Starting at 5 p.m., Atlanta’s first growlers are legally poured, one of the top brewmasters in the world will be personally handing out three versions of her liquid mastery, and a Samuel Adams Longshot Contest for Georgia’s homebrewers is being held at Wild Wing Café in Marietta, Ga. at 8 o’clock! Like I said, beer is king in Georgia’s capital. Here is the run down…
Hop City gets their ‘growling’ on!Growlers? Huh? What? Those 64-ounce glass jugs can now legally be filled in the ATL? Yep! And Kraig Torres, the proud owner of
Hop City on Atlanta’s west side, announced that he will be proudly pouring 16 constantly rotating taps of beer not available in bottles into growlers, sealing them and making them available for sale for the first time in the city’s history starting today at 5 p.m. Trust me, having the legal right to do this is a huge deal! The beer is fresh from the tap, pretty inexpensive (refillable growlers are $4.99) and, I mean, a half-gallon of the best beverage known to man in your fridge? What more do you want? I’ll be there for the historic first pour my homey
Reid Ramsay aka the Atlanta Beer Master reportedly has first dibs on. Nice!
Urthel’s Brewmaster Hildegard Van Ostaden is in the house!
Urthel out of Belgium is regarded as one of the best breweries in the world and the woman behind their award-winning masterpieces, Brewmaster Hildegard Van Ostaden, will be visiting the
Brick Store at 5 o’clock. Hildegard’s the mother of the first Belgian IPA ever brewed, Hop-It, and the seriously potent quadruppel, the Samaranth. This duo, plus her new, refreshing Saisonniere will be getting poured, so it’s only right to make this a must. Hopefully she will be chilling there for a while because I am coming right after history’s made at Hop City.
And then…
The Samuel Adams 2011 Longshot Contest is tonight!
Homebrewing, the crafting of ales and lagers in the comfort of one’s own home (or garage, backyard, or mom’s basement), is the reason we are enjoying thousands of variations of ales and lagers worldwide. It just takes a recipe, different ingredients, brewing techniques, some creativity and voila! Another interpretation of a good beer is born!
Well, thanks to the annual
Samuel Adams Longshot Series, three winners of their national homebrewing contest get two slots in an awesomely (yes, this is a word) designed six pack which gets distributed pretty much everywhere.
Georgia’s own Richard Roper won the 2010 competition with his fantastic fusion of an IPA and Belgian-style ale, the Friar Hop (which is on the shelves now), won $5,000, and most importantly, eternal props from the brewing world (see my interview with him
here). Can there be a repeat in the Peach State? Well, tonight,
Wild Wing Cafe in Marietta, GA is hosting a statewide contest for this year’s Longshot entries starting at 8 p.m. Although a winner for this evening will be awarded a local prize, all of the homebrewing entries will be shipped on Wild Wing Café’s dime to Samuel Adams for national judging by a panel of esteemed beer nuts. The requirements for contestants include bringing in at least a 6-12 pack for the public to taste, so up to 75 people who pay $20 will be getting their sip on! The word is there will be at least 20 different beers to try, so you know I will be one of ‘em!
Let’s cross paths and toast to ATL, the beer capital of the South.
Cheers!
Ale
