It’s the best baseball memory you have: the crack of the bat, the crowd clapping and jumping, a familiar tune playing on the loud speakers. That’s what it feels like when you visit Turner Field: you’re favorite baseball memory, even if there isn’t any baseball being played at all. We’re back at the Great Atlanta Beer Fest like a beer fest with the atmosphere of a baseball game. It’s always a good time, despite the sprinkles in the air. Let’s jump into this year’s festival…

My favorite part of the fall is the influx of pumpkin and pumpkin beers, unfortunately there weren’t many to choose from at the beer fest. Most people said they brought what their distributors want them to bring regardless of season. Strike one for the distributors as variety is the spice of life, and all IPAs isn’t something that excites me. I’m a dark beer/porter/sour kind of girl. But for the porters there was the Jekyll Smoked Porter, which is always a good, local porter full of malt and almost chocolatey. There was also and Starr Hill’s Pumpkin Porter, Boxcarr. It’s dark and strong with actual pumpkin added to the mash to make the right amount of pumpkin to porter. It was a little nutmeggy (yep, I like to make up words) on the end but overall pretty good.

One of the highlights beyond the beer, was that Southern Sky Brewing, and up and coming brewery had one of their first beer fest outings and they brought their Worlds Apart Ale. They say it’s a hybrid ale with a mix of Belgium white and an Irish red. That’s pretty spot on with a light beginning and ale end. It’s versatile beer that you can drink all year round. What I’m really looking forward to is the Schwarzchild Porter that Near told me drinks more like a stout. Sign me up!

The weather was rainy, misty and gloomy but the beers and the atmosphere made it all worth the day at Turner Field. Next year, maybe we’ll get a beautiful 70 degree day with all porters, stouts and pumpkin beers. Wouldn’t that be awesome? A girl can dream, can’t she? Now go and enjoy your favorite beer and look forward to the next beer fest! There’s always Boos and Brews on Halloween and several others each weekend until then.

Big Kahuna located in the heart of Downtown invites Atlantans and visitors alike to celebrate Kahunafest in honor of Oktoberfest throughout the month of October. With offers sure to cause a big splash at this SoCal inspired dining and drinking spot, guests can enjoy $5 drafts of Goose Island Beer Company’s Oktoberfest and Jekyll Brewing’s Oktoberfest on draft along with $4 Jagermeister shots. Hungry patrons can also take advantage of an array of food specials including $2 savory Bratwurst Tacos and Goose Island Beer Cheese Dip and Pretzels. As always, guests can also take advantage of Big Kahuna’s full menu and weekly specials throughout Kahunafest. For more information, visit Big Kahuna online at www.bigkahunaatl.com.

More About Big Kahuna:
Located in the heart of Downtown, Big Kahuna combines the personality of the SoCal surf culture with the hospitality of the South. Featuring all-natural, top-quality burgers, creative salads, Cali-Mex tacos, Baja fajitas and fresh seafood, this favorite dining and drinking spot is located in the SunTrust Plaza Tower at 303 Peachtree Center Avenue, Atlanta, Ga 30303.

FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: http://www.corkpullerstour.com/

By Liz and John Attaway

With billowing clouds and small spurts of sunshine, there was the distinct smell of fresh cut grass in the air surrounding the lush Candler Park. Atlanta’s first annual Cork Puller’s Beer, Wine, and Spirits Fest got underway with a trifecta, holy trinity of drink choices: beer, wine and liquor. The crowd was decent but we never felt like we waited too long for a drink and plenty of space to sit and watch the bands. Here are the highlights of this year’s Cork Pullers.

