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Owen Ogletree's Brewtopia Brewsletter
December 6, 2021
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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- Ironshield Brewing Bucks Modern Craft Beer Trends
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Ironshield's Glen Sprouse in the brewery's malt storage room.
Ironshield Brewing
394 N. Clayton Street, Lawrenceville, Georgia
770-882-2171
www.ironshieldbrewing.com
By Owen Ogletree
In our modern craft beer world filled with offbeat trends and unconventional styles, Ironshield Brewing focuses much of its energy, passion, and determination in the creation and promotion of classic beers that showcase outstanding technical merit and appeal. How does this young Georgia brewery market these traditional beers? Education is the key.
Glen Sprouse, Ironshield's founder and brewmaster, expresses amazement that many of his taproom patrons have never tasted many styles of authentic German-style lagers. Ironshield's taproom servers discuss the fascinating histories of these beer styles and provide tasting samples. More often than not, this creates a new appreciation for Ironshield's beers and expands the drinkers' horizons.
Sprouse fell in love with German lagers at quite an early age. "I was raised in an army family, and we seemed to live in all the towns with 'fort' in the name," he explains. "I remember being a kid in Stuttgart, Germany, with my family touring wineries and breweries on the weekends. I had my first sip of helles lager at five years old, and, even at that young age, I thought it was wonderful."
Sprouse's brewing roots in the Atlanta area run deep. He started Phoenix Brewpub in 1996 and stayed with the brewery for a time after it became Five Seasons Brewing. The restaurant aspect of the business made for a constant source of frustration for Sprouse. Upon leaving Five Seasons in 2008, he transitioned into brewery consulting and automation while putting together a grand plan for his dream brewery. Ironshield Brewing eventually opened its doors in mid-2020, with COVID creating enormous challenges. Ironshield made it through the rough parts of the pandemic by using its vast, well-equipped brewing facility for contract brewing for other companies.
Sprouse adds, "Our contract business dried up a bit when the fall COVID shutdown took place, but it took off again in early 2021 when we increased our contract volume six-fold in four months. Right now, we are at capacity with contract brewing, and this keeps the tanks full. Our Ironshield beers are doing extremely well too, with our taproom business doubling in the last six months."
Ironshield's flavorsome house beers showcase traditional, high-quality ingredients that come together in mouthwatering fashion. Flagship examples include Karneval Kolsch, Heroes Helles, Seven Sisters Munchner Lager, Half Cork'd Irish Red Ale, Sgt. Mackenzie Scottish Ale and Nitro Dry Irish Stout. Ironshield's 7% ABV Warhammer Maibock debuted in the early spring of 2021 with an outstanding malt profile and alcohol warmth, and the luscious lager quickly became one of the brewery's best-selling beers. So as not to ignore trends completely, Sprouse also plans to release a hazy New England-style IPA called Hop Legends.
Glen Sprouse and Jason Carroll
Jason Carroll, Ironshield's head brewer, hails from Cork in Ireland and lists a ton of brewing experience on his impressive résumé. Carroll contributed valuable insight into the formulation of Ironshield's Irish red ale and nitrogenated stout, and he worked with Sprouse at his home kitchen table in the early days to plan out brewery automation and recipe formulation. "I met Glen Sprouse when I worked at a brewery in Peachtree City where Glen was a consultant," Carroll recalls. "We took the Ironshield concept from something raw to something solid and productive. The experience has been rewarding, and our beer has been solid from the first batch. We love keeping traditional styles on the forefront and educating customers as to why these styles are so worthy of attention."
Part of what draws Sprouse to classic lager styles stems from the fact that these beers exhibit an impressive range of aromas and flavors simply from the four traditional Reinheitsgebot ingredients of water, malt, hops and yeast. Sprouse explains, "Lagers are complex, yet subtle. The challenge in making a great lager is that every single step must be correct. Lagers show every fault and take longer to produce, so we must have more tanks for lagering and keeping up our volume. We also believe that filtering our lagers produces sparkling clarity and allows the beautiful malt and hop profiles to shine through."
Master brewer Glenn Sprouse checks the progress of a brew.
October 2 saw Ironshield's annual Oktoberfest celebration take place in the taproom and beer garden. Patrons loved the German food trucks, traditional music and décor, and Sprouse's sublime Oktoberfest lager served in traditional steins.
Sprouse holds esteem and affection for Ironshield's staff and customers. "Our gifted staff has been a blessing," he says. "It has been tough finding workers during these challenging times, but our people show up, get things done and love our customers. We don't really go for a certain customer demographic, as we want everyone to share a love for our beers. Most of our regulars are more mature, but it doesn't take long for younger beer drinkers to come to Ironshield, fall in love with our beers and feel at home."
