Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 11/30/2015

In quaint city in far North Atlanta is a cute downtown full of locally owned bars, restaurants, shops, and many things to do. The city of Acworth is beautiful and a great place to hold a beer fest! You get all the small city charm and all the fun of a beer fest in one place! We hadn’t been to the Acworth Beer Festival before and had a blast, as well as enjoyed the beautiful November weather and all the porter/stout we could drink. That being said, porter season is in full swing, we dove into this experience full force.

We found some great beers from local breweries around Georgia. We can’t be happier that our friends at Southern Sky Brewery is finally putting their products out at beer festivals and even more exciting was we got to FINALLY try the Schwarzchild Porter. It’s an English-Style Robust porter dark porter full of malt but drinks more like a stout. It was smooth, chocolatey, expresso-forward, and dark, but a hint of sweet, just like we like it! They are having their big opening January 23^rd, you know we’ll be there! Check out their Facebook page about the event here.

Speaking of Stouts, what’s better than Big Shanty Graham Cracker Stout from Burnt Hickory Brewery? Nothing. It’s one of our favorite beers being brewed in Atlanta. It has that malt that we love along with the smooth finish of almost a chocolate/expresso, yet has a hint of sweet from the actual graham crackers and honey they use when they brew. It’s pretty sublime. In the same vein, another one of our favorite Stouts in Atlanta is Red Hare’s Sticky Stout. It’s a little bitterer than some of the other ones but it still is smooth and malty, but very drinkable.

Finally, another surprise was the River Street Praline Brown Ale from Eagle Creek Brewing Co out of Statesboro. Don’t be fooled by the name, there is no pralines used in the making of this beer! But how does it taste like candied pralines? It’s their strong caramel and chocolate flavors they use with specialty malts that just taste nutty! Also they age the beer in Madagascar Vanilla. This beer is smooth and tasty. You should try it if you like strong ales, stouts, and porters.

Another successful beer festivals under our belt and enjoying the brewery explosion in Atlanta. It’s been so great getting out and trying new beers and finding new favorites. We will be looking for these in our favorite watering holes this winter. Atlanta Beer Festivals put on this festival. They have some fun new experiences coming up this winter with Atlanta Wine Festival on January 16^th, 2 sessions of Winter Beer Festival on January 30^th and the just announced Atlanta Brunch Festival on March 5^th. Here’s a link to their site! http://atlantabeerfestivals.com/