FuzzyBrew

On a recent visit to Atlanta I had the pleasure of stopping in at Red Brick Brewing, the oldest operating craft brewery in the state of Georgia.

Red Brick, originally known as the Atlanta Brewing Company when it was founded in 1993, produces a number of beers that hit the Memphis market just one year ago. As a fan of Red Brick’s Blonde, Laughing Skull and the Brick Mason series of special beers, I was really excited to check out the brewery.

Red Brick moved to its current Atlanta location on Defoor Hills Road in 2007.

Red Brick’s patio is a nice place to enjoy pints of Red Brick beer!

Red Brick has public tastings each Wednesday, Thursday, Friday (5 p.m.-8 p.m.) and Saturday (2 p.m.-5 p.m.)

Red Brick even features bands on the patio.

A view of the tasting room at Red Brick, with windows that look into the brewery.

For $10, you get a tour of the brewery, a souvenir pint glass and four pours of Red Brick beers. I’m pretty excited about my Laughing Skull glass.

Among my favorite Red Brick beers is the HopLanta, a citrusy American IPA, which you can now get in liquor stores in Memphis.

Red Brick’s excellent Blonde Ale was a 2007 Gold Medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival in the Golden or Blonde Ale category.

Earlier this year, Red Brick celebrated a milestone, brewing its 500th batch of beer. Here’s to many more!

Brewery: Atlantic Brewing Company

Location: Bar Harbor, Maine

Style: American Porter

ABV: 6.5%

IBU: n/a

FuzzyBrew Rating: 5 of 5

With a name like Coal Porter, I somewhat expected to sip a smoked porter after I cracked open this beer.

But this craft brew, made with pale, crystal, Munich, chocolate and black malts, is a good ol’ hearty and rich American Porter; the “Coal” a reference to its dark brown – almost black – color.

This beer ages in cellars for close to six months before it’s released, and the result is a highly drinkable porter.

The brewers use Target and Willamette hops, which produce only a subtle hop flavor. What really shines are the roasted and chocolate malt notes that linger with a slight bitterness at the end.