Talking Head: East Atlanta Beer Festival recap
June 3rd, 2009 by Jeff Holland in Drink, Events
Beer me: The eager throng at the EABF
The East Atlanta Beer Festival may be a victim of its own success. A sellout crowd swapped sweat in the narrow confines of the backyard of the defunct John B. Gordon School on Metropolitan Avenue on Saturday. Why don’t they just tear that building down already and make more room for the festival? Fueled by beer samples from over 60 breweries, most attendees did not seem to mind the crush, but I once again was unwilling to dive into the deepest corners of the fest, thus missing out on offerings from Flying Dog, Brooklyn, Unibroue, and perhaps others. Not that I haven’t had most of these beers, but a festival offers the chance to revisit old favorites, or make side-by-side comparisons that are more difficult in other settings.
I also enjoy the opportunity to try things that I may have written off before and give them a second chance. Or as is often the case, reaffirm what I already knew. Either way, one should not discount the value of a retry, since many things can affect the perception of a beer at any given time, including the freshness of the sample, a tired palate, the opinion of others, and experience with a given style. Our tastes change, and it is no different with our tastes in beverages. It’s easy to go on a hophead kick for months, seeking out bigger and bigger beers before taste fatigue sets in and those well-crafted, balanced German lagers start to taste pretty good again.
All that said, I mostly sampled what I knew that I liked, along with a few things that I had not yet tried. The highlight of new tastes for me were the beers from Baird Brewing of Numazu, Japan. They make an ale brewed with natsumikans, a Japanese fruit that might be compared to a grapefruit, that is remarkably refreshing without being cloyingly sweet or soda-like. It would certainly have made my list of summer beers that don’t suck from last week if I had known about it. I also sampled their pale ale and amber, both of which had a nice, lively character and plenty of flavor. I had also not yet tasted the Lagunitas Correction Ale, a solid IPA-ish American strong ale that is certainly worth seeking out. Lagunitas bombers are always a good value at $3-4 a bottle.
French Broad, Bell’s, and Moylan’s are all recent entries to the Atlanta market that were courting new fans. I had to try Moylan’s Hopsickle again, and it is as I remembered it: teeth-suckingly bitter and resiny. I had to swish my mouth out with water befor I could taste anything else. For serious hopheads only. Bell’s porter seemed just alright, but I would like to revisit it with a fresh palate. R. J. Rockers Son of a Peach is a solid fruit beer with a fresh peach aroma and taste and a clean finish. This is a far cry from the artificial flavor of many of the fruit cocktail beers turned out by the megabreweries. Not really my thing, but worth a try if you are a fan of fruit beers.
Among the beers that I had that still amaze me were Allagash Curieux, Hebrew Lenny’s RIPA, Corsendonk Brown, St. Bernardus Pater 6, and Oskar Blues Gordon. All of these are highly recommended for any beer aficionado. The Red Brick Ale was a perfect accompaniment to my lamb burger from the Glenwood.
Disappointments? A few. Monkshine Belgian Pale Ale from Uinta spin-off Four + Brewing is a style that is underrepresented from U.S. brewers, but this version is cereal-like and lacking complexity. S.C.’s Thomas Creek seems to have reformulated some of its offerings, with some improvement in structure and mouthfeel, but both the Class V IPA and Appalachian Amber seemed to have the same musky hops that I did not find appealing and were too malt-forward for their styles. French Broad’s Wee Heavier did not impress me as much as their altbier did.
In the end, though, I left sunburned and happy. It will take more than a rowdy crowd of amateurs to ruin a day of free-flowing beer for me.
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:10 pm
This is turning into one of the great Atlanta events. And the Baird fruit beer was bangin’! I wouldn’t have guessed it was a fruit beer unless they told me. Other notables: Bell’s was super dank and the New Belgium’s Mothership organic wheat was bananas! TASTY summer treats.
June 3rd, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Hey, that’s the back of my head pouring the Dogfish Head beer. I hope that you all enjoyed attending as much as I did volunteering.