I had every intention of getting to Atlanta earlier, but a quick visit to the brewery to pick up checks and then a visit to the bank to make a deposit to cover the payment to Crosby Baker (supplier) had to be made first. As my wife says, once I enter the brewery, I rarely leave in under 3 hours. One task leads to another which leads to another and so forth, until you've spent the whole day there. This time I got out around 10 am and out of town around 11:00. The seats were removed from the rear of the Family Honda element and it would now take on duties as a brewery delivery van. 40 gallons filled the tank and we were off. On board was my dash mounted Magellan and I brought a laptop as well. I arrived at the Crosby Baker warehouse That afternoon without incident, although without the GPS it woulda been a crap shoot. I backed up a ramp and straight into the warehouse. Although primarily a homebrew supplier, C&B also supplies commercial breweries. It's a perfect fit for us since we can purchase smaller quantities instead of only bulk items. One guy in the warehouse gave me a quick lesson on how to load bottles with bags of grain. Then it was on to Twain's to meet the brewmaster Jordan Fleetwood. Originally the idea was to meet Jordan and recover some of his yeast slurry for the larger (2 to 4 barrel) batches we were now able to brew. But I absentmindedly forgot to bring a vessel to store the yeast in, so it became more of a social vist. Once again, the GPS guided me through Little 5 Points in Atlanta in all its quirky glory towards Trinity Rd in Decatur. In less than 15 minutes with lots of traffic, I was pulling into a corner parking lot adjacent to Twain's. http://www.twains.net I pulled on the glass door but it was still chained a little after 4PM A quick rattle of the door and the manager unlocked the double glass door. I asked for Jordan and he told me to peek into the glass windows adjacent to the sidewalk outside the building. Unlike most other brewpubs I've been to, the brewery was not visible from the interior of the bar. Speaking of the interior of the bar, looked like lots of brick, interesting chandeliers (complete with tap handles-wonder how the distributors felt about that ) a long sweeping bar and lots of pool table. Any homebrewer with a basement rec room and bar would have felt right at home. As I walked down the sidewalk, I could hear music emanating from the open door of the brewery. I peeked inside and there was Jordan squeeging yeasty water into a long drain. Such is the life of a brewer. He quickly invited me in and I got a got a good look at his 7 barrel Pub system. Nice copper clad kettles. He later told the system was bought lock, stock and barrel from a defunct Hops franchise. Before I knew it, I was installing a retainer ring on a 1/6 barrel sanke that he had been having difficulty with. (Just like Home). I ruefully explained to him our keg washing blues and my constant sanke valve removal and replacement excercises. Just a little work and I was offered samples of all Twain's beers. All the beers were excellent, but the cask conditioned offering was especially nice. Looking at the tap handles hanging from the chandliers I thought the laborious process I went through purchasing used tap handles and re labeling them for our brands! I also thought about how nice it would be to have your very own venue for your beers as opposed to fighting for tap handles at local bars. Oh well I guess the grass is always greener at the other brewery. Jordan introduced to a few barleywines via the brick store and I also met three other gentleman in the brewing business two georgia wholesalers Chris Dotson and Dean Palmer with the Global Brewer's Guild and Steve Kuftinec, president of Uinta brewery in Salt Lake City. Steve was introducing several of his brands to the Atlanta including a very, very nice barley wine. A great time was had by all, but it was definitly tiem for me to head home before the alcohol overcame the large Krystal lunch I had earlier, so I regretfully found myself heading back during the early evening hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment