Jailhouse Brewing Company’s Reprieve

Hello readers.

Today Pope, despite the whirlwind of drama that has consumed the past two weeks or so, has had just a wonderful day, filled with intoxicants, good company of my older brother, and a healthy amount of smoked beef brisket, also known as Texas Crack.

Well before I consumed the day away, the morning’s trip to Spec’s, a chain of wonderfully stocked liquor stores, provided an overwhelming abundance of options to dispense with the cash Santa so wonderfully brought to me this holiday. After dropping a fair sum on a total of 14 different varieties of ale and beer and a bottle of rye whiskey I was happy, but my wife, she was a wee bit perturbed.

I don’t need to go into specifics, but needless to say, I had some explaining to do as to why I needed this beer, when I had a fridge of beer that was off limits to my better half. To make a long story short, a promise was made to clear out the older brews, before the new guys found real estate in the ice box.

Tonight’s selection, Jailhouse Brewing Company’s saison Reprieve, is the first in a series of long overdue reviews. Picked up over the spring when visiting Atlanta, this French style ale will be the first sacrifice to Operation: Appease the Missus.

Pouring the contents of the bomber into my glass the beer initially pours out a pale hue that is remarkably clear and full of life in an effervescent deluge of carbonation.  The beer stays quite carbonated, however, perhaps picking up sediment, becomes slightly dull in appearance.  A respectable head forms, but as the beer sits and warms up during my review process, it dies to about a dime’s thickness.

The nose of this 6% abv bottle of fermentables is cider like. Carried with a fruity body, a nice mixture of floral and yeast like aromas mingle above the brew.  These aromas bridge anticipation to experience as the front end of the beer is full of tart, green apple flavors. Offering a slight banana-yeast backend, the ale leaves the palate cleanly, never exuding too much or too little sweetness or bitterness, finding a Goldilocks position on the palate. Never being too much of anything, and just the right amount of this and that, the beer is deep enough to be interesting, but light enough to be consumed in the warmth of late spring or early summer.

This is a decent example of the style, and if you have the opportunity, I suggest giving Jailhouse Brewing’s Reprieve a sip or two. A highly suggested try.   

Ode to Mercy by Wild Heaven Craft Beers

After thoroughly enjoying Invocation, I am finding it impossible to not open up a bottle of Wild Heaven’s Ode to Mercy, an imperial brown ale, while relaxing and listening to John Coltrane this Sunday afternoon.

The beer pours a semi clear nut brown color, with a head that quickly dissipates from a strong crown to slight tiara atop the beverage.

The nose is malt forward with the aroma of dark chocolate and a slight bread or yeast twang. 

The dark, chocolate notes carry forward into the flavor with a  full bodied, warm nuttyness and oak notes. As the upfront malt subsides on the palate, a nice, understated hop spiciness becomes apparent, giving the malt nature of the beverage wonderful depth.

Everything about this beer works in creating a complex drinking experience, merging Old World malt centric ale with the hop hungry desires of the New World.

This beer has the profile of say, a Newcastle Brown Ale that has been tweaked for the palate of the American craft beer drinker.

I cannot recommend this beer enough.

Prost!

Invocation by Wild Heaven

When I was on my way out of Atlanta I had picked up a sample of beers that where getting a lot of good press, tell she who must be obeyed that I just wanted to have some craft beer to drink in Texas indicative of my home in Georgia.  As well, on the trip west I picked up a few more local brews to critique, leaving me with a fair amount and good variety of brews to drink. I made a resolve to purchase no more beer till a serious dent was made in the recent acquisitions.

Somehow though, I got distracted and ended up procuring more beer from breweries, these in the lone star state this weekend, earning me a number of looks from my wife who continues to see beer pile up in the fridge and in various boxes around the house. To gain good karma from my better half, I have promised to get through the transported bottle before cracking a “longhorn bottle,” the moniker which the Rahr and Sons Brewery refers to longnecks.

To begin my dissemination of the remaining maltose mixtures, I will start with the Belgian golden ale Invocation from Wild Haven Craft Beers

The beer pours out a nice, stark white and frothy head atop a light orange hued, slightly cloudy beverage. While the head is substantial when first poured, it does die down to a hardy layer about dime’s width.

Taking in the aroma of the freshly poured beer there is a fair amount of clove notes with a warm citrus accent.

