Omnivore Atlanta

While you have been lounging by the pool this summer, Terrapin Beer Company’s Spike Buckowski has been slaving over a hot brew kettle to bring you a slew of new brews. Side Project No. 7 is out now, an easy-drinking saison dubbed Maggie Farmhouse Ale. This 6.0% ABV Belgian-style pale ale has a soft palate and fairly light body from a wheat addition, with some white pepper spiciness to give it an edge. It’s a nice balance of dry, bready malts, a bit of green apple tartness, tangy yeast, and a clean hop bitterness in the finish. It would make a perfect complement to a light summer meal.

Terrapin is replacing the summer seasonal in its Monster Beer Tour, the All-American Imperial Pilsner, with Gamma Ray Wheatwine, a potent and tasty Side Project from last year that will join the regular rotation. The release was delayed somewhat, but word is that bottling will take place next week, and the beer will hit shelves near the end of the month or in early September. Wheatwines are a rare style, and we are lucky to have a damned good one brewed right here in Georgia on a regular basis. (more…)

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That shit is wack: The Dank Tank at Sweetwater

The mercury has cracked the 90 degree barrier now, and summer has surely settled in. Thus, it is only natural that Georgia’s non-conformist breweries are going the opposite direction of the bigger breweries, swimming upstream if you will, and rolling out two of their biggest beers from the past. Sweetwater Brewing Company is re-introducing its popular Donkey Punch Barleywine, a sweet, hop-heavy alcohol bomb that packs 10.2 percent ABV and over 140 IBUs (International Bittering Units), as the latest in its Dank Tank series. Meanwhile, up GA 316 in Athens, Terrapin Beer Company’s third Side Project, Gamma Ray wheatwine, an 11% ABV monster brewed with 1,500 lbs of Tupelo and Sourwood honey from Savannah Bee Company, is replacing the All-American Imperial Pilsner as the new summer seasonal in its Monster Beer Series. Looks like summer is getting a little hotter.

Sweetwater’s 50-bbl Dank Tank is dedicated to experimental “dark side” brews, with the first release being a Belgian-style IPA that came out in December of last year. A Scotch ale and a double IPA followed. Thus far, these limited batches have only been available in kegs at select bars around Georgia and at the brewery and special events. However, this latest release will be the first Sweetwater beer to be bottled on its new 22-oz “bomber” bottling line, making it available at better package stores, which is good news, indeed. (more…)

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Gamma Ray
Terrapin Beer Company
Athens, GA
11% ABV

Terrapin’s latest Side Project is an ambitious one. A wheat wine is similar to a barleywine, but with a large addition of wheat for a lighter body and a spicier flavor. Terrapin’s version also adds a large portion of honey, giving it a mead-like strength and a boost of floral esters. The aroma of the Gamma Ray is as intoxicating as the liquid in the glass: a perfume-like mélange of lavender, white pepper, bananas, bready yeast, and orchard fruits. The taste is honey-sweet on the tongue, with a grainy, wheat taste emerging in the middle. Booze-soaked tropical fruits mix with lemon and spice for a breezy but potent cocktail of pineapple, kiwi, ripe apple, cherry, honeysuckle nectar, banana, clove, white pepper, ginger, and bubblegum. Super smooth and creamy, with a slick, almost oily feel upfront, it becomes tongue-tickling and fruity as the carbonation releases on the swallow. Remarkable drinkability for its body and strength. Gamma Ray would pair perfectly with pungent cheeses, nuts, and bright fruits, perhaps together in a salad of bitter greens. One of the best beers yet from Terrapin.

(photo by Jeff Holland)

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