Considering a trip to Atlanta shortly to include brewery/ beer bar stops. Any highly recommended breweries that aren't listed on BA yet? I'd like to include Monday Night and Orpheus. What's up with the 2 hour tasting window on Saturdays?
Skip Sweetwater. Visit Redbrick if during the week, they do some nice firkins and stuff. Orpheus is a must, as is Monday Night. Three Taverns is worth the stop if you like quads and belgian beers. Wild Heaven has some tasty stuff as well, worth a visit. Blue Tarp has some good beers as well, I don't follow them a ton, all draft beers. Going to breweries in Atlanta is sucky because of the laws, hence the saturday hours for some places. Most vary for the tours though. Hit up The Porter, and the Wrecking Bar for some tasty beers. Argosy is a good stop as well.
Thanks for the information! Are there any beer bars you would recommend that would have the most local on tap?
Yeah. Brick store is awesome. Forgot them. Most of the places will have locals on rotation. Check out some growler shops of you want to expand and find other locals.
I am actually coming in for Thanksgiving and have some time on Friday. Any suggestions? Anyone want anything from MN?
To those visiting ATL, here's a quick lay of the land as I see it, to add to the suggestions already made: Retail - Hop City, which is the largest craft beer store in the city. It's located near the Tech campus where Marietta St. intersects with Howell Mill Rd. There's plenty of parking in the attached deck (really a single level, but you drive up a ramp to get to it). - Ale Yeah, second largest craft beer store in the city. It's located in Decatur, with a second location serving Roswell. - Green's in Midtown on Ponce de Leon in Midtown. It's the largest overall liquor store in Midtown, if not the city. Selection is a bit smaller than Hop City's but it's a bit less likely to be picked over. However, I do seem to notice good turnover of certain beer styles if freshness is a concern. Also impressive is their "cold room" which keeps Belgians and other similar beers at cellar temperature in dim light. - Tower in Buckhead, which is the other largest comprehensive liquor store in the city. I stay away from Buckhead, so I'll leave it to others to comment. So, those four places--Hop City, Ale Yeah, Green's, and Tower form the core of ATL beer retail. Any one of these will make you a winner. There are some smaller, worthwhile, but they are location dependent. Drinking (Brewpub) - 5 Seasons Westside - Right next door to Hop City. This place tends to be taken for granted these days, but 5 Seasons is the one that started it all for ATL brewpubs. If they have Black Beauty (dubbel) or Quinte55ence (quad) on draft, be sure to try those. They tap a cask every Thursday, but they often run out by weekend. Food is typical gastropub fare, but good. - The Wrecking Bar - In Little 5 Points, so a drive down to Moreland Ave. but totally worth it if you want to try the hottest place in ATL right now. It's been a while since I've been, but their Jemmy Stout is awesome. We do have chains, but for me, it boils down to either 5 Seasons or Wrecking Bar. Wrecking Bar is a bit more adventurous and caters to a younger crowd. 5 Seasons is more of a stalwart, if more conventional in approach. Drinking (Bars) - Brick Store Pub - Bar none, the best place to drink in the city IMHO. Doubly so if Belgians are your thing. - Porter Beer Bar - The second best place to drink in the city IMHO. It's in Little 5 Points, near Euclid and Moreland, so beware of hipsters. But good stuff here, especially their cellar list. Okay--that's not fair. BSP and Porter Beer Bar are near equals. Some of us are BSP types and others of us are Porter types, but you're not going to go wrong at either. Yes, we have Taco Mac and the recently opened World of Beer. And, yes, they are big, but know going in that they are very much chains. Smaller than that, well, I like Augustine's in Grant Park. It has some excellent pub food and 20 focused taps. There's also Argosy, Leon's Full Service, Bookhouse Pub, Cypress Street Pint & Plate.
So, it really boils down to where you are in the city. Sure, you could drive all over creation, but who wants to do that? Midtown: Hop City and Greens for retail, and 5 Seasons for drinking (it's right next door to Hop City) L5P (between Midtown and Decatur): Porter and the Wrecking Bar for sure. You go to L5P to drink, not for retail. Virginia Highland is the city's other bar district. (Yes, there are others, too.) Decatur: Ale Yeah! for retail, then over to BSP (and maybe a side jaunt to Leon's Full Service). Something like that. Our laws are behind, but a trip to Three Taverns, Orpheus, or Wild Heaven will certainly be worth your time.
I'll throw in Twain's in Decatur for a great brewpub and solid beers, and for beer bars you can also hit Argosy and The Midway in East Atl. Both very solid lists and very good food. While in East Atl. for just a variety you have The Graveyard, Gravity Pub, The Earl, and The Flatiron. It's a hidden gem of very good places all a few blocks from each other. For a solid beer list and the best burgers in Atlanta, any of the Corner Taverns are my one and only suggestion. The other places you'll hear (The Vortex) fall very far short IMO.
sunday sales are good. I think that they start at noon in most places in the city. everywhere listed should be open on sunday.
Are all of the 5 Seasons locations created equal or is Westside > the other two locations? I was in Sandy Springs two weeks ago and opted to skip 5 Seasons and drive to The Porter. Enjoyed my time there but didn't enjoy spending an hour in traffic.
Three different 5 Seasons, and three different experiences from each. Sandy Springs, the Prado, has more cask and rare beers on usually, Westside has a wider variety of everyday offerings but horrid service, Northpoint has the best service of all three, better overall food quality, but not as many rare beers. Westside is by far the least agreeable of the three but the easiest to get to intown.
I've always had better than average to great service at the Westside one. Not worth it to drive to the Prado, atleast for me. The beers are great at Westside, and they usually have some great bottles of barrel aged stuff that is pretty darn tasty. Pappy 23yr aged beers were pretty awesome, but expensive at $25 and no to-go service allowed. The plus is, parking is easy, it's closer in town, and you are literally next door to Hopcity, so you can get bottles and growlers to go if you are looking for local stuff when in town.