Contrary to the smell of the spirit though, the front end of the brew is an orange peel bitterness rounded out with clove on the backend. Once the bitter citrus flavor subsides, a nice cinnamon like spiciness develops, as well a very mild pineapple like characteristic. There is a very slight alcohol hotness that is likely a result of the high 8.5% ABV, but I feel it would be overlooked if not being aggressively reviewed by the drinker.

After drinking a pair of these beers, I can say that the quality of the ingredients and the skill that crafted this beer to be excellent and on par with that of Terrapin’s, another local Georgian beer. Where Wild Heaven sets themselves apart is the ability to be full flavored with a medium bodied beer, which is more trying than simply turning up every aspect of a beers flavor up to 11.

Prost!

Atlanta, M’Amour #4 King of Pops

While I, at best, have a mild like of the very occasional dessert, Haley, my wife, has the same love I have that I bring to beer for ice cream, baked goods, and other sweet treats. Because of her keen eye for new and interesting novelties, and thanks to a location across the street from Manuel’s Tavern, a year ago or so we found King Of Pops, one of a handful of street food vendors that have emerged in the city recently. 

More than just handmade, well crafted popsicles bursting with as much fresh ingredients as bright and vibrant flavor, King of Pops brings an interesting and diverse palate to the treat that filled our childhoods, making a selection to interest the imaginations and taste buds of the young and old alike.   Examples range from the sweet, like Fresh Georgia Peach, Chocolate with Sea Salt, and Pineapple Ginger to the slightly spicy Mango 

Habanero.   

Now King of Pops can also be found in Asheville and Charleston, per their/his website.  

One can find out his rotating menu and locations via Kingofpops.net or via Facebook

Pope Crisco

The Wrecking Bar Brewpub, Atlanta, GA

While the front facade shows the building's beauty,

the entrance to the bar is in the back, located in the basement.

Today I found myself in a small warehouse in the back of the Wrecking Bar Brewpub, located in the Little 5 Points area of Atlanta, as the new brewpub’s brewmaster, Chris Terenzi, held a captive audience of a dozen or more patrons who came to the first opportunity for lunch service and brewery tour since the bar’s opening less than a month ago. With the same energy and enthusiasm of the affable actor Seth Rogan, Chris brought a jovial tone and educated tongue to explaining the process of a small scale brewery to what seemed to be a good mix of home brewers, beer enthusiasts, and beer drinkers. As Chris began to discuss plans to expand from the current 5 beer rotation to 12 brews in the coming months and years, he pointed out that the brewpub’s owner, Bob Sandage, had joined the group mid-tour, and how their partnership evolved into this burgeoning business.

WB's Fermentation Vessels.

Chris shows off the mash tun and wort chillers.

Cold storage that serves the beer at the bar upstairs.

When the tour winded down, I asked Bob and Chris for a photo opportunity to post on this blog, and I found it hard not to gush about the wonderful experience, from the beer to the staff, that this “lunch” had offered. I complimented him on emplying staff such as Neil, our lunch waiter, who had a wide range of knowledge of the beer on tap, the brewing processes, and was even able to engage me in an extended discussion about our personal home brewing experiences.  Chris interjected that when hiring for the brewpub, even before applicants were offered an application, that they had to go through a 16-question quiz on beer and brewing. Both he and Bob reinforced that they wanted the best beer-centric wait and bar staff, even rejecting the services of bar veterans because they were more versed in wines and liquors than brewing. 

Owner Bob and Brewmaster Chris

As much as I wanted to show my beer snobbery in relation to other bars and breweries in the area, in testement to their character, was impossible to get these two men to criticize the other players in the Atlanta bar and brewpub scene. They continuously undercut my compliments to reinforce the role their competition plays in the local and state beer community. Even when discussing the role that inconsistancy in the natural products used for brewing effect the art of crafting beer, Chris gave compliment to macrobrewers’ ability to retool their recipes for the sake of consistency. While not really saying anything negative about larger breweries, Chris at most only suggested an issue of these macrobreweries marketing their beers, not the products’ quality, and never lingered on the subject while in discussion with a tour member.

All members of the staff that I interacted with showed a decorum and thoughtfulness that was just as present in the quality of the beer and food that we enjoyed before allowing the proprietors to convey it verbally.

The sandwiches that my wife and I enjoyed, a pulled pork sandwich and a hot pastrami sandwich respectively, were tender, balanced, and robust. As well, the Belgian style fries that were light and perfectly seasoned, came with homemade ketchup, a homemade ranch, and a spicy mayo dipping sauce that augmented the potato flavor, and made the trip to the Wrecking Bar for eating worthwhile in itself. 

