Half Acre finds its way to Georgia
On a recent trip to Chicago, Jeff’s wife Hannah picked up a precious little gift for us:
Ever since we interviewed Half Acre Beer Co in November 2007 we’ve been hankering to try some of their beers. Gabriel and the gang have been nothing but helpful as we try to navigate the murky waters of starting a brewery. So we were obviously anxious to see if they could brew a decent beer. Survey says… Yes. According to Half Acre:
Half Acre Over Ale is what we call an American Style Bitter. This deep brown beer is brewed with six varieties of malted barley and balanced with three generous hop additions. You?ll find a mild malt body with bitter bones.
And as an added bonus, our friend Ted had a hand in the recipe formulation for the beer. We found the Over Ale a deliciously balanced beer. Both easy-to-drink and flavorful. Congrats to Half Acre, and look out for them if you’re ever near Chicago!
NOTE: No one has ever accused me of being a beer photographer. So shut up. SHUT IT!
A serious system upgrade to Brew Magic
I haven’t been this excited about a new toy since I got one of those little cars with a motor in it for Christmas when I was 8. Last week, we placed an order for the Big Poppa of all brewing systems – SABCO’s Brew Magic.
There are so many incredible features of this system that will give us greater consistency and predictability to our brewing:
- Ability to recirculate the mash through an electronic heat exchanger.
- Pump = no lifting. Good for Joel’s arthritis.
- Sight tubes means I can calculate an accurate boil loss. Not that anyone other than me will care.
- Touchscreen electronic controls with the ability to track time and temperature, call out hop additions and transfers, and even recreate a previous session.
- All stainless steel tubing and kettles with tri-clamp fittings.
This beauty should be arriving in late July or early August. In the meantime, expect more doting, drooling and anticipation.
Monday Night canceled!
I know this is hard for you. It’s hard for us too. If blaming someone helps you in your grieving process, feel free to blame Andrew Bird. If you need someone else to blame, try Jeff.
And if blaming isn’t how you get down, try going down to Hop City instead. Mention “Monday Night Brewery” as you’re checking out and get the Monday Night discount on all craft beer. Note: Anyone attempting to use this discount on a 24-pack of Busch Light will have their “cool card” revoked. Permanently.
Hopefully we’ll be back on track to brew next week!
A talk with Atlanta’s Hop City owner Kraig Torres
“Beer is what I’m passionate about.” So says Kraig Torres, owner of the recently opened Hop City Craft Beer & Wine on Atlanta’s Westside. And once you glance around his store, you’ll take him at his word. We recently had a chance to sit down with Kraig and talk shop, next door at the newly opened 5 Seasons Westside.
In addition to industrial-strength racks of craft beer, Hop City features concrete floors, old brick, plenty of windows, homebrewing supplies, and wine. Though we didn’t really notice the wine. So what makes Hop City different from any other package store?
- Selection. Kraig currently stocks over 1300 different beers. “I have everything worth carrying in Georgia,” Torres says.
- Organization. Hop City is organized by style, not brand, a novel idea in craft beer. And admittedly, one that will take us a few trips to get used to. On my last trip I remember yelling, “Hey, where is all your other stuff from French Broad?” But it makes sense, according to Torres: “Why wouldn’t you want to shop for beer the same way you shop for wine?” Now when people know about a beer they like and want to try something similar, all they have to do is look around the same section. It’s a way to open people up to new favorite beers.
- Service. Kraig and his staff are approachable, knowledgeable, and self-proclaimed beer fanatics. They are ready to share their recommendations for both casual and seasoned beer drinkers.
- Love of beer. There are a lot of little things Hop City does to make sure that their beer is always at its best. Most of them consumers would never notice. For instance, there are no fluorescent lights in the store that might hurt the beer. The windows are UV treated. The store is kept at 70ยบ year-round.
Kraig has been in the Atlanta area for 16 years, and got into craft beer the same way most people do ? via car collision repairs. Actually, Kraig has been passionate about beer since he tasted Moosehead as a youngster. Though his road from passion to vocation took a detour through the auto body industry. Torres founded Collision Works Auto Body in Buckhead in 2003 (which he later sold). Before business trips he would research local brewpubs to visit.
But why start a craft beer retailer? The first inkling of the idea came from Kraig’s homebrewing experiences, and things started to click after that. “I’ve been a Green’s customer for years,” says Torres. People see him milling around and would ask him to help them pick out their beer. “It drove me crazy.” Kraig thought there had to be a better way to sell and organize beer, and also thought that Atlanta was ready for it.
Kraig started the business plan for Hop City about a year and a half ago. He was laid off from another auto body shop he had been managing. Losing your job can sometimes be a blessing in disguise, as it gave Kraig the opportunity to focus on what he was truly passionate about. Hence the name “Hop City.” The name was picked from a list of about 100 names, and it makes sense when you hear Kraig talk about his favorite beers: “I like dark, nasty beers and hoppy, hoppy beers.”
And although Hop City is only a couple months old, Kraig has his eye on the horizon. The store surpassed its first month’s sales goals, and Kraig thinks he may have landed on a winning concept. Five years from now, I wouldn’t be surprised if another Hop City popped up somewhere else in Georgia.
Monday Night recap: “OMG A PUPPY DOG!!1!11!” edition
In what will surely be the greatest Monday Night recap ever, I will attempt to recount Monday’s brewing events though I was home sick the entire time. For this reason, all those in attendance are invited to post their own thoughts on what transpired Monday. But first, Cody the dog.
Are you kidding?! Dogs can’t drink beer. But they should be allowed to if they look as cute as Cody. Garey, my pledge to you: Bring Cody back when I’m in attendance and I will let him lick the spent grains off of my face.
In beer news, we brewed up a batch of our peach-infused Belgian-style dubbel last night. Our initial gravity was a little higher than anticipated due to what can only be called “human error.” Turbinado sugar does in fact need to be counted in the grain bill, Jeff. Still, we’re not worried because this beer is a work in progress and it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
We had a couple cool beer-related visitors last night as well. Chris from the soon-to-be-launching Beer Connoisseur Magazine came out, as well as Mary Jane who is publishing a book on the Brick Store Pub.
All in all, a great night. Right? I wasn’t really there, so it’s hard for me to say…
No, Scratch THAT! Brewing back on!
The Queen canceled on Joel, so we’re back on for brewing tonight. See you between 8 and 10!
Scratch that – BREWING CANCELED
Due to a variety of factors, we are canceling brewing tonight. Specifically, Jonathan is feeling rough, I am stuck at the office, and Joel has dinner plans with the Queen of England. Lame? Yes. Yes, indeed.
But as a consolation, we are making some good progress on the business front and should have a full stash of beers next week. More soon…