Reminder - Augusta Shamrawked Pub Crawl

Don't forget today's @RedHareBrewing sponsored event. Tickets on sale at 4PM at 11th & Broad.

Old Guard Biere de Garde Release

@GAAleTrail reports Savannah's @ServiceBrewing tonight released their Spring Seasonal: Old Guard Biere de Garde.

Continuing their effort to connect the community with their beer and mission, Service Brewing Company announces the release of their first spring seasonal, “Old Guard“ a biere de garde style ale. This special beer contains Yaupon Honey courtesy of the Savannah Bee Company and is fermented with the brewery‘s house yeast strain harvested in Savannah, Georgia.

[...]

The Beer
One of the greatest military honors is the privilege to serve with the 3rd U.S. Infantry, otherwise known as the Old Guard. This prestigious unit serves as the official escort to the President, and its members maintain a constant vigilance over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In 1996, the first woman proudly joined its ranks.

[...]

The Mission
Service Brewing is a veteran owned and operated craft brewery, in Savannah Georgia, dedicated to honoring those that have put their lives at risk and their country and community first. Their mission is not only to make great craft beer, but to donate a portion of the revenues to assist charities that support service. They brew their year round beer on a large scale, but maintain a small batch Research and Development division to enable experimentation and innovation using locally available ingredients to connect our farmers and consumers with their beer and their mission.

The beers from Service Brewing have two things going for them right off the bat.  First, they are #GABeers, and second, they are Veteran owned and operated.  Give them a try.

Service Brewing in my beer fridge!

 Obviously available here in Augusta...

Could Downtown AGS get a Brewpub?

@jennanmartin suggests that it might just happen...maybe.   

DDA board gives support for brewpubs
By Jenna Martin
Staff Writer
Thursday, March 12, 2015

Downtown Augusta, like other cities across Georgia, is missing out on the economic boon seen from the craft brewery industry.  By signing a resolution Thursday in support of state legislation to open up retail avenues for Georgia microbreweries and brewpubs, the Downtown Development Authority of Augusta hopes to attract one.

“They are very popular,” DDA Executive Director Margaret Woodard said. “They’re great for tourism. They’re great for downtown businesses. They’re a good draw.”

So we shall see.  So many good things could happen in Downtown Augusta if the bureaucracy and political infighting would just get out of the way.  Support is one thing, a good thing, but I am sure there are a bunch more hurdles for someone to jump over before this dream might happen...

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!

GA Politics v. #GABeer, Round 1

Greased Palms take Rnd 1 w/a TKO.  @austinlouisray from @ctl_atlanta & @EWErickson bring the details:  

Decimated Beer Jobs Bill passes through Regulated Industries

After an eventful week at the Gold Dome, both sides of the Beer Jobs Bill fight convened once again in Room 310 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building Friday morning for a second hearing and voted in favor of Senate Bill 63, albeit a drastically altered version of the original bill designed to loosen the state's three-tier beer distribution laws for Georgia brewpubs and breweries.

The new version of SB 63, a committee sub (basically, a last-minute substitution for the original bill) proposed by Regulated Industries Chairman/State Sen. Rick Jeffares (R-McDonough), allows for no direct sales for breweries. Instead, it alters the current tour structure so that brewers can give away 36 ounces on-premises during the tour (compared to the current 32 ounces) as well as a "souvenir" malt beverage container of no more than 64 ounces to-go. In other words, what was originally a bill allowing direct sales has been reduced to a bill that expands on the current "free beer" tour structure, except that breweries would be able to charge various rates for tours (they sold glasses before, into which they poured the free beer) depending on how much beer is consumed by attendees.

As for brewpubs, they'll no longer be limited to draft-only production. In addition to bottle and can production, the new SB 63 allows for a growler provision similar to 2014's Senate Study Committee report. In short, consumers who buy a meal at a brewpub could also buy a growler with the meal, then take home the remainder of the growler that they don't drink with their food.

The only thing likable in this bill is that Brewpubs may now bottle and can their brews.  Though it validates the idiotic brewpub growler provision that says one has to drink some of the growler before going home....

Erickson provides some outlet for your apoplectic rage displeasure should you choose to do so (nicely please...).

They Gutted the Beer Jobs Bill

The Senate Regulated Industries Committee in Georgia has gutted S.B.63, the beer jobs bill. Breweries will continue to be prohibited from making direct sales to customers. Now, you’ll have to buy a tour and, in the price, be able to pay extra for no more than 64oz. of beer in a single container.

This is ridiculous. So many of these guys got major contributions from beer wholesalers and they are listening to them and not the voters.

Clearly we need a change in tactic. Try these phone numbers. They are their in-district office numbers. They won’t listen at the Capitol. Make them listen in their offices back home.

Tell them how angry you are that they gutted S.B.63. And then go find someone to challenge them in a primary.

Name                   District Number
Rick Jeffares       (678) 432-7676
Frank Ginn         (706) 680-4466
Joshua McKoon  (706) 442-9130
Ed Harbison        (404) 656-0074
David Shafer       (404) 497-0048
Renee Unterman (404) 463-1368
Brandon Beach   (678) 640-1811
Bill Cowsert        (706) 543-7700
Steve Gooch        (404) 656-9221
Steve Henson       (404) 243-5107
Jack Hill              (912) 557-3811
David Lucas        (478) 254-7600
Butch Miller        (678) 989-5301
Jeff Mullis           (706) 375-1776

While this may seem like a loss, perhaps there is some optimism to be had.  Ray points out that this is not the end of the line, for this bill or future ones...