With all of my pontification on subjects excluding the taps, I am sure you’re more than ready to know about the quality of the beer itself. In the simplest terms, their offerings are what I believe locally crafted beer should be at its best. Each of the five beers that were on tap, which were available in a pint or 8oz “shorty” (excluding the Abbey ale), was honest to the style and balanced while being incredibly full of flavor. 

While not as in depth as a normal review where a single beer is the focus, here are some brief impressions of the offerings on tap this afternoon. 

The Ol’ Lantern Jaw English Mild, Golden Nelson Ale, and King Louie India Pale Ale.

The Golden Nelson Ale:  A perfectly clear, straw colored ale with a nice, hoppy, although not overly bitter, flavor, and a dry white wine finish. Described as the flagship beer of the brewpub by our waiter, this was perhaps my wife’s favorite beer of the afternoon. 

The Ol’ Lantern Jaw English Mild: A nice dark, yet light bodied ale that had a nice toffee tone with a  slight coffee bitterness on the backend. With a 3.7% ABV it also meets the criteria for a true session beer, an often overlooked defining measure of session beer by American breweries.

King Louie IPA: Named after the orangutan king from the Jungle Book due to a similar burnt orange hue, this was my favorite beer of the day, being hop forward with strong floral notes brightened by a slight citrus and sweet, malty backend.  

Belgina Wit: The last beer my wife and I tried this afternoon was a lighter flavored, typical wheat beer, defined by a sweet banana forward flavor, and easily drinkable.

Wrecking Bar Abbey Dubbel: Rocking a 7.8% ABV, this beer exhibited a fuller banana and clove profile, rounded out with sweet, caramel goodness.

My only regret in going to the Wrecking Bar is that in a little more than a week’s time there will little opportunity to enjoy this brewpub again on the near horizon. 

Pope Crisco

Atlanta, M’Amour #2 Manuel’s Tavern

In the entire perimeter, there is perhaps no bar that I feel more at home than the working class, liberal pulse of Atlanta at Manuel’s Tavern.

A lot of buzz is given to bars like The Brick Store Pub and The Porter because of the sheer amount of beer they have available at any one time, or menus that try to suggest some sort of culinary pedigree, but I rarely find myself wanting to hang out at these places and have a few drinks for an extended amount of time. Too often they are too loud, and well, most likely overpriced to do so. 

Manny’s on the other hand has a somewhat simple, strait forward menu that isn’t about frills, but serving good food at a decent price. The beer selection is also very straight forward in that the craft beer selection is about as extensive as the macro selection. You will have all of the big players (they have both High Life and PBR on tap, where most will have one or the other) and a good selection of local and national craft beers, from local favorites similar to Terrapin to an extensive selection of New Belgium offerings. As well as a thought out selection, the prices of pitchers are reasonable, ranging from 6 bucks for High Life, and 16 for higher end crafts. Not to mention a special price on Terrapin Rye pitchers at 12 dollars every day.

As well as the uncomplicated approach to their beer and drink selection, the atmosphere itself is also very down to earth. There Is a lot of wood and brick walls, concrete floors, and a collection of Atlanta memorabilia that could only be amassed by more than half a century of serving the community.

Perhaps no place will be more missed by me than Manny’s.

Pig n Chick

Back in Atlanta, and being Fourth of July weekend, it would be un-American to not have some barbeque this weekend. Having opened their third restaurant on Briarcliff, not too far from our house, Haley and I went to what is arguably our favorite place for pulled pork, Pig N Chick.

Though we chose to dine on swine, the restaurant does have a full complement of smoked meats, from turkey to brisket, and even hot wings. For the braver individual, or perhaps just the less picky, they also offer “Redneck Nachos” that consist of their fries covered in a mélange of cheese, pulled pork and sauce.

The pork here is just the perfect blend of smoky and sweet, and is bursting with both flavor and moistness. As well their sauces, which they offer an “original,” spicy, and mustard offerings work to compliment the pork better than any commercial sauce I've had to date.

Served with the que, the addition of thick sliced, plain white bread adds a  natural “pillow of BBQ” (as described by my wife) flavor by absorbing and acting as a conduit for additional pork fat and sauce.

While the meat was just wonderful, it seems obvious that the sides are more of a second thought, and do not meet the high quality of the entrée, and is really the only detractor of their fare.