THE “FINAL” GREAT ATLANTA BEER FEST

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 10/15/16

 

With a little dust in the eye, the days of Turner Field, or as Atlanta’s refer to it, the Ted, has come to an abrupt end. Gone with it are 20 years of Braves hits and misses, the beauty of the green field, the chop house, and that large Chick-fila cow looming over our heads. Au revoir, auf Wiedersehen, sayonara. But let’s not be sad, let’s celebrate that tradition with one last hurrah to pay homage to the memories. The Great Atlanta Beer Fest accomplished that this year by letting us lose in the dugout, on the field, and letting us run the bases from IPA to stout.

 

As far as the beer, mainstays and favorites like Cinnamon Cocoa Drafty Kilt and Burnt Hickory’s Big Shanty Graham Cracker Stout were in full force. Here’s a rundown of a few things we tried and enjoyed, which included Red Hare’s Chocolate Porter. It was definitely chocolate forward but finished smooth like a traditional porter. Side note: Red Hare just had their Sticky Stout release and had a specialty Sticky Stout brewed with Thin Mints. Dear Red Hare, pretty please make this a seasonal? Gate City also brought their Terminus Porter. It was a dark, a little smoky, but smooth at the end. Let’s not forget Burnt Hickory’s Die Kreuzen Pumpkin Porter. One of the best porters of the festival, it had pumpkin and all spice up front but then ended like a smooth porter.

 

After that, we went off script with my love of stouts and porters to try Wicked Weed’s Old Fashioned Ale with orange and cherry. The cherry was very prominent on the nose, but it was also a little sweet like a bourbon barrel aged beer would! There was also a cranberry pumpkin beer from Terrapin called Cranberry Pumpkinfest. It was very tart but finished with a lot of pumpkin like their original Pumpkinfest. Even though this isn’t a beer, the Red Hare Root Beer soda is so delicious! Sugary sweet. A good little treat between treats.

 

It never amazes us the number of new breweries that pop up at these festivals, like Gate City Brewery, Dry County, Scofflaw and so much more. Not to mention, we’re excited Abby of the Holy Goats will have a Stout in February. You know where we’ll be then! It’ll almost just be in time for the new SunTrust Stadium to welcome its first Braves fans of 2017.