Karen and I have thrown our support behind the Alabamians for Specialty Beer. The organization goes by Free The Hops. The group “is a grassroots, citizen-driven movement solely committed to lifting the 6% alcohol by volume and 1 pint container limits for beer brewed or sold in Alabama.”
There are many beers sold that are not allowed in the state of Alabama due to these restrictions.
I am sitting on the back enjoying the free beer that Brian from the New Knoxville Brewing Company gave Karen and I while in Chattanooga, TN for the Southern Brewers Festival. (Sorry about quality of the web-cam picture)
The New Knoxville Brewing Company has been reborn many times from what the guys working the taps told us. Originally, the brewer was founded in 1886. According the company, beer is brewed in small 25 barrel batches using brick-clad brew kettles and open-top fermentation, which is uncommon in United States.
I have the Traditional Pale Ale and the India Pale Ale. The beers are very true to their styles. I would have to say that I enjoyed to taste of both, but the clarity was so so.
Karen and I had good selection of Paulaner beer at Redstone MWR's Oktoberfest this year. This year selection was limited to Coors, Becks and Paulaner. Karen and I only sampled the Paulaner beers.
The Paulaner selection included Hefeweizen, Oktoberfest (so course), Salvator, and Premium Pils.
The Premium Pils was a full body pilsner.
The Hefe-Weizen was a cross between a Germany Pilsner and Hefeweizen. It was not too fruity and more lingering in the back of the mouth like a lager. Heavier than a typical Hefeweizen.
The Oktoberfest was malty with very little hop tones. Sweet aroma the prepares the mouth for the sweet maltiness. Similar to the a honey brown, but lighter sweetness and malt.
The Salvator was very malty as a dopple bock should be. It was not dark. Its taste clings to the palate.
Karen and I had a great time at the festival. The festival was moved to the river front which greatly improved the festival. In past years, the festival was held in a black asphalt parking lot which was unbelievable hot. This year the festival added another type of ticket called the VIP Pass. The VIP pass provided free food and beer. Holders of the VIP pass were also provide access to the brewers areas. The number of brewers ended up being 24 with many being new or reopened breweries.
The New Knoxville Brewing Company pictured here was our first beers to try. Karen had their Hefeweizen while I had the Pale Ale. We eventually tried all of them and especially enjoyed the English Brown Ale. The next morning as we were packing our car, Brian and rest of the crew from the New Knoxville Brewing Company stopped to talk and gave us two six packs. Great!
The Foot-Hills Brewing Co. was another great group of guys. They cut us a break on the price of their shirts after they heard I collected them. The shirt each featured a different beer and color. Some of the guys where wearing the shirt in the booth on the left in this picture.
The Brewers area was great. Big River Grille & Brewing catered the area with ribs, hamburgers, Jalapeño Spinach Cheese Dip with Chips, and draft beer of course. You can see by my picture it was great food.
Some of high lights of the beers are Sweetwater’s Blue, Asheville Brewing Company’s Houdini ESP, Carolina Beer & Beverage’s Pumpkin Ale, Foot-Hills Brewing Company’s Total Eclipse Stout, New Knoxville Brewing Company’s English Brown Ale, and A1A Ale Work’s Orange Blossom Honey Ale. These beers were some of the best at the festival.
Some of low points in the beers are Zuma Brewing Company’s Cancun Lager and New Knoxville Brewing Company’s Hefeweizen.
Karen and I have started the day with a bike ride in search of breakfast. We found “The Tin Roof Bistro” which serves breakfast from 7 AM to 2 PM. And, it has a balcony with a view of the Tennessee River and Walnut Street Bridge. Karen ate her favorite breakfast of grits, but she went up a notch and added a bowl of fruit. I had the waffles with mint butter.
Now with carbo-loading done, we headed back to the festival area to check on setup progress. We talked with Mary Kilbride who we were told is in charge. Mary gave us the low down and we were able to pass along some of our ideas for how to improve the festival. This year the festival has a VIP section which provides free food and beer along with special seating over the river.
