, Lambics, IPAs and some unique barrel aging.  All in due time.  It's hard to be too creative when you're contract brewing.  We'll be in a holding pattern early on and that will depend on seasonality.  Our timeline is always flexible.  Don't get your heart set on definitive times.  So much depends on a myriad of uncontrollables (i.e.  the weather).  We're slated to brew on our own system in mid July.  We should start contract brewing in late January or early February.  We're waiting on a handful of uncontrollables to get pinned down. 

- I see from the proposed brewery plans, that you will have a phased rollout.  What will be the size of your initial system (in bbl) and facility?  And what do you envision as the size of a full (4-phase) operation?

Initial system will be 30 BBLS and we will be able to reach 2,450 barrels before we need to buy more tanks.  It would be hard to imagine what the final build out would be.  The next brewhouse size would logically be a 50 or 100-barrel system.  We will have enough room for either.  The market will dictate the growth and help us decide which system is necessary.  We hope it's 100, but only time will tell.

- Lastly, and most importantly, will you have a tasting room?

We will definitely have a tasting room! That's one of the most important pieces.  From marketing stand point you can't beat it.  We'll run tour hours similar to everyone else.  

Many thanks to Brian for being my first real foray into beer journalism.  For anyone in the Augusta area who dream of opening their own craft brewery (And I know a few of you!), keep your eye on SBC as an example of what it takes.

I hope to get to Athens and watch them work, and perhaps inaugurate their new brewery when it opens.

Cheers!

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!

Gimme a Hi-5!

Beer Street Journal provides us an exclusive look at Terrapin Beer's Hi-5 IPA coming this spring in cans!

Exclusive Look: Terrapin Hi-5 IPA Cans

Terrapin Beer Co (Athens, GA) made a series of announcements at a press meeting last night. One of the bigger announcements was the addition of a can to the brewery’s lineup.

In addition to RecreationALE, Terrapin will be adding a new west-coast style IPA called Hi-5 IPA. The beer, while not officially brewed yet, will be full of Pacific Northwest hops.

I really love that more and more craft brewers are getting into the whole canning thing.  I think there are so many benefits to it from a consumer perspective.  I guess we will see if the hi-end beer drinking world can overcome a long standing (and mostly deserved) bias against beer in cans.  More on this later....

Eventide Rising

Atlanta welcomes @EventideBrewing, and adds to its embarrassment of Craft Brewing riches!

Atlanta brewery launches first beers 

On Jan. 7, Eventide released its first two beers, an a American Pale Ale and a Kölsch Style Ale, at Six Feet Under in Grant Park.

The Atlanta-based craft beer company was formed in 2011 by Nathan Cowan, Haley Cowan and Geoffrey Williams after the three met at Georgia Southern University in 2001. Mathew Sweezey, the company’s vice president of marketing, was introduced to group though a mutual friend of Cowan.The company started with a bank roll of less than $200,000 after the group took out second mortgages on their homes, along with investments from friends and family, to raise the capital, Sweezey said.

“We love and pride ourselves in that the roots of Eventide Brewing stem from a homebrewing project,” Sweezey said. “We aren’t trying to compete with the other breweries in Atlanta because we are more of a neighborhood brewery.”

I can't wait to visit!  My next visit to Atlanta is going to be pretty crammed full of brewery tours...

Decatur Brew Envy

Broderick Smylie (@SavoryExposure) highlights Three Taverns Brewery, Wild Heaven Brewing, and Blue Tarp Brewing in this write-up:

The Booming Brewery Scene in Decatur

Decatur has long been a hotbed of craft beer drinking in the Atlanta area and it’s recently taken it up a notch with the debut of new breweries adding to the mix of top notch beer bars the small city has nurtured in the past several years.

[...]

Deservedly, the craft beer scene in Decatur has risen to national prominence with the only missing element, until now, a craft brewery. There is no better place to be in Atlanta if you are a craft beer lover.”

Alas, like many things, it is two hours away...  But live vicariously and read the whole thing.

Special Release in Columbia SC tonight!

My bud @AUGCraftBeer reports on @allaboutbeer & @conquestbrewing's collaboration release:

"This evening, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm, an advance release will be held at World of Beer in Columbia, South Carolina, for a special collaboration beer brewed up by Conquest Brewing Company and All About Beer Magazine.

It was announced in a media release sent out yesterday that the brew, an English-style Porter, which was brewed at the Columbia brewery specially for the sixth annual World Beer Festival - Columbia, will be unveiled at a special event tonight. According to Drink. Blog. Repeat, tasters will also get to decide on additional flavors to go into the final release of the beer."

 Additional details at the link!

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....

Coming Soon: Southeastern Craft Brewers' Symposium

@GaBrewersGuild annouces that it will be hosting the 1st Annual "Southeastern Craft Brewers' Symposium" in Decatur this coming April.

"The Georgia Craft Brewers Guild is excited to announce our first annual Southeastern Craft Brewers' Symposium. This awesome event is a one-day conference featuring 10, 45 minute seminars from the leaders of the craft brewing industry.  For avid homebrewers there will be seminars on the science of brewing from brewmasters, suppliers, and experts on topics such as yeast, adjunct grains, and recipe development. For the next generation of southeastern brewery owners we're offering a unique series of seminars on the business of brewing. These seminars will cover everything from how to raise money to how to write a business plan."

Below is there current seminar plan:

Tickets go on sale next week for $130, though individual Guild members will get a $25 discount.

I think I need to make room in my schedule!

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