Souvenir Beer? At tours? More likely than you might think

OCTOBER 2 UPDATE

Turns out the “Georgia Beer Bill” as interpreted by the DOR is not what we were told it was supposed to be when this bill became law over the summer. After SB 63 went into effect, we introduced a few options for you guys – just do our regular tour and tasting, or do the tour, tasting and take home your choice of brews. On Tuesday, September 29, a bulletin was sent to all Georgia breweries explaining that this wasn’t exactly legal. We, along with good folks like the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild, are working through the nitty gritty legalities to determine what we can do with souvenir beer moving forward. While we’re figuring it out, in order to give you guys the tour and tasting experience you’ve come to expect over the years, we’re gonna go back to pre-July 1st days – no souvenir beer (for now), and there’s one price for entry: $10. In the meantime, pick up some SweetWater post-tour at any of our awesome retail partners.

For more info on what’s up, visit http://www.georgiacraftbrewersguild.org/

As of July 1, yall have the option to sample up to 36 oz of beer in our tap rooms and, if you want, take another 72 oz to go to enjoy when you get home (or wherever you’re headed).

We got a few different ways you can get heady. All our options are subject to availability.

• $10 – Standard Tour (Souvenir pint glass with (6) 6oz samples)
• $20 – Standard Tour + CHOICE OF (1) Souvenir 6 pack/mix-a-six -OR- (1) Souvenir 22oz bomber
• $25 – Standard Tour + CHOICE OF (1) Souvenir 64 oz growler & growler fill -OR- (1) 750ml Cork & Cage bottle

Here’s how it’ll work. Decide what tour package you want at the front desk. You can’t change it up after you’ve made your purchase so pick carefully. After you check out you’ll get a ticket that will double as your 6 drink tickets.

When you’re done sampling, head over to the schwag shop to redeem the ticket for your Souvenir Beer. Don’t open it till you get home! You CANNOT open or drink Souvenir Beer while at the brewery.

We know this is a big ol change from the way we’ve been doing things for the last 18 years, so we thank yall in advance for having patience as we get it figured out the first few weeks.

Oh yeah, we tapped that cask

Finally gettin’ back to normal after the insanity that was Brew Your Cask Off on Saturday night. In case you’ve been hiding out in a cave for the past month, BYCO is our annual fiesta of cask beer where we invite 90 friends to come throw a bunch of stuff into a firkin and top it off with one of our brews.

We had a few badass brews come out of it that we’d be proud to call our own, and, as always, some stinkers we wouldn’t swallow even if Benjamin Franklin asked us to.

We’ve got some pics and the winners below, but before we get to that we wanna give a quick shout out to our awesome vendors and sponsors, especially Radio 105.7 for helpin’ us pull off the People’s Choice award.Our awesome volunteers also deserve some serious praise for manning their casks in the face of the thirsty public.

Last but not least, thanks to everyone who came out to be a part of one hell of a night.

Now down to business…

2013 Judges Panel Awards
1st Place: #67 The Giving Kitchen – “Second Helping IPA” : A second helping of hops and a second helping of generosity in this
double IPA with notes of juniper and grapefruit. Good beer, good cause!

2nd Place: #73 Manuel’s Tavern – “Basil Slap” : 420 with Columbus dry hops, honey and basil

3rd Place: #48 Universal Joint – “Shive-R Me Timbers” : Brown dry-hopped with Columbus, Liberty, Fuggle and US Golding with figs and oak chips added.

People’s Choice Awards
#9 Cypress Street Pint & Plate – “The Musketeer Beer” : Brown with maple syrup, vanilla beans and cocoa powder.

