And It Stoned Me To My Soul....

Yes, that is 30 taps of Stone. A "Stone Wall" if you will."

Hey kids! Sorry I was AWOL last week. I had to head up to Charlotte to set up the mother of all Stone events, so I was kind of busy to say the least. How was it? Well, if you weren't there, it would be hard to really convey what went down. There were 30 different Stone beers on tap at once, many of them super rare collaboration beers with Stone and some of the best breweries in the country, the owner and founder of Stone there, on top of the bar ranting and preaching through a bullhorn, a stage dive....You know, normal stuff. Do you really want me to tell you about the beers that you didn't drink? Isn't that like rubbing it in? I mean, if you didn't get to drink a 2008 Stone Imperial Russian Stout Aged In Bourbon Barrels, do you really want to hear about it? Or since you will never again have a chance to drink a The Alchemist / Ninkasi / Stone More Brown Than Black IPA or a Bruery / Elysian / Stone La Citrueille Céleste de Citracado, why would you want to even hear about it? Stuff like that can make you go CRAZY with regret for not listening to me in the first place, driving up to Charlotte, and having the beer experience of a lifetime. I wouldn't want to do that to you. But seriously, nobody wants to know that they missed out on the Jason Fields & Kevin Sheppard / Tröegs / Stone Cherry Chocolate Stout, or the Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA, and especially the 2007 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine. That would just be depressing. What would be more depressing is to realize that there were 24 other Stone beers there that I didn't even mention, and that you missed it. Oh well, maybe next time right? Yeah, like there will be a "next time" for that.

But you can still take advantage of some cool upcoming beer events, so get ready, here it goes:

1. I already told you about the cask of Terrapin Phlux Capacitor tomorrow at our Suwanee store. This beer has not even entered the market, so the firkin we have is actually ahead of the regular kegs. Even some local Terrapin guys haven't tasted this beer yet. Will you beat them to it? If you are at Suwanee tomorrow at 6:00pm you will. At least one of those Terrapin guys will be on hand to talk to folks like you, and he may have some "stuff" to give away.
2. Next week on Wednesday, April 4th at Perimeter we are hosting a launch for Blue Point Brewing from Long Island, NY. We have their founder and their national sales director in town to shake hands and kiss babies. So get thirsty, grab a baby and head over to Perimeter on Wednesday. There will be three draft beers: Toasted Lager, RastafaRye, and Hoptical Illusion. 
3. The following night at The Fred Bar we have a bunch of new beers from Clown Shoes making their debut. We have their national sales director in town for this event too, so if you have any questions about these wacky beers (and wackier labels), you can ask the man himself. I think there will be 5 drafts and a few bottles to choose from. Be forewarned that The Fred Bar requires you to have 13 beers minimum on your Brewniversity list. But hey, if you don't even have any now, you have seven days, starting tonight, to get 13 credits. That's easy.

That is all I have for you right now. Have a great weekend everyone.

Why God? Why?

Flux Capacitor

Well it happened. As expected, my cask submission to the SweetWater Brew Your Cask Off last weekend came in second, and I wasn't there to drink it. I had a hunch that if I couldn't be there, it would be my strongest entry ever, and it was. In fact, of the three times our company has placed in this event, it was the highest ever (we got a third place in 2010 and this year). But they are going to remake it and pour some at this year's 420 Fest in Candler Park, and I will definitely be...in Chicago. Seriously. Why does God not want me to drink this beer? Please go to the 420 Fest, find the cask tent, ask for some Fred Juice, and tell me if you like it. (The slogan for Fred Juice? "If you squeeze Fred, that's what comes out." or, "Taste just like freshly squeezed Fred." Still working on this, but that is what I have so far.)

Next is a question I have for you. I need you to consider an event and e-mail beerdinner@tappanstreet.com if you would consider participating in this thing. I think it is a great idea, but I just don't know how committed you folks can be to it. So here goes:

• On Thursday, July 19th the Braves have a 12:10 pm game against the SF Giants.
• What if we had everyone gather at the Taco Mac at Philips Arena and took you to the game on a shuttle bus? Sounds fun, right? But wait....
• And then after the game, we took you back to Philips Arena's Taco Mac and did a five-course beer dinner in the upstairs area? I know...pretty awesome.
• But here is the tricky part: Are you available all day on a week day? Will you call in sick or use a personal day? Is this worth you taking a vacation day? I think so, but what do I know?

