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Owen Ogletree's Brewtopia Brewsletter
April 24, 2020
Owen is founder/editor of Brewtopia.info, columnist for Southern Brew News and Beer Connoisseur Magazine, lecturer at Knoxville's Brewing & Distilling Center, founder/director of the Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting and Classic City Brew Fest, a BJCP National Beer Judge and Great American Beer Festival judge.
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Follow our craft beer adventures...
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- Thanks for Staying Safe
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What a crazy time for us all! I hope you are staying safe, healthy and sane during this unprecedented time of COVID-19. We will get through this together! Please pay attention to authentic data and information from medical doctors and scientists. These professionals have the answers.
Like many businesses, craft breweries are struggling, so please take advantage of drive-up stands at your local breweries and always check websites or call ahead to see which great beers are available for pick up.
 To check out what else you can do to help our craft brewers, there is no better resource than The Brewers Association. Whether you are looking for ways to support breweries as a customer, or you are a craft brewery owner wanting information and quick links on government assistance, extra funding, emergency legislation or creative ideas for increasing revenue during COVID-19, check out the BA website. We love you guys, so hang in there!
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- Blogger "Daddy Porter" Interviews Owen Ogletree
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Click the image above to see Owen Ogletree's guest spot on Daddy Porter's video beer blog. Owen talks about the history of craft beer, why classic styles are so awesome, and how he fell in love with cask ale.
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- Try These Amazing Beers
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 Monday Night Brewing
Doctor Robot Key Lime
From Monday Night...
A tart and playful beer on its own, Monday Night decided to mix it up a bit and allow its talented brewing staff to take the base beer used in Dr. Robot, and add key lime. This Floridian fruit provides a sweet twist to the 5% ABV tart ale that pairs well with chilled seafood, Mexican fare and goat cheese salads.
 Arches Brewing
Queen's Weisse
Pronounced "Queen's Vice," this traditional Bavarian-style wheat beer is a flavorful, refreshing ale that's designed with a Bavarian water chemistry backbone. The high wheat content provides crispness and a hazy pale golden color, and the classic, noble hops contribute to balance. The historic yeast variety, one of the oldest strains in the world, provides complex clove and banana flavors with a mild bubblegum finish. ABV: 5.2%.
 Highland Brewing
Daycation IPA
This delightful session IPA from Asheville comes in at 4.9% ABV and 40 hoppy IBUs. Summit, Mosaic, El Dorado and Azacca hops provide a wonderful hop aroma and flavor in this crisp, crushable brew that pairs well with aged cheeses, hamburgers, grilled meats and even mango salsa. With a beer this light and tasty, sheltering in place is not so bad.
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- Chops & Hops TAKE HOME Beer/Wine Dinners
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 Readers who live near Athens, Georgia should call Chops & Hops gastropub at (706) 310-1101 to reserve a fantastic take-home beer dinner to enjoy during quarantine on any weekday. Each dinner comes with four mouth-watering courses and four Georgia craft beers hand-picked by Owen Ogletree and The Beer Wench. There is also an excellent wine pairing option. Owen and The Beer Wench also do a YouTube video that showcases each dinner!
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- Fire Maker Beer Reviews
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By Owen Ogletree
I love it when a new craft brewery opens with a line of impressive brews. Owner Elliott Hall and brewer Tyler Cox of Atlanta's new Fire Maker Brewing Company have done just this. I was able to swing by and score a few crowlers for review. Give Fire Maker a call at (678) 705-8777 to put in a crowler order for easy pick up at the brewery that's also a short drive from Bold Monk, Steady Hand, Second Self, Atlanta Brewing, Scofflaw, Monday Night and Urban Tree Cidery.
Here are my brief notes on a few of Fire Maker's beers...
Alt & Catch Fire
Altbier
Clean, refreshing, toasty. Tastes like an authentic Dusseldorf Altbier. So fresh and crushable!
Pale Scales
DDH Pale Ale 3.9% ABV
Tastes almost like a cask UK golden ale. Clean profile, earthy hops, nice grain finish, needs a touch more bitterness perhaps. A wonderful session beer.
Hazed & Blazed
NEIPA
Extremely clean and crisp with light hop aroma and flavor. Ends with a soft, slightly bitter finish and tropical hop nuance.
Where's the Fire
Rauchbier - Smoked Lager
Wow! A clean, well-made Rauchbier with light toasty malt and a pleasant, approachable beechwood smoke character. This is not an easy style to make well, but this one is exceptional and impressive.
Chattahooch-Tea IPA
Sweet Tea IPA with lactose
Quite hazy when poured, this IPA has a hint of Earl Grey tea in the nose. Mild flavors of light tannins, hops and fruit esters also come through.
Perfect Match
American IPA
A slightly sweet and fruity example of the style, this ale pours quite hazy from the crowler. Nice bitterness. Could maybe use a touch more crisp, citrusy hop flavor and aroma. Overall, a pleasant and satisfying ale.
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- Classic Beer Style Spotlight
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 FLANDERS RED ALE
By Owen Ogletree
Want a luxurious Belgian ale that tastes like red wine and cherries? Flanders Red Ales are fermented with a wide variety of house yeast and bacteria over several months in oak vessels. The finished beer comes in at 4.6–6.5% ABV and offers an appealing, tart character with notes of dark fruit, Merlot wine, tannins, and plums. No hop character is noticeable, and the sourness should be smooth and not overly vinegar-like. Young and old beer are blended for the best taste profile. Rodenbach from West Flanders is a world-class example, and the brewery also sells a mostly old version called Rodenbach Grand Cru that's a bit more intense. Duchesse de Bourgogne and Max Lager's Excommunication are other outstanding examples available in Georgia.
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- 08/29/2020 - CLASSIC CITY BREW FEST, Athens, GA. 25th ANNIVERSARY! 50+ exciting cask ales, local Athens draft beer booths, live music from Jim Cook, BBQ food truck and special beers uncapped each hour! Tickets on sale now for only $39.99! This is Georgia's BEST beer festival value!
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- Brewtopia Events on Facebook & Twitter
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 CLICK HERE and hit the Brewtopia Events "like" button on Facebook to see live photos and news posts as we explore craft beer around the world. Also be sure to "friend" Owen Ogletree on Facebook.
 Follow Brewtopia Events on Twitter.
UP NEXT...
- Owen Ogletree and The Beer Wench will post craft beer reviews and beer style summaries from home while on self-quarantine. Here is an example...
For your quarantine entertainment, Owen will post regular shout-outs to utterly amazing classic beer styles on Facebook...
SCOTTISH WEE HEAVY
Like a Scottish version of a Barleywine, Wee Heavy is a complex, smooth, boozy malt beast with flavor notes of caramel, toffee and spicy alcohol hints. Great examples make good dessert beers and offer a pleasant sweetness, without being syrupy. Hop character is quite low on the palate, and some examples have notes of roasted nuts, dark malt and moderate esters reminiscent of raisins, dates, ripe plums and dark figs. A few American versions include malt with peat smoke, but BJCP guidelines say that smoke is inappropriate in the classic style. I so want this rich, full-bodied ale to become popular again! Wee Heavy goes well with sticky toffee pudding, cobbler, crème brûlée and even barbecue with sweet molasses sauce. ABV: 6.5 – 10.0%.
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