Biggest Loser
#44 Brickstore Pub – “Coffee IPA” : IPA with three different kinds of hops and a self-described “shitton” of coffee

IPA Day 2013

Calling all fellow Hop Heads – it’s just about our favorite time of year again. Celebrate the 3rd Annual IPA Day here at the brewery on Aug. 1 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Head Brewer Nick Nock has been preppin some specialty casks for the occasion, and we’ll be bustin out a few from the cellar we’ve been holding onto for a special occasion like this. So come sip on SweetWater’s biggest stash of IPAs including:

– Ol’ Faithful – IPA and peppercorns
– Ghoulash
– Some Strange
– Rye on Rye – LowRYEder aged in a Rye Whiskey Barrel
– IPA Keg-hopped with Willamette and Amarillo

Cellared Brews:
– Tennessee Whiskey barrel-aged
– Rye Whiskey barrel-aged
– Double Bourbon barrel-aged
– Chocolate Bourbon – with cocoa nibs
– Chocolate Bourbon – with cocoa nibs, pecan and Amarillo & Centennial hops

On top of the lineup of extra heady IPAs, food trucks will be servin’ a whole mess of IPA inspired dishes. Sweet Auburn BBQ, Poor Huey’s Hot Dog Company and King of Pops all have tasty treats cooked up just for the holiday.

Since we’re expecting a couple of y’all might be interested in comin’ out for this little shindig, we put a bunch of advance tickets on sale online at https://www.xorbia.com/e/hep/ipa-day-2013. Picking ‘em up online will help you get in the door faster on game day plus guarantee you a one-of-a-kind IPA Day 2013 pint glass to take home.

Admission is priced same as weekly tours at $10 per guest, and walkups are still welcome. Tickets include a souvenir tasting glass, six tasting tickets and a brewery tour. If you’re planning on showing up day of to buy tickets, make sure you get in early if you want that real special pint glass we mentioned.

Getting’ a little excited? Maybe some tingly taste buds? Don’t forget to RSVP on our Facebook Page, check in on Untapped  using the hashtag #IPAday on Aug. 1 to pick up the IPA Day badge.

We’ll see you folks in Hop Heaven!

Red Wheat Wine Rollin’ Down the Line

Nothin’ soothes our ears better than the sound of those bottles running down the line…and this morning was a special occasion. We fired ‘er up with a heaping load of our latest special edition – Red Wheat Wine – an honorary brew for our sweet 16 anniversary and part of our Dank Tank series.

You can expect to get your paws on this goodness in 22-oz bombers, and on draft at select locations, starting the first week of March (that’s next week for those too lazy to check a calendar). Want more info on the Barleywine brew? Get the 411 here.

In the meantime, here’s a plethora of pics to rev your engines before this racy Red Wheat Wine parks itself in a store near you.

SweetWater’s Sweet 16 Recap with Photos

Well, it looks like we survived 16 years of  heady beers, and while we may have knocked out a few more brain cells celebrating the occasion this weekend, it was definitely one of the most rad parties for our record books.

We had one hell of a group come out to show some birthday love. Pimpin’ out some of the finest neon, crimped hair and spandex the city has seen since 1985, y’all truly made this SweetWater-palooza one of our most fave parties to date.

Cheers to the winners of the costume contest for their rendition of Caddyshack. They took home 16 buckeroos and a party at the brewery, plus bragging rights for their totally tubular outfits. 

Yacht Rock Revue killed it with  an insane jam-sesh, while we tore up that tie dye birthday cake and filled up on Red Wheat Wine, which had us feelin’ fine (until those hangovers kicked in on Monday). Big ups on those who played it safe hopping a ride with the Fur Bus shuttle to MARTA, or those who used Uber. We can’t thank ’em enough for hooking us up for this event.

PHOTO INFO: All in all, you party animals killed, which means it might have left your memory of the day’s event a little foggy. We have a small handful of pics below, but go ahead and check our full album of pictures on Flickr for a righteous reminder, and check out your photo booth pics here. Props to Addison Hill Photography and Chucky Foto for capturing the fun.

Here’s raising a little hair of the dog as we roll on down the line to the big 1-7. See y’all there!

Caddyshack Costume Contest WIiners

Yacht Rock Revue

Big Kahuna Speaks on Stage

Cask Station

Yacht Rock

Psychedelic Sweet 16 tie dye cake

Cheers to 16 Years of Heady Beers

Fletcher Fish Photo Opp

Red Wheat Wine You Make Me Feel So Fine!

