The gangster preview of my beer dinner with Three Taverns and Saltyard!

On June 19th at 7, it's on at the Saltyard! 

What's up, Everyone!

As many of you know, I LOVE beer dinners. I have been to more than 50, and I never had a bad time at any of 'em. (Here are a few I have covered.) After doing my first beer dinner outdoors at Barnsley Resort's beer garden in Adairsville, Georgia, along with Greg Teague aka the Wine Snob a couple months ago (which sold out and went perfectly), I cherished the fun challenge of pairing a chef with my selection of craft brews to create a memorable dining experience for beer experts, novices, and gourmands. Now it's time for me to do one in my hometown and I can't wait!
After having brunch in Brookwood with Andrea Janise aka ATLFoodWriter at Atlanta's elegant, yet hip restaurant called Saltyard (see above), I was blown away by the presentation and culinary mastery of Executive Chef and Partner Nick Leahy (plus he's just a super chill dude). Since I am a seafood fanatic, I had this Soft-shell Crab Eggs Benedict dish...

Besides my love for hops, I paired it with the Terrapin Hopsecutioner to pleasantly cut through the fried coating and richness of this dish. It was a success. Afterwards, I brought up the idea of doing a beer dinner with Nick. He was with it immediately. Co-partner Kristy Jones-Favalli and media executive Noelle Jackson (Elle PR) also gave us the thumb's up and it was on! 
The first step was picking a brewery. I had to rep ATL for my first official beer dinner in the city, and chose Three Taverns based in Decatur. Undoubtedly, there were many to choose from and I will be working with a few of them as well in the future, but I just had Taverns' delicious Quasimodo Quadrupel the day before, the rest of their beers are pretty damn flawless, and Belgian-style brews are always fun to pair with fare, so hey. To add, Owner and Brewmaster Brian Purcell (below) and his staff are cooler than Fonzie snowmobiling in the X-Games, so there ya go. When I told Brian about the idea, his reply was anything I am doing, he is down with. That hit home.

That's my homey Brian Purcell aka B-Diddy.

After I got everyone's okay, I showed Nick the tasting notes of all of Three Taverns' beers, plus kindly requested that there had to be seafood somewhere on the menu; he happily came up with a course for each brew (five in total) and I was blown away! He asked me what I thought of his initial menu and I simply replied, "Hell yeah!" He did it in one take like Jay-Z.
It was then time to set the date and Saltyard designed the first flyer, so boom! Here it is:

I will be posting another update soon, but in the meantime, make sure you book a seat, maybe bring a father for a post-Father's Day gift, and come kick it with us. The price is crazily reasonable, too. Trust me, there will be other surprises in store during the evening, so come through!
Look for my upcoming photos of the Atlanta Food and Wine Fest, plus my Annual Ale Sharpton Father's Day Gift Guide too. I will have some interesting stuff a dad would actually dig in it. 

Much beer, grub and love!
Ale