Karen and I arrived for the Southern Brewers Festival early on Friday after spending way to many hours at Unclaimed Baggage located in Scottsboro, Alabama. (We now have another digital camera and more.) We decided to ride around town and enjoy the scenery including a ride by the festival area. This year the festival is at the Tennessee River edge.
We ended up at Big River Grille & Brewing eating the Classic Combo which has great. The Classic Combo is made up of Jalapeño Spinach Cheese Dip with Chips, Buffalo Wings, and Chicken Springs Rolls. Karen had the Sweat Magnolia Brown Ale and I had the seasonal Summer Wheat. The brown ale won the 1998 Gold at the Great American Beer Festival. She describe the brown as not too nutty, but balanced with chocolate tones in the finish. The beer’s head was nice, but quickly dissipated. The beer had a medium body and little aromatic. The wheat beer has lightly fruity with a good mouth feel. The beer was rich for a wheat, but it was still very balanced. Its taste was very similar to Pyramid Brewing’s Hefeweizen Beers, which is one of best hefeweizen.
Later for dinner, we headed to Mellow Mushroom for pizza and beer. Karen and I love pizza and Mellow Mushroom is one of the best around. They are also known for having a large beer selection and this location was no exception. We had a nice variety with Spaten Munich, Whittekerke, Falls City, and Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale.
As the festival nears, the brewers and entertainment have been finalized.
The organizers of the festival have indicated that 40 different beers will be available for tasting. The beer will be provided by the following brewers.
Anheuser-Busch Inc. (Cartersville Ga)
Widmer Brothers Brewing Company (Portland Or)
Redhook Ale Brewery (Woodinville Wa)
Abita Brewing Company (Abita Springs La)
Big River Grille & Brewing Works (Chattanooga Tn)
Blackstone Restaurant & Brewery (Nashville Tn)
Bosco's Nashville Brewing Company (Nashville Tn)
Boston Beer Company (Boston Ma)
Carolina Beer & Beverage Company (Mooresville Nc)
Dogwood Brewing Company (Atlanta Ga)
Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant (Atlanta Ga)
Moon River Brewing Company (Savannah Ga)
Ragtime Tavern, Seafood & Grill (Atlantic Beach Fl)
Red Oak Brewery (Greensboro Nc)
Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurant (Atlanta Ga)
Rocky River Brewing Company (Sevierville Tn)
Spoetzl Brewery (Shiner Tx)
Sweetwater Brewing Company (Atlanta Ga)
Terrapin Beer Company (Athens Ga)
Thomas Creek Brewery (Greenville Sc)
If memory servers me, I believe that Thomas Creek Brewery and Widmer Brothers Brewing Company are new this year. I am not sure about Ragtime Tavern which may have been present last year.
According to the festival site, The Rounders, The Lee Boys, The John Cowan Band, and BoDeans will performing at the festival.
The nice thing about this festival is that everything goes to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. There is nothing better supporting a cause by tasting some great beers.
Only 10 days to go!
We want to take our bikes this year to the beer festival. Well, Karen's trailer hitch has arrived for her new car. It will be installed this weekend. Chattanooga is a beautiful area and riding our bikes will allow us to take in more of the city.
One place that I love to stop by is the Pickle Barrel. It is a cool shaped building and has great sandwiches and pickles, too. At night, they have bands. You can dine on the roof, but mid-day roof dining can be hot and muggy.
Karen and I back from the last trip and setting our sights on the next which will be the Southern Brewers Festival.
It is schedules for September 10th, 2005.
Karen and I stopped Il Vicino for beer and dinner tonight. The staff was great. Karen had the amber and was given a free oatmeal stout for us helping clear the outside table because the raining coming down on their condiments.
Karen enjoyed both beers. She thinks the stout was a well-balanced beer with coffee over tones that didn’t overwhelm the style of the beer. I had the IPA, which was not as hopped as most IPAs in the Colorado Springs area, but hopped well for IPA. (Colorado Springs breweries over hop most beers.)
By the way, the pizza was great, too.