If you’ve been living under a rock, and aren’t aware…our Sweet 16 is rolling up quickly on us this weekend (see the deetz here). Who the hell can believe our livers lasted long enough to be celebrating 16 years of heady beers? What a ride it’s been for sure.

Of course,we couldn’t throw a birthday bash without an honorary brew and celebrate in true SweetWater style – completely random, in full-on 80s fluff with Yacht Rock Revue on the patio main stage!  Get your tickets now, cuz we is bustin’ a cap on this fiesta. We want to make sure all the ladies in their Madonna costumes have enough space to shake a leg warmer!

Our brewers voices finally stopped cracking and they’ve gone off the rails with this super rad limited-run Dank Tank release. With our license to brew, we’ve stepped on the gas and whipped out a racy Red Wheat Wine (say that five times fast). This beer rips down the road at 11% ABV, fueled by a 45% wheat bomb and an after-burner hop shot of Amarillo, Willamette, Nelson Sauvin, and US Goldings creating a brew that is sure to raise some hairs (possibly in some places hair hadn’t been growing prior!).

You can sample this sucker as it makes its debut on taps at our Sweet 16 shindig this Sunday. It will hit shelves in 22-oz bombers and draft taps at participating restaurants and retailers throughout the Southeast by the end of February. Get a load of the brew label below:

Did you know Neil Diamond wrote Red, Red Wine? Well, he did. You can Google it. It’s worth a Google.

Win Tickets to our Radical Sweet 16 with Yacht Rock Revue

Come rage with us for our Sweet 16 featuring Yacht Rock Revue on Sunday, Feb. 17 from 2 – 6 p.m. It’ll be bitchin’ for sure.

We’re, like,  breaking out the leg warmers, fanny packs, miniskirts, and parachute pants for this one, to go along with the fat stash of beers we’ve been sitting on for such a special occasion, ya know?

Seriously, come dressed as an 80’s music posse or movie ensemble, and like the most totally awesome looking group will win a radical party at the brewery for 16 people people!

The one and only Yacht Rock Revue will be playing the jams, food trucks will be dishin’ out some tasty treats and the brewery will be opened up and on display.

TICKETS:

Tickets are $16 pre-sale, and $20 at the door…if we have any left, cause we are capping sales on this sucker. Get your tickets here: https://www.xorbia.com/e/hep/sweet16. If you’re stoked like we are, make sure to also RSVP on our Facebook event page where we’ll be posting more details as we have them.

WIN ‘EM! You punks want a legit chance to win tickets to this mad cool party? Head over to our Sweet 16 event page on Facebook and post your fave movie quote from an 80’s classic flick for your chance to win a pair. We’ll be picking a winner at 4:20 on Monday 1/28.

RAD BREWS:

Get a load of some of our super awesome stash we’ll be pouring:

• Ghoulash
• ’11 Festive
• ’12 Festive
• ’11 Happy Ending
• ’13 Happy Ending
• Brett Creeper
• Brett Raspberry Creeper
• 15th Anniversary
• 16th Anniversary
• Big Old Belgian Blue Balls
• BSP Quad
• The Gimp
• Some Strange
• Three (3) unique casks

We’re so sure this day will be righteous! No narcs, noobs, or noids allowed. Duh. 

Unleashing The Gimp and Happy Ending Just in Time for the End of the World!

With the world ending this Friday, we’re making sure that we can all go out with a bang…or at least a good buzz.

The bottling line has been workin’ all day long, pumping out a double dosage of our latest and dankest. We’ve been busy popping off 22-ounce bombers of The Gimp and Happy Ending, prepping to get ’em on the road to hit shelves and draft taps across the Southeast over the next couple weeks. Get your livers ready folks, these two weigh in at a whopping 9% and 10.3% ABV.

See below for more brew details and get a load of photos from the bottling action in our Flickr album.

