Hello Baby, I'm Gone, Goodbye!

Hello loyal Fred's blog readers. I am in North Carolina until Saturday for Charlotte Craft Beer Week. Last night we hosted a beer dinner with Terrapin at the South Park location, with none other than Spike from Terrapin in the house. The whole event was spectacular, completely sold out, and probably the best Tuesday night that anyone has spent in a long time. Think about your last, oh...one hundred Tuesdays. Any significant memories?

Tonight we had a serious tap takeover with Southern Tier at the Huntersville store. We had flights, vintage dated kegs, dark beer, really dark beer, seasonals, and some hoppy beers to complete the picture. Oh, and there was a 14.1% Bourbon Barrel-Aged Back Burner Barley Wine keg from last year.

Friday night is the big crazy though. At our University City location, there will be a bunch of locally-made specialty beers on tap. Small kegs, limited edition, high-gravity, barrel-aged,...you get the picture. Many of these beers will be gone Friday night, and most of these Brewniversity credits will be "one night only".

One other upcoming event that you need to know about is the Classic City Brew Fest. This is the 18th year of this festival. Think about that for a minute....The organizers of this event were hosting a beer festival in the middle of the 1990's...in Georgia. Before the laws changed on "high-grav" beers. Visionary. If you are not familiar with the Classic City Brew Fest yet, then allow me to introduce you:

http://www.classiccitybrew.com/brewfest.html

At least do yourself a favor and look at the link, because this festival has plenty of rare beers, casks, notable attendees, and world-class camaraderie.

Other than all of that, I am going to be home this weekend before heading out first thing Monday morning for the Craft Brewer's Conference in Washington, D.C. The next time I see a sun rise in Atlanta, it will be Monday, April 1st. Can somebody water my plants? Bye!

URGENT Retraction!

All--

Due to a delivery debacle, there will be no cask in Kennesaw tonight. I am truly sorry, but the right beer is in the wrong place, and if we drove it across town and tapped it tonight, the taste and appearance would be unacceptable. Stay tuned for a rescheduled date. The rest of the dates for these casks are still fine. I promise. For now. Thank you for what I hope is your understanding. See you soon.

Cask Series Begins Wednesday!

Sorry for the late reminder everyone, but I was in Minneapolis since Sunday. I won't say anything bad about the weather, because A.) I am from Michigan, and it is cold there too, and B.) It is too damn hot here in the summer, so don't act like the south's weather doesn't have its downside too. But am I glad to be back where the temperature will get above freezing some time during the day? Of course.

So here is the edited and final line-up for the "Winner's Circle Casks" that resulted from the perfect attendance by a small group of dedicated beer drinkers during the "Twelve Casks of Christmas" we did with O'Dempsey's this past December. Each one is different, and therefore a new Brewniversity credit, if you're into that kind of thing. All casks get tapped at 6:00 pm unless otherwise noted. Here goes:

Inukshuk IPA--

Clive Stone-- Wed., March 13th @ Kennesaw (dry hopped w/ Goldings, Fuggle and Northern Brewer)

Andy Massey (blend IPA & RIS)-- Friday, March 15th @ Newnan (Jack Daniels & vanilla beans)

Jan Pierce-- Wednesday, March 20th @ Newnan (pomegranate, champagne grapes and Cascade hops)

Gail-- Thursday, March 21st @ The Fred (Rosemary and Chinook hops)--7:00 pm tap time!

Your Black Heart Russian Imperial Stout--

Gail-- Thursday, April 4th @ The Fred (blueberries)

Terry Eaton-- Friday, April 5th @ Newnan (cocoa nibs and orange extract)

Drew Buehler-- Wed., April 10th @ Duluth (figs, black cardamom, cocoa nibs, Jim Beam, vanilla beans

Jorge Beltran-- Friday, April 12th @ Woodstock (cocoa nibs & guajillo peppers)

OK kids, I gotta take off. It has been a crazy couple of days, coming straight off the Secret Stash Bash and then off to the North Pole. If you missed the SSB this year, try to not make the same mistake next year. This one was great, and I can only assume that we will improve upon it for next year. Tickets will go on sale Monday. Just kidding. They will go on sale around Thanksgiving. Bye.

Winning

Cuco, the tequila drinking burro.

No, we don't have Charlie Sheen coming to any upcoming beer events. But I think even he would be impressed with the dedication put in by a few local beer drinkers last December. To recap: A few folks were able to attend all of the "Twelve Casks Of Christmas" last year, which in case you forgot, was a twelve-day run of special O'Dempsey's Inukshuk IPA casks at twelve different locations. These folks traveled from Newnan to Buford, and just about every place in between. For their efforts they got to craft their own special casks of O'Dempsey's beers, and now they are ready to be consumed. So take a look at the list below, and get your traveling shoes on to meet these folks and try their beer. That way everyone is a winner. Here you go:

Inukshuk IPA--

Clive Stone-- Wed., March 13th @ Kennesaw (dry hopped w/ Goldings, Fuggle and Northern Brewer)

Andy Massey (blend IPA & RIS)-- Friday, March 15th @ Newnan (Jack Daniels & vanilla beans)

Jan Pierce-- Wednesday, March 20th @ Newnan (pomegranate, champagne grapes and Cascade hops)

Gail-- Thursday, March 21st @ The Fred (Rosemary and Chinook hops)

Your Black Heart Russian Imperial Stout--

Gail-- Thursday, April 4th @ The Fred (blueberries)

Terry Eaton-- Friday, April 5th @ Newnan (cocoa nibs and orange extract)

Drew Buehler-- Wed., April 10th @ Duluth (figs, black cardamom, cocoa nibs, Jim Beam, vanilla beans

Jorge Beltran-- Friday, April 12th @ Woodstock (cocoa nibs & guajillo peppers)

All of these are going to get tapped at 6:00 pm, except Thursday the 21st at The Fred Bar. That will be 7:00 pm due to some other thing that doesn't really matter to you or I right now. Don't forget that these are all going to be brand new, one-of-a-kind Brewniversity credits, never to be seen again. I hope that you can get out and enjoy a bunch of these. They all come from a really stellar group of people who truly love beer. Get to know 'em, you'll like 'em. 

Have a great sunny weekend everyone. I get to fly to Minneapolis on Sunday. High in the mid 20's. Ouch.