Saturday was the 9th Annual Dunwoody Beer Festival, hosted by the Dunwoody Restaurant Group. This event is actually a fundraiser for Camp Twin Lakes, a camp for kids with serious life illnesses. For $35 (at the door; tickets were $30 in advance), you were given a plastic cup and access to all of the beer you could (safely) consume, from more than 150 different beers, malt beverages, and liquors from around the world.
Initially, they were calling for rain. “They” being the all-knowing Atlanta weathermen. But instead of raining, it was hot. Hotter than hell, actually. And that’s no Beer Apostles pun. But nothing combats warm weather like cold beer, and there was plenty of cold beer. Now, as Beer Apostles, we were out to try new beers from commercial breweries and mico-breweries alike, and the first booth we stopped at was Jailhouse Brewery. Jailhouse is a micro brewery based in Hampton, GA, and on tap at their booth was their Slammer Wheat, Mugshot IPA, and Breakout Stout. First up for us was the Wheat, and damn were we impressed! The wheat poured a cloudy yellow-orange color with a medium sized head. The aroma was somewhat malty with hints of the wheat and even a bit of a fruity smell. Tastes similar to the smell, but with a greater presence of the fruity elements and even finishing with a bit of a banana flavor. Things only got better from here. After the Slammer, Jordan tried the Mugshot IPA, and Will sipped on their Breakout Stout. The Mugshot was full of hoppy aroma and flavor, but not so much as to overwhelm the palette. It tasted even better than it smelled, excited the taste buds on the way to the back of the mouth, and finished cleaner than most IPA’s we’ve had. The Breakout Stout was definitely the most impressive of the three, which was surprising to us, as stouts typically are not our “go-to-styles”. The beer poured a nice black with a bit of a reddish highlight and a nice creamy head. It had a very malty aroma with hints of coffee and oatmeal. For a stout, it was incredibly drinkable and seemed to be on the lighter side as far as alcohol content for a stout, but this was not a bad thing by any means.
After Jailhouse, we made our way around to Magic Hat, Duvel, Abita, Blue Moon, New Belgium, Ommegang, Rogue, Redhook, Sweetwater, and Terrapin. Almost all of the bigger breweries had their classic beers available, and you could always find a Brown or Amber Ale, IPA, and Stout at just about every booth. Of the more pleasant beers we tried, Magic Hat’s Whacko, their summer ale brewed with beets, and Duvel Green topped our favorites list. On the opposite end of the beer spectrum, we also tasted Peak Organic’s Nut Brown Ale and their IPA. Regrettably, we weren’t very impressed with either one. In fact, we are both yet to try an organic beer that we can honestly say we’ve enjoyed. So, if any of you Beer Disciples out there know of a tasty organic beer, e-mail us at theapostles@beerapostles.com and give us your suggestions!
And what beer festival would be complete without a booty shaking contest? The beer was flowin’, the booties were shakin’, and the music was bumpin’. Granted, we think the person who shook the most booty was some guy who probably got dared by his friends to enter, and it looked like he actually started to enjoy it more than he would’ve liked to admit.
All in all, it was a successful day for The Apostles at the 9th Annual Dunwoody Beer Festival. We were pleased to taste some great new additions to the beer lineups at some of our favorite breweries, as well as to discover a great new micro brewery that we hope to enjoy for brews to come.