In honor of the “end of the world” this Friday, 12/21, Happy Ending will make its 6th annual draft debut at our 5:30 p.m. tour ensuring that our SweetWater family, along with our nearest and dearest (that’s you guys), go out with a smile on their faces. So grab the ones ya love, and come hunker down with us. If we all make it out alive, next Wednesday after Christmas 12/26, we’ll be breaking The Gimp out of the closet so y’all to get your sample on at our tour. What better way to nurse those holiday hangovers?

The 411 on The Gimp:

This Old Ale, a product of our Dank Tank, promises to tease your senses, giving off sweet scents of caramel and toffee mixed with warming sensations of alcohol and malt, all well-balanced with a low-voltage dose of hops. We advise y’all stash this one in your cellars for a few months before breaking the seal, but once you pop the top know its submissive deliciousness will be sure to please. Warning: this brew gags up 10.3% ABV so we suggest to ease in to The Gimp with caution. You can find The Gimp in 22-ounce bottles and a limited supply of kegs just in time for Christmas. Cage them up while ya can, this brew is a limited-time run.

The Skinny on Happy Ending:

As part of our Catch and Release seasonal lineup of brews, Happy Ending returns with a mouthful of bliss in every sip. This Imperial Stout is brewed with Centennial and Willamette hops, and finished off with a dry-hop addition of Cascade and Simcoe hops. Measuring out to a whopping 9% ABV, the award-winning beer is a true dry-hopped stiffy with an explosive finish. You can expect it to hit shelves in sixers and 22-ounce hand-waxed bombers, as well as on draft in select locations by the end of the year.  Make sure you stock up through the New Year, ’cause we’ll be cleaning up shop in late February…so snatch ’em before they’re gone!

Festive Debuts Just in Time for Tacky Sweater Season

This weather is a wee bit nipply, but our brewers have just the solution to help ya thaw out your buns.  We’ve turned up the heat with the launch of our Festive Ale 22-oz bombers which’ll be makin’ their way to shelves early this week. Six-packs began decorating  shelves in mid-October. We’ll also be pourin’ this heady goodness at tours in the Tasting Room throughout the next few weeks.

For those unfamiliar with the Catch and Release brew, get excited cause this one’ll get you in the mood to party holiday style, while  keeping ya warm and toasted all season long.  Brewed with generous amounts of malt, coupled with a taint of cinnamon and mace (that’s the shell of nutmeg), this 8.6-percenter will surely have you ready to deck the halls and jingle your….bells (pervs).

Kick off the festivities with a peek through our latest photos of Festive on the line or video evidence of the bombers getting a hand (wax) job.

Feelin’ Festive from SweetWater Brewery on Vimeo.

Also, don’t forget to visit our Schwag Shop to cross some gifts off your list. From Festive tee’s to sweet koozies we’ve got a little somethin’-somethin’ for everyone. Go on, we double dog dare you!

Danktoberfest Debut

Männer and frauen…put on your lederhosen and dirndls because Danktoberfest celebrations have officially begun here at the SüßWasser brewery. This is a biggin’ folks. As our first true lager ever brewed, Danktoberfest is the latest creative brain-child to come from the heady minds of our brewers, debuting from our infamous Dank Tank series…and this one promises to straighten your schnitzel.

The high gravity Oktoberfest-style brew hit our bottling line this morning. Get in on the action and check out the pics below (or by thumbing through our Flickr account).

Danktoberfest promises to deliver a malty taste and bready aroma, packed with zesty hops and huge amounts of heat. Weighing in at a whopping 8.5% ABV, this bad boy is brewed with German malts and hops to include: Pilsner, Munich, Cara Munich, Aromatic, Dark Munich malts; and German Perle and Hallertau Mittelfruh hops.

Be on the lookout for Mr. Dankenschnitzel to hit shelves the first week of October. He’s tall, blonde and bottled in a 22-ouncer. You’ll also have the chance to meet him in person at SweetWater’s Tasting Room on select tour dates. Remember Mr. Dankenschnitzel isn’t a native, so be sure to act fast and save some for your cellar.

More on Dankenschnitzel’s story: