Help me eliminate Atlanta-area breweries (PLEASE)!

Discussion in 'South Atlantic' started by stapp101, Apr 24, 2023.

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  1. stapp101

    stapp101 Devotee (361) Feb 21, 2018 Pennsylvania

    Hello beer lovers!
    I'm going to be in Atlanta for five days, and I fear my brewery itinerary has spiraled out of control. I would so appreciate some help in identifying the "skips" on this list.

    Near the city - Scofflaw/Dr. Scofflaw (preference?), 3T Imaginareum, Wrecking Bar, Monday Night Brewing/Garage, Torched Hop, Sabbath, Halfway Crooks, Sister Louisa's (ping pong bar not brewery)

    Outside the city - Burnt Hickory, Hopstix, Contrast

    Decatur - Little Cottage, Three Taverns, Inner Voice, Brick Store Pub (pub not brewery), Sceptre

    Athens area - Creature Comforts, Akademia, Southern, Lincoln Fill Station (beer place on the way)

    Skip: New Realm, Outrun (beers looks so overdone), Arches, Wild Heaven Avondale, Normaltown, Athentic, Blackbird, Slowpour, Iron Shielf, Blue Tarp.


    Note that I like sours but nothing with sweet/lactose/smoothie style. I love hazy pale ales, black lagers, and stouts. I enjoy reasonably done IPAs (def no lactose etc), hefes/saisons, & anything unique and not overly sweet. I really like a brewery with a cool vibe and good music (indie/metal/hip hop/electronic...just not radio friendly anything). I do not love big crowds.

    Thanks so much for any and all thoughts!!!
     
    #1 stapp101, Apr 24, 2023
  2. beaufreka

    beaufreka Crusader (454) Dec 14, 2008 South Carolina

    I think you can skip Burnt Hickory, Scofflaw, Sabbath, and Sceptre. Could probably skip Hopstix and Contrast too unless you’re looking to eat at Hopstix. Sister Louisa’s can get crowded at night so look out for that if you don’t like crowds.

    if you’re gonna go all the way to Athens, just hit Creature and Trapeze.

    I’d add Good Word in Duluth as a must stop on your way to or from Athens, and Variant if you make it up towards Roswell.
     
    #2 beaufreka, Apr 25, 2023
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  3. stapp101

    stapp101 Devotee (361) Feb 21, 2018 Pennsylvania

    This is so helpful. THANK YOU! I kinda hoped BH would be - its out of the way. Great to know about Sister Louisa's. As a metal head, I thought Sabbath was prob worth checking out. Some of the beers at Contrast I also thought looked appealing.

    Hmm honestly I kinda figured Athens was worth the drive from Decatur (where we're staying) mostly cus I've heard great things about Creature Comforts and thought maybe the town is worth checking out?

    I'll def look into Good Word & Variant!

    CHEERS!
     
    #3 stapp101, Apr 25, 2023
  4. beaufreka

    beaufreka Crusader (454) Dec 14, 2008 South Carolina

    Sabbath has had some bad accusations made it against it recently so I’m not sure it’s even open at this point.
     
    #4 beaufreka, Apr 25, 2023
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  5. stapp101

    stapp101 Devotee (361) Feb 21, 2018 Pennsylvania

    Oh yikes. I thought it was weird they were only open like 4 hours a week and pitching themselves as "an inclusive brewery"
     
    #5 stapp101, Apr 25, 2023
  6. stapp101

    stapp101 Devotee (361) Feb 21, 2018 Pennsylvania

    Oh, here's a question I should have asked - do most breweries in the area have food?
     
    #6 stapp101, Apr 25, 2023
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  7. stapp101

    stapp101 Devotee (361) Feb 21, 2018 Pennsylvania

    It would also be super helpful to know if Athens is not worth the trip to see the town and hit CC. Thanks again ya'll!
     
    #7 stapp101, Apr 25, 2023
  8. beaufreka

    beaufreka Crusader (454) Dec 14, 2008 South Carolina

    It’s about half and half for food. Hopstix is Asian fusion, Monday night garage and inner voice have pizza, wrecking bar has awesome food (get the pastrami sandwich), torched hop is a brewpub too with food.

    Athens is great, probably the best college town in America, Creature is worth the visit. Again stop at Trappeze for a great beer bar
     
    #8 beaufreka, Apr 26, 2023
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  9. ATL6245

    ATL6245 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,984) Aug 16, 2018 Georgia
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Near the city: I'd recommend Monday Night, Wrecking Bar, and Halfway Crooks (although this primarily a European style beer brewery). Bold Monk has great food and is among the best breweries in GA but you'll have to check out their tap list to see if they have enough styles you like.