Published Originally in:
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- Vista Brewing: A Unique Destination Brewery in Texas
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Owen was pleased that this year's Beer Now bloggers and writers conference took place at the gorgeous Vista Brewing in Texas. Vista should be on every serious craft beer traveler's destination bucket list.
Vista Brewing's husband and wife founder/owners Kent and Karen Killough lived in Europe for a few years where they became inspired to bring a creative and ecologically friendly craft brewery destination to Texas. The result of their dream is a lovely 21-acre farm brewery situated near Austin in the Central Texas Wine Trail in the small town of Driftwood.
When planning the initial layout of the brewery, Kent and Karen went to great lengths to preserve the beauty of the surrounding countryside and protect as many trees as possible. Beer-loving visitors can soak in the beauty of Vista's beer gardens, ranch views, bee farm, walking paths, eatery and private event areas. Live music is popular with customers as well.
 Kent Killough notes, "We brew traditional styles which pay homage to European origins while highlighting our own Texas Hill Country terroir. All of our beers are made with water sourced directly from the limestone-filtered water well on the property, 450 feet below the surface in the Middle Trinity aquifer."
Vista's recent beers include Barton Creek Gold Blonde Ale, Audrey Brew Krystalweiss, Muse Texas Wild Ale, Fireside Whiskey Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, Barrel-Aged Shapeshifter Little Saison, Middle Trinity Belgian-Style Tripel, Destination American IPA and Le Saison. Also look for a staggering range of specialty bottled beers that focus on wild, Brett and lambic-type beers accentuated with intriguing fruits and spices. Each beer comes across as exceptional.
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Look below for notes on just a few of Owen's favorite beers from the last month or so:
 Samuel Smith's
Winter Welcome Ale 2021/2022
Each year, I look forward to the release of this classic winter warmer ale from the UK. Look for a honey/amber hue, toffee-like malt note, beautiful fruity hints and balancing UK hops. This beer is fermented in historic stone-lined open fermenters at the Samuel Smith Brewery in Tadcaster, England. Try it alongside a holiday roast with grilled veggies.
 Oskar Blues
BA21 Volume 7
Wow, this 11.5% ABV imperial sweet stout joins Oskar Blues' popular Ten Fidy and Barrel-Aged Ten Fidy, making for a stellar imperial stout lineup. BA21 Volume 7 is made with Graham Crackers for a smooth, spicy, biscuit-like note that's complemented wonderfully by the vanilla nuances from months of barrel-aging. Volume 7 also contains additions of cherries and chocolate for a tasty, dessert-like character.
 Creature Comforts
Automatic Pale Ale
I absolutely love this crisp, clean, hoppy pale ale from Creature Comforts in Athens, Georgia. This American Pale Ale comes through with a beautiful balance of light malt and American hops that provides notes of citrus, pine resin and blackberry. This 5.5% ABV APA pairs extremely well with grilled brats or chicken.
 Highland Brewing
Seasonal Rustic Ridge IPA
2021 Hop Selection Series
This 6.7% ABV IPA from North Carolina boasts additions of fresh hops picked at the peak of the fall harvest season. As an annual rotating seasonal IPA, each release showcases the favorite hop varieties from Highland's yearly hop selection. A simple malt bill containing pale two-row malt allows the citrusy, piney, fruity fresh hops to shine in this enticing brew.
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 Southern Brewing Company's
Moon Eyes
Imperial Stout Series
Southern Brewing Company in Athens has declared "Stout Season" with its exciting Moon Eyes Imperial Stout Series that comes in at 10.5% ABV. Look for three delicious varieties:
Barrel Aged Moon Eyes rested for 12 months in freshly emptied bourbon barrels and showcases notes of bourbon, oak and vanilla.
Slow Drip Moon Eyes was aged in bourbon barrels for 12 months, then finished on fresh, local cold-brewed coffee. The balance between the bourbon, vanilla and oak from the barrels and coffee creates a decadent and complex beer.
Cookies & Cream Moon Eyes was brewed with your favorite chocolate wafer, lactose sugar and vanilla. It makes a terrific dessert ale. Look for cans of all three versions in local markets and at SBC's welcoming Athens taproom.
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- 01/21/2023 ATLANTA CASK ALE TASTING. Mark your calendars for one of Atlanta's favorite craft beer fests that's returning in 2023 to the wonderful Bold Monk Brewing. Tickets will go on sale here in the summer of 2022.
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- Follow Brewtopia Events on Social Media
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UP NEXT...
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Starting Tuesday, Owen Ogletree takes Nick Allen and Jeff Rapp on a week-long craft beer adventure to the Tampa / St. Pete area of Florida. Stay tuned for posts and beer reviews.
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