Southwest in the Southeast: Altanta, GA

Finding good beer in the South is a slightly different prospect, as I have mentioned in the past.  It involves putting the nose to the air and sniffing out those strange little bars where, among other things, specialize in brewery wierdness.  One such place is a Georgia chain known as Taco Macs.

On the surface, Taco Macs is every other massive sports bar you've ever visited in Anytown USA when there is a game on the television that your television provider refuses to provide without signing over children to be used as their little evil minions.

That's how they plan to take over the world, by the way.  Armies of displaced kids snatched from the ranks of Americans that just want to watch the Big Game in their undies.  You heard it here first.

....Anyhoo!!!....

Along with the hundreds of televisions broadcasting every concievable sporting event on the planet and plates full of hot wings, they have a respectable beer selection.  They have two sections to the establishment I visited in the Western hinterlands of Atlanta, downstairs for general pop and a strict over-21 section upstairs.  The trouble is the bulk of the awesome beer is only available downstairs, which kinda sucks for anyone who likes to sink down a few pints of something interesting without the defening din that was pretty much pervasive and ear-piercing.    During my visit, the waitressess were nice enough to leg it up and down the stairs to bring me the awesomness from down below, which was really, really nice of them.

I stuck to a bit of local color this time around.  Taco Macs had a fairly complete selection of the local Sweetwater Brewing Company so I more or less stuck to their brews... ... more or less.  I was able to sample their flagship brew several months back, so this post should more or less round them out a bit.

Sweetwater Motorboat ESB: This selection has a nice, spicy, floral aroma.  Those floral herbal hops meld almost perfectly with some light roasted malt.  Finishes just a tad heavy on the hops, but it a very nice beer overall.

Sweetwater Blue: Wheat beer with a lemony sweet fruity aroma.  A refreshing beer for a hot humid summer with a sweet lemongrass flavor.

Sweetwater IPA: This is one of those IPA's I dearly love.  Brewed with Northwest hops for the floral citrus quality but balanced just right with malt to make for an enjoyable bitter beer.  Nothing particularly fancy or complex, but citrusy and floral hops done right.

Sweetwater Crank Tank: Pilsner beer with a grassy light malt aroma.  They really try and pack a lot of flavor into this light beer.  Lemony and floral hops dominate the profile to the point that it's more akin to a pale ale withiout the body and malty backbone.  Hops are almost too much since they are the only thing with any flavor.

One additional brewer on this post (I did say mostly Sweetwater afterall) is an offering from O'Dempsey's Brewing Company.

O'Dempsey's Your Black Heart: This Russian Imperial Stout has an intense fruity, woody aroma.  That fruity malty flavor melds with a hint of herbal licorice and spicy hop character that finishes a little on the dry side of the spectrum. 

Georgia Sampler: Atlanta, Georgia

Last week, (or whenever this actually gets published.  It's been a bit of a struggle as of late) I went on my little tirade about the difference in brewing culture here in the South.  For more details go to the last post but, suffice to say the idea of the brewpub hasn't really caught on here.  There are tons of local breweries, however, and the best place to find them is a put like the Midway Pub in East Atlanta.

The Midway pub has a lot to offer anyone that happens to find themselves thirsty in this part of Atlanta.  There is a large outdoor seating area, lots of good food and just a cool all-around atmosphere.  They do however cater heavily to beer lovers saying, "True beer lovers are not elitists. They know that all beers matter and they're all wonderful. There are Old Milwaukee Tall Boy days, Belgian-High-Gravity-in-a-Snifter days and all manners in between."
I've got old friends in Eugene that would disagree heavily with this statement, but I like the sentiment none-the-less.  
Their beer list is pretty extensive.  The vast majority are only available in bottles, and there are around 20 beers on tap at any given time, including a fairly large selection of local brews.  Listed below were the local beers they had on tap during my visit, over the course of two visits I managed to hit all of them, I think. 

Let there Be Light!

Wild Heaven Breweries
Let There Be Light.
Wild Heaven is a beer that specializes in full-bodied, high octane beer.  This particular beer is the exception and is listed as the only session beer from this particular brewery.  There is a light citrus flavor to accompany a medium body and malt profile.  The hops are fairly light and make for an extremely drinkable beer.

Sweetwater Brewery
420
An extra pale ale from this brewery, this beer comes out light gold with a citrusy aroma.  The malt is very light with a touch of lemongrass flavor.  The hops are mostly pine and floral hops.  The hops are well balanced by the malt and the beer finishes slightly sweet.


Red Brick Brewery
Hoplanta
This one comes out cloudy and kind of a dark yellow with a very light hoppy aroma.  There is not much in the way of malt here and the flavor is dominated by floral hops.

Terrapin Brewery
Hopsicutioner
A fairly well-balanced beer that still packs a lot of hop flavor.  It is light gold in color with a lemon aroma.  Lots of citrus and malt off the top.  The flavor profile gradually moves to more floral hops and ends dry with a kind of bitterness you can feel in the back of your throat.  On a side note it might be worth it to seek out a bottle if only for the label.  I'm not above buying a beer at least once for the label and I dare someone to argue that this one isn't cool. 



Dogfishhead
Aprihop
Okay not a local beer, but I honestly couldn't resist.  Those that follow beer culture have almost all heard of this Delaware brewery famous for the strange and unusual.  I stopped by one of their locations back in September.   This beer, following their standard operating procedure, is just slightly bizarre, but wonderful.  It's apricot aroma is very light, but it exists in there.  It starts sweet and fruity.  The apricot is obviously there, but not overpowering and it slowly gives way to floral hops.

Monks Mead.
Monks is currently Georgia's first and only producer of mead a style of alcohol that very slowly gaining in number around the country.  This particular example is slightly carbonated and closer to the dry side of the spectrum, but only just slightly.  It has a yeasty aftertaste that I didn't personally like as well as others, but it also wasn't overly sweet.

That's it from the American South.  As of now I'm back in the Midwest for a while, getting reacquainted with home.  In the next few I get to travel the back roads of Iowa.  There is no cellphone coverage, but there is beer and wine strangely enough.