Beer Travel Atlanta

Plenty of articles have been written in the past couple of years touting Atlanta as a beer destination, so I'll add my two cents as a former resident who has recently visited and noticed some more great changes.

My old stomping ground of Decatur, just a little East of the city, its own little microcosmos of walkable areas, shopping, food, and a hip but not too hip or too rich vibe. Old couples mingle with young gay couples with kids, kids and dogs alike enjoying the festivals and festival atmosphere of the weekends. Here lies the legendary Brick Store pub, which was tough to get into most nights when we lived there- and now impossible. But who won't wait for an insane amount of Belgian and craft beers the world over? We probably stumbled from there every other week trying a different beer. Owned by the same parties, Leon's Full Service is a step up food-wise focusing on local food (a welcome change we have noticed since we left). The shrimp gyro was a solid selection; shrimp were sweet, succulent and not overcooked, the tang of the yogurt worked well with the red onion pickle. The frites with your choice of 'sauces' proved boring- make that curry thicker and the frites meatier and you will have the perfect bar food. The smaller but stellar beer selection was good enough to please die-hard BSP fans.

Also in Decatur, another old hangout of ours: Thinking Man Tavern which has kept its fairly decent pub grub menu (I'm a fan of the house made veggie burgers) and has also kept its better than average beer selection. This visit, I noticed that they had the much hyped Life & Limb in the bottle. Score! Since I missed out on various tappings in Madison (if we had any) and any stores that may have had it would have sold in in about two minutes given the ravenous beer geeks here in Madison. Its a dark brown malty beer with hints of earth, smoke and a good amount of sweet syrup and root beer flavors. Very complex and well crafted, a slightly bitter malty finish balances the sweetness in this full bodied beer with well hidden alcohol. Believe the hype, this is a very drinkable beer with every sip reminding you that two master brewers collaborated on this one.

With local brewers Sweetwater, and Athens-based Terrapin actually being heard of outside of the South and local beer superbars Taco Mac; local beers are coming up in the beer world. Smaller brewpubs are growing with 5 Seasons now has three locations, and oldie Atlanta Brewing Company is still kicking it old school. Festivals like the Winter Beer Carnival are popping up along with the long-time worst organized fest: the Decatur Beer Festival. (*note: maybe they have fixed it since we attempted the fest in 2007 I hear they do pre-sales finally; no parking, no line organization, running out of beer, tiny cramped space, putting it right in the middle of a busy area)

Atlanta also seems to have enough beer geeks to warrant the at least four cases of Founder's Nemesis I spied in the mid-level liquor store, but not enough geekiness to have sold out of it unlike Madison which sold out in less than two days. (*note: I do know of one place in Madison that has a single case of Nemesis still but its on hold due to computer glitches)

Unvisited but new: Westside beer store Hop City perhaps a contender against the all-powerful Ponce Green's for beer heaven?