    Outside the city: Variant and Cherry Street - Alpharetta (Halcyon) definitely - they'll be right up your alley. Cherry Street has lots of sours and excellent food. Good Word is one of the best but primarily "classic" style beers and the best Hefe (Isabella) in GA. Good food there, too. Cherry Street you would like if you are up near Alpharetta.

    Decatur: Little Cottage, Three Taverns and Brick Store Pub.

    Athens: Definitely Creature Comforts and Akademia. Check out Akademia's tap list, probably more to your liking they have great food there.

    Enjoy your trip. Cheers!
     
    #9 ATL6245, Apr 26, 2023
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  10. ATL6245

    ATL6245 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,984) Aug 16, 2018 Georgia
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Agree with @beaufreka, Athens is a unique college town. Very vibrant music scene there with a lot of quirky places. I graduated from UGA back in the dark ages. My daughter graduated from there in 2020. Creature and Akademia are two breweries we loved to visit and you definitely want to hit, especially for the beer you like. I can't speak to Trappeze because I've never been there but have heard others mention the like it and they look like they have a lot of variety on the tap list.
     
    #10 ATL6245, Apr 26, 2023
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  11. ATL6245

    ATL6245 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,984) Aug 16, 2018 Georgia
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Most breweries do the food truck thing. That's become a big deal in Atlanta. Best thing to do is check out their website and especially the brewery's Instagram account. Most breweries keep their IG accounts up to date with the latest happenings. A few have kitchens: Good Word, Bold Monk, Cherry Street, Halfway Crooks, Akademia are some that immediately come to mind.
     
    #11 ATL6245, Apr 26, 2023
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  12. stapp101

    stapp101 Devotee (361) Feb 21, 2018 Pennsylvania

    Thanks so much guys! Super helpful. Food availability at drinking spots is always so simplifying.

    Great to know Cherry Street has a local spot. Thought they were only TN.

    Also great to know that my instinct to go to the home of REM (Document is an all time fave for me) and the B52's was on point haha!

    Bold Monk is a bit Belgian focussed for me, but still does look good. Nice food menu.

    Funny - I actually thought the Good Word list looked awesome - pale ale, czech dark lager, etc - only issue is it's pretty out of the way - even on my way to Little Mulberry for disc golf and then Athens...Conversely, the list at Variant looks a bit hazy IPA heavy to me. I can get Tired Hands, Other Half, TreeHouse, Trillium, Brew Gentlemen, Hop Butcher, Veil NEDIPAs out here... aaaaand I'm bored with all of them. Doesn't help they are hell on my old-man digestive system.

    Should I expect any of these places to be crazy crowded? We live just outside of Philly, so it's not like I'm used to a small town, but I won't wait in lines for beers or be packed in like a sardine. My plan was to spend the Saturday walking around Little Five Points, Cabbagetown, EAV etc looking at street art and stopping at breweries (Halfway, Imaginarium, Wrecking Bar, maybe Wild Leap? Don't have this fully mapped out yet)...

    Re: music scene in Athens, is the 40 Watt the spot? I'd love to see a show on the trip.

    THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!! SUPER APPRECIATED.
     
    #12 stapp101, Apr 26, 2023
  13. ATL6245

    ATL6245 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,984) Aug 16, 2018 Georgia
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I hear you on crowds. I'm not one for them either, mostly because I tend to visit the breweries by myself and like to chat with the staff and brewers when they are available. The best times to visit the breweries are noon to 3pm on weekends. During the week most are peak busy at 6pm to 7pm. Again, you'll want to check their IG accounts because activities pick up here in April as the weather has gotten much better. If they are having some special event, that may make a difference.

    Good Word, Halfway Crooks, Tucker Brewing, and Bold Monk are some of my favorite places but I lean heavily toward those more German, Czech, Belgian and English styles and less toward IPAs, big stouts and sours. I mentioned Variant because it is consistently rated highly for IPAs, stouts and sours. Cherry Street actually started in Cumming, GA, opened a 2nd location in Alpharetta and Chatty is their most recent one. My wife and I go to the Alpharetta location a lot because the beer is solid and the food is very good. It can be very busy on weekends, especially when the weather is nice.

    As far as the Athens music scene, you nailed it - some historic groups from there and Atlanta. I'm from the 80's & 90's Athens band time frame and a little out of the loop at this point with the music scene there. You'll find live music at a lot of venues around town this time of year. The Georgia Theatre probably has the most and best shows.