What would an almost fall festival be without the emergence of the year’s porters, Oktoberfests, and pumpkin ales? The best beer I hadn’t tried at the festival was the Misdemeanor Porter by Jailhouse. It was smooth and malty but not too heavy for a good drinking beer any time of year. Someday, we’ll make it to Hampton to visit them. I’ll come right out and say it, I’m not a huge Sierra Nevada fan. Too. Many. Hops. To my surprise Sierra Nevada has come out with an OctoberFest that is slightly heavier and not too hoppy. I enjoyed this one! Terrapin had just tapped their PumpkinFest the night before so there was plenty to go around at Cork Pullers. Finally, always a delight are some of my favorite Atlanta beers from Monday Night with their Drafty Kilt, and Orpheus’ Atalanta Plum Saison. Too bad the tents weren’t next to each other and I just would have thrown down a chair and hung there.

The other big player was the wine. There were two good whites that I really enjoyed: The D’Arenberg The Broken Fishplate Sauvignon Blanc and Columbian Crest Unoaked Chardonnay out of Washington State. The Sav Blanc was a smoother, crisper wine without the traditional over the top grapefruit nose. I enjoyed that. The chardonnay was very smooth with a hint of butter at the end. It was good for a hot summer day. There was also liquor, but I’m not a big liquor person so I stuck to beer and wine. Even though I’m not big on it, the festival goers sure would as the lines for both Jack Daniels and American Born Moonshine were pretty much the longest lines at the festival. They must have had something good.

I have to take a moment here to throw kudos out to Cork Pullers for having the BEST water station we’ve ever seen at a beer festival. Everyone was impressed! Everyone needs to hydrate in the heat, so this was genius. GENIUS, I say! So that’ll about do it for this fun new festival. Until next year…

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ATLANTA WINE PARTY: http://atlantawineparty.com/

By Liz and John Attaway

The steam rises from the freshly dampened pavement and the air was stagnant like a thick layer of mist billowing into the early evening sky. Late July in Atlanta can be volatile to the elements, hot, sticky, smoldering, stifling, yet oddly alluring, oh who am I kidding; it’s time to head back inside until fall braces us with its cooling presence. It’s also a good time for a crisp, cold white wine with several hundred of our closest friends. Enter, Atlanta Wine Party Summer Edition. It made for a fabulous event, full of short skirts, short lines, fine wines and evening in the air conditioning far away from the hot July Georgia heat.

The majesty of Opera’s beautiful décor, elaborate wood work, and cascading chandeliers always takes your breath away. Being a renovated opera house would do that to a place. With this beautiful background, the wines just seemed more regal. I was very impressed with the wide variety of everything from whites, reds, blends, Roses, and champagne.

There were several very good white wines. My favorite was the Santa Christina Pinot Grigio from Italy. It had the DOCG logo, which is Italy’s highest classification of Italian wines. It was sweeter at first with banana and tropical fruit but very smooth and ended with a slight apple crisp. It was so smooth I went back a few times for more. I would have bought a bottle if they were offering! I also enjoyed a Gavi varietal from Riva Leone Italy. It had a high quality DOCG seal and was crisp with a tart aftertaste of mainly acid and green apple.  Also, there was the Benvolio Pinot Grigio from Italy that boasted of wild flowers and apple, it was a little more fruit forward with a smoother tarter end, a little fruitier than a like but the tart aftertaste saved the day. I’m not huge on New Zealand or Australian white wines. That being said, I guess I just hadn’t tried the better ones. I found one I really liked called d’Arenberg “Stump Jump” that was a Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc mix that was slightly sweet up front with floral and grapefruit, but not enough to be too harsh, then into a lime/apple crisp at the end. They were all worth a try if you’re into whites.

I even found a red wine that I would take home and drink regularly. I couldn’t believe it! It was a French Grenache, Syrah, Carignan blend varietal by Gerard Bertrand called “Tautavei.” The wine nose was a mix of raspberry and cranberry and that’s how the flavor started off then it went slightly dry and ended with a slight tart. There was no oak or smoke, which I don’t like. It was smooth and light enough for the hot summer months. Just look for the red circle and cross bottle if you’d like to try this one!

No sooner did we get there, that it felt like the event was over. We made our way back out into the steamy night with a slight smile on our faces. We had new favorite wines, new friends, and new memories that would keep this night in our minds for the rest of the summer. Cheers.