"No matter how silly it may seem, the main thing is to get a bill passed," GCBG president and co-founder/president of Terrapin Beer Company, John Cochran, says. "Any bill. And we are thankful to the committee for doing that. We will work on improving this bill when we go to the House side. There really is a long way to go."

How to Make Beer!

CSRA & Columbia peeps, learn to make beer with @BeerdedFarmer on Saturday at Hopyard Brew Supply in Lexington, SC.

Want to learn how to brew beer this weekend? We've got a class Saturday morning on the screen porch at the Old Mill Brewpub right next door. The weather is calling for 55 degrees and cloudy so what else is really going on? Come learn a skill that you will keep forever. The class starts at 10:30 and wraps up around 12:30 and afterwards students get a 10% discount at the store. There's plenty of room left so message Hopyard or just show up the day of the class. Bring your notepad!
$25 per person, See you there!

Hopyard is fronted by Matt Rodgers (@BeerdedFarmer) who is also the head brewer at Old Mill Brewpub and a Hop Farmer at Hazelwood Plantation.

Get Out of the Way!

Here is why #SB63 should become law!

Get out of the way of brewers
KYLE WINGFIELD

Help small business. Get government out of the way. Unleash the free market. Encourage entrepreneurs. Grow jobs. Make Georgia more competitive.

Do you really need to hear any more?  Well, go read the whole thing anyway...

Craft Brew-volution in Georgia?

Help @GaBrewersGuild & call your Senator to support this bill! #GAbeer

Beer Jobs Bill On Tap in Georgia

A Georgia lawmaker has filed a bill in the state Senate that aims to repeal a number of Prohibition-era regulations that brewers have said are overly burdensome and restrictive.
 
The Beer Jobs Bill, as its dubbed, would allow for breweries to sell up to 72 ounces of beer per person for on-premise consumption and up to 144 ounces of packaged product to go. Currently, breweries are expressly prohibited from selling direct to consumers for both on- and off-premise consumption, though they can give away free samples. Likewise, brewpubs would be granted the right to sell beer for off-premise consumption under the same quantity limitations, should the bill pass as written.

 It couldn't come soon enough!  Though it currently would change craft beer availability here in Augusta, since we have no breweries or brewpubs....

Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting - Jan 24!

So, who's up for 40+ casks of ale?? Brewtopia, @5SeasonsBrewing, & @TacoMacPrado host the Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting on January 24, 2015 from 3-6pm.   For $44-tax you can:

• Sample 40+ rare, cask-conditioned real ales from the USA and UK!
• Take home a free Monday Night Brewing souvenir pint glass!
• Experience one of the Southeast's most highly regarded craft beer events!
• Delectable food from 5 Seasons and Taco Mac will be on sale!
• Vote for "People's Choice" award!

Last year's event, hosted by Georgia beer advocate and Brewtopia's Owen Ogletree, featured 38 casks of ale.  The offerings were headlined by Uinta's Hop Notch, dry-hopped with Cascade and Galaxy and then cask-hopped with whole leaf Amarillo; and 5 Seasons Prado's All Good, a robust porter aged in the finest Heaven Hill Bourbon barrel, and then casked with sugar a Belgian yeast.

Owen Ogletree

However the People's Choice award went to Hole in Juanita Mexican Mazurt, an ale brewed with Mexican coffee, organic Peruvian coca Nibs, Vermont grade-B maple syrup, Madagascar vanilla, Georgia wild flower honey and numerous varieties of Mexican peppers, then casked on Tequila-soaked charred American oak.  This year will add some UK casks to the mix as well!

So what are you waiting for??  Treat yourself for Christmas and go buy your tickets!

If you don't, you might miss all this caskiness!

Abita, Beavertown (UK), Boulder, Brooklyn, Copper Creek, Cherry Street, Creature Comforts, Dark Star (UK), Eagle Creek, Five Seasons, Green Flash, Heavy Seas, Hobsons (UK), Ilkley (UK), Jailhouse, Jekyll, Left Hand, Mazurt, Max Lager's, Monday Night, Moon River, Mother Earth, New Belgium, O'dempsey's, Old Speckled Hen (UK), Omaha Brewing, Oskar Blues, Red Brick, Red Hare, Rahr & Sons, Second Self, Service Brewing, Sierra Nevada, Southbound, Starr Hill, Sweetwater, Terrapin, Thomas Creek, Three Taverns, Twain's, Wild Heaven, Wrecking Bar, Yes Face....

 

AGS Tap Takeover - 18 Dec

Hey AGS, @BeesKneesTapas will host a @FoundersBrewing tap take-over tomorrow!

Wish I could get down there, but it is Cub Scout night...
 
Get your beer geek on!

"Our next BEER GEEK TAP TAKEOVER will be Thursday December 18th, 2014 with Michigan's FOUNDERS BREWING CO!"

That is all!