Red Brick road to somewhere in Atlanta but not sure where

Red Brick Brewing Co. was the second brewery I visited in Atlanta in an afternoon of brewery and beer education.  These guys have all the elements in place: brewery equipment, beer tap for tasting, space to sit and socialise and a merchandise shop, but somehow the place lacks a bit of soul.

Part of it may have been that there wasn't any personal attention in the form of a welcome or an actual tour. It was more a tasting session with some kit scattered around a large warehouse.

The selection of beers at the bar were reasonable but I can't say I found the branding inspiring in any way, and beers with skulls on them simply don't appeal at all.   I tasted about six or seven beers but I can't say that anything was exceptional or even particularly good. I also thought their 'tasting' glasses were too big and the measures were too generous. The venue seemed to be more aligned with the consumption of beer rather than tasting and experiencing it.

There wasn't much kit standing around and it was spread out in a way that made me think it couldn't possibly work as a unit.  I recall wondering whether this was actually the site they used to brew their beer and whether this was really all the kit they had. I thought it may just be a window-dressing exercise to create the impression of a brewery whereas it may actually be a logistics warehouse.  The large venue may indicate that they have ambitions to grow but it did seem much larger than what may be expected given the amount of equipment and packaging they had standing around. I didn't get the impression that the equipment was in operation either.

Although brew-pubs have their brewing equipment visible for all to see from the vantage point of your seat with beer in hand, this venue made me think that it's nice to have a the brewery tucked away somewhere where it can be revealed during a tour. Hidden equipment seems to be more magical. When you are allowed into the special sanctuary to view the wizardry you feel like a special guest. That is what this place was lacking.

There was a pilot beer brewing kit for developing their product portfolio and I've seen the same kit in more than one place so it must be reasonably good.  Every brewery seems to have an assorted collection of connectors and this collection was in neat mobile unit.

In the end this was a reasonable brewery experience but without the magic of a tour. I was a little disappointed.

Sweet Water Atlanta

On a recent trip to Atlanta I managed to visit the Sweet Water Brewery. The brewery started out in 1997 and is currently located on their second site, a 2,300 square meter facility with a brewing capacity of 400,000 barrels per annum (although they are only brewing  just over half of that at the moment).

Similar to another successful brewery in Scotland, this one was started by two enthusiasts and a dog. I wonder whether the dog is a coincidence or has some magical success driving factor to it.

The setting for the beer tasting is spacious and well thought out. There is an indoor and outdoor area, with the outdoor area clearly designed to host music or other entertainment events with plenty of standing room.  This is an advantage that Americans have over the British - planning permission is much easier to achieve for buildings and space that compliments your business needs.

Sweet Water has a sensible portfolio of beers, with a healthy balance between easy drinking (a German style Pilsner), rich and rewarding (e.g. single and double IPAs) and more adventurous beers like Blue, which is jam-packed with blue berry flavour.  The other thing I notice American's like doing is designing distinctive tap handles, which helps with brand identity. In the UK we only seem to have the round pump-clips.

I can see the temptation to use artificial flavouring to give experimental beers an edge, especially if there is a bit of variability in your fruit flavour from year to year or from one supplier to the next. I wonder what certification system may help keep producers honest and help consumers understand the quality of what they are consuming.

Atlanta has a unique problem with beer sales at their brewing facilities, which unlike most of the other states, is a challenge that has attracted an innovative, if not quirky, solution.  When you visit a brewery you pay for a glass or a tour ticket and you get a few tickets for 'free' samples.  Some places are more generous with their offering and as I will discuss in a future post, a certain demographic of clientele can be attracted by the offering (future reference Monday Night Brewing).

By far my favourite beer available at Sweet Water was their double IPA 'Hop Hash' with a thumping 7.8% ABV and a thunderous 100 IBU rating. It had a gorgeous deep golden honey colour and a delicate pine fruity aroma.  With 100 IBU I was expecting something that was almost too bitter to drink, a bit like raw Aloe juice, but instead it was delightfully complex and mind-numbingly smooth and refreshing. I would have gone back for more, had I not wanted to try more variety and attempt to keep standing on my feet for the rest of the day. It certainly packed a punch.

The brewery was large, by independent craft brewer standards. There was evidence of a staged approach to scale-up investments with fermenters of different sizes.  I've also noticed that each brewery I have visited has the obvious small scale pilot kit to experiment with the next product line.  More than one of the breweries I visited in Atlanta had the same commercial pilot kit, however, Sweet Water had their own design, which was a bit bigger than expected.

As a relatively large 'micro brewery' (that doesn't really sound right, does it?) Sweet Water has invested in a dedicated centrifuge to produce clear beer. It is a single point investment servicing all the beer produced in the brewery and saves them a significant amount of product (a few percentage points), which would otherwise be lost through alternative flocculation and filtration systems.

Some, but not all of the conditioning is done in oak barrels. I suspect this is where the more experimental beers and possible the Blue beer is produced. No hand capping for these guys. They have a state of the art bottling facility, reported to be installed by German's who only spoke German and drank plenty of beer and not much else. That's the stuff of brewery tours, I guess, stretch the truth and make it interesting or entertaining.

In the end this was my favourite brewery in Atlanta. Now, where to find that magic Hop Hash here in the UK?