So if you love this idea as much as I do, just click here: beerdinner@tappanstreet.com and say "Hell yes I want to have a Braves game/beer dinner outing!" Or something of that nature. The whole thing would be in the $75-$80 dollar range if I had to guess. Maybe less depending on what kind of deal the Braves will give us for this weekday afternoon game. So just let us know if you think this is something we should pursue, or if asking people to take a day off to watch a ball game, drink beer and then have a summer-themed beer dinner is a dumb idea. Thanks.

Cask of Heavy Seas Pale Ale dry-hopped with Cascade and Centennial at Johns Creek tonight. It's tasty! I know, because we had one Tuesday in Roswell. And don't forget about that charitable beer dinner at Deckard's on the 27th. Come out, drink beer, eat great food, have fun, and feel good about doing it. What's not to love?

Get prepared for cask of Terrapin Phlux Capacitor (new!)at Suwanee on Friday, March 30th. The following day is the Suwanee Beer Fest, so this is a little pre-fest kick-off thing. The cask was just filled and is doing its thing right now. It should be ready in time, but you never know. I will remind everyone once I know for sure that it is on its way to our doorstep.

Have a great weekend everyone. Try not to let anyone puke up green beer on you. And if you are someone who appreciates green beer, then please try to barf on anyone. At least not anyone you don't know really well. But whatever you do this weekend, have a happy St. Patrick's Day.

Act Now, And You Will Receive This Free Gift....

OK everyone, I have something REALLY exciting for you. I am going to be out of town visiting my brother this weekend, so I can't be at the SweetWater Brew Your Cask Off event. I know, poor planning on my part. Long story short, I booked this family trip before I knew the date of the BYCO. It's hard to tell your family that yet another beer event is more important than seeing them, especially when you didn't see them over Christmas. And I did got to San Francisco, Charlotte, Las Vegas and Europe since then--which were all very beer-y trips for the most part--and attended the Atlanta Cask Ale tasting. So here is how this affects you:

1. Go taste the cask Jason & I made. It won't be too hard to find. It's called Fred Juice. I think it is going to be great. A big IPA with a few fruits in it to balance out the hops and citrus peels we added.
2. Go to  http://brewyourcaskoff.com/contest.php to register to win my seat on the judging panel. That's right, I can't be there to judge this year, and we decided to open it up to one of my blog readers. So what are you waiting for? Stop reading and click that damn link already. If you win, you not only get to be a judge, you get a t-shirt and two free passes to the event. I know that many of you are excited for this opportunity, and only one of you can win, but seriously, this is my second really good idea this year that benefits beer lovers like you. The first one was to get one of our Chancellors an opportunity to make a cask at Red Hare. Stay tuned for details as to when we are going to tap those. We have not gone to the brewery to make them yet, but we should be doing that pretty soon.

Also, why don't you take a stroll over to the Deckard's web site at http://deckardstavern.com/ and check out the cool beer dinner they are doing. This is a charitable event, so if you have been looking for a way to feel good about your drinking habit, there you go. But seriously, it is a really good cause, and chef Deckard always does a knock-out job on the beer and food pairings.

Next on my agenda is to run down a few beer events for you, then I gotta run. Here goes:

1. Tomorrow there is a cask of Brooklyn Irish Stout at Perimeter. We will be getting into it somewhere around 6:00 pm, maybe earlier if there is a good crowd. They are also selling some Brooklyn Black Ops from a bottle, but pouring it by the glass. Why? Because they only have 12 bottles, and that stuff is way expensive. Get there early if you want to get a glass of that. I should be there around 5:00 pm if everything goes my way tomorrow. See you there.
2. Next Tuesday the 13th there is a cask of Heavy Seas Pale Ale that has been dry-hopped at the new store on Holcomb Bridge Rd. The one east of GA 400, not going towards Woodstock. That store has been there for like 13 years or something. I will be there too, and we are going to probably get into that at 6:00 pm also.
3. On Thursday the 15th at The Fred Bar we have the release of Gulpener Chateau Nebourg from The Netherlands. This is a 185 year-old brewery that makes a ton of different beers, and this is the first one we have seen in this market. The folks that rep this brand (and some of them are real, live Dutch people!) will be on hand, so stop by The Fred and check out this "new" beer. Be the first kid on your block with this Brewniversity credit, if you are into that kind of thing.
4. On Friday the 16th we have another one of those dry-hopped Heavy Seas Pale Ale firkins at our Johns Creek store on Peachtree Parkway. As soon as the Heavy Seas guy gets back to me, I can tell you more about what these things were hopped with. More info on that next week for sure.

That is all I have for now. Take it easy.