    Happy to help. Cheers!
     
    #13 ATL6245, Apr 26, 2023
  14. stapp101

    stapp101 Devotee (361) Feb 21, 2018 Pennsylvania

    Thanks so much! Yeah, I'll admit that I'm in the phase of my beer drinking life where I started with those European styles, then went real into barrel aged/spontaneous ferm sour beers and imperial stouts, then more recently hard into hazy DIPAs ...and then the last year or so gotten bored with hazy DIPAs and started finding some of those sours to be too acidic and harsh and am now back into some of those European styles (czech dark lagers, dark milds, and hefes in particular); really like hazy pale ales and WC IPAs but am over NEDIPAs. I've been really digging anything low ABV - more beers to try! The goal at 41 is no longer just drinking things that taste good enough to get me drunk haha!

    Ugh. I'm not on social media at all. Driving out to one and finding it's closed will be infuriating though. Any particular ones where this might be an issue?

    Good to know on Cherry Street - I had googled them and what came up was Chattanooga.

    Thanks again!!!!
     
    #14 stapp101, Apr 26, 2023
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  15. ATL6245

    ATL6245 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,984) Aug 16, 2018 Georgia
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Closed shouldn't be an issue. Most breweries are open 4pm or 5pm to 9pm or 10pm during the week. Noon to 11pm on weekends. A lot of breweries on closed on Mondays and some on Tuesdays.
     
    #15 ATL6245, Apr 26, 2023
  16. stapp101

    stapp101 Devotee (361) Feb 21, 2018 Pennsylvania

    I see. I thought you meant private events. Its happened to me before (Firestone Walker's barrel place, most notably - crazy letdown after driving 2 hours). Cool.

    Any thoughts on Scofflaw vs Dr Scofflaw? Not seeing a lot of love though I had read good things.

    Thanks so much for all the info ya'll!!
     
    #16 stapp101, Apr 27, 2023
  17. stapp101

    stapp101 Devotee (361) Feb 21, 2018 Pennsylvania

    So seems like what's shaping up is:

    Near the city - Scofflaw/Dr. Scofflaw (preference?)?, 3 Taverns Imaginareum?, Wrecking Bar, Monday Night Brewing/Garage, Torched Hop, Halfway Crooks, Wild Leap?

    Outside the city - Hopstix, Contrast, Variant?, Good Word, Cherry Street

    Decatur - Little Cottage, Three Taverns, Inner Voice

    Athens area - Creature Comforts, Akademia, Trappeze Pub, Lincoln Fill Station (beer place on the way)

    Skip: New Realm, Outrun (beers looks so overdone), Arches, Wild Heaven Avondale, Normaltown, Athentic, Blackbird, Slowpour, Iron Shielf, Blue Tarp, Sceptre, Burnt Hickory, Sabbath


    Still a lot...but I am an ambitious man in these matters...
     
    #17 stapp101, Apr 27, 2023
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  18. ATL6245

    ATL6245 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,984) Aug 16, 2018 Georgia
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I've never visited Scofflaw or Dr. Scofflaw, so I can't really speak to the taproom. And I've only had a couple of their beers, which were IPAs. Their IPAs are as good as anyone else's and the Basement IPA is one of the more popular ones in the area. That's all know about them.
     
    #18 ATL6245, Apr 27, 2023
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  19. The_FishermanJay

    The_FishermanJay Pundit (936) May 16, 2010 Florida
    Trader

    I know it's not a brewery and if that's a non-negotiable for your itinerary, I get it. But I wouldn't dream of visiting Decatur without going to Brick Store. They don't make their own beer but I'd argue it has one of the best tap lists in the Southeast and undoubtedly has many of the styles you like. They have a cask bar and a Belgian bar in addition to their main bar.

    The staff is knowledgeable (and friendly) and their food is super-legit as well.

    They're not analogs but -- to put a familiar-to-you face on Brick Store -- I would suggest that Brick Store is a first cousin of Monk's Cafe there in Philly. Safe travels!
     
    #19 The_FishermanJay, Apr 27, 2023
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  20. stapp101

    stapp101 Devotee (361) Feb 21, 2018 Pennsylvania

    Nice! Sounds like Scofflaw is at least worth a check out.

    I love Monks! Been going for 20 years. I have brick store on my agenda up top. Sorry. I must have accidentally taken it out in editing. My buddy went there a few years ago and raved about it as well as some of the sour beers at 3T.

    Thanks again for all this great info!
     
    #20 stapp101, Apr 28, 2023
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