Good South Carolina Beer

Went to Whole Foods the other day and this is what the beer dude recommended One Claw Rye Pale Ale (5.5% ABV) from Westbrook Brewing in Mt. Pleasant, SC.  I don’t think I have tried that many beers from South Carolina and would be interested in suggestions on others to try. What is the best beer from South Carolina?

Georgia Brews

Went on a weekend trip to North Georgia a few weeks ago. We stayed at Unicoi State Park in Helen, GA. This is a pic from nearby Lake Winfield Scott. The colors had just started turning at higher elevation but not in Unicoi yet. We did a little hiking and did a little drinking.

We shopped at Betty’s Country Store which had a pretty good selection of beer. Wanted to stick with Georgia beers and found two good ones. I have had plenty of SweetWater beer before and have been to the brewery in Atlanta but never tried Hop Hash Double IPA. It was amazing. I really fell in love with it. The ABV is 7.8% with 100 IBUs.

Also tried Hop Dang Diggity from Jekyll Brewing. First of all I love the name of the beer that just makes me laugh. Jekyll Brewing is base in Alpharetta, GA. This IPA has an ABV of 6.7% with 74 IBUs.

Time Traveler Shandy

I have never really given shandy beers a try. Lemon beer just sounds weird. But when I saw this strawberry shandy I wanted to give it a try. It is a seasonal from The Traveler Beer Company with 4.4% ABV.  The company is based out of Vermont. I was amazed by how much you could taste strawberry. The strawberry hits you right away and the after taste is more lemony. Its a good summer beer and I am glad I tried it but its not something I want to drink all the time.

I saw online they just put out a pumpkin shandy, Jack-O-Traveler, I want to put that on my list to try on tap this fall. I am not a huge fan of pumpkin beer either though. I don't love all the spice that is normally in them. I guess what I am saying is I am sick of the summer heat and Sooooooo ready for fall that I would be willing to try a pumpkin beer. Wow now that's a glowing endorsement of pumpkin beer right?

Iceman by Angry Orchard

Some friends of ours came over last night and brought this hard cider with them. I like ciders but sometimes they are just too sweet. I loved this one! It reminded me a lot of lambic style beer. It is made in the style of Quebec ice ciders and has a nice dry finish. Iceman is part of Angry Orchard’s cider house collection. It has a surprising 10% ABV that can sneak up on you quick.

Spare Pair from Blue Pants Brewery

So checking out another brew from North Alabama tonight. Blue Pants Brewery is in Madison, AL which if you are not familiar with the state is in the Huntsville area. Spare Pair is a seasonal they are calling it a 2 in 1 beer. They brewed two different beers and combined to make this pale ale. It is 6% ABV it is a darker color and has a malty taste.  You can check out their website at http://www.bluepantsbrew.com/

Nectar IPA from Humboldt Brewing

So this is a great west coast IPA out of California. Nectar IPA from Humboldt Brewing ABV 6.7% with IBU of 60. It has a nice hoppy nose and a dark amber color. Very light and refreshing with maybe a hint of grapefruit but little to no after taste. I really want to try one of their other beers too. They have a Hemp Ale I almost picked up instead of this but wasn't in the mood for a brown. Oh well there is always next time. Check out their website at http://www.humboldtbrewingco.com/

Haunted Bell's Beer Box?

What do you think? Haunted or not haunted?

Check out what I won from New Belgium

Back in January I got an email from a guy at New Belgium Brewery telling me I had won something.  I forgot about it but when I got home today this sweet package was waiting on me. I won two really cool beer glasses and lucky me I had some Fat Tire in the fridge to test them out with. Thanks New Belgium!

Happy Craft Beer Week

It is Craft Beer Week and I am wondering if there is a greeting card for this occasion yet. Lots of events going on the week. Did anyone go to the beer fests in Huntsville or Chattanooga this past weekend? I am curious how they went. We were in Chattanooga this weekend but didn't make it downtown early enough because we got stuck doing Mother's Day crap. I am more of a night drinker anyways. Day beer just makes me sleepy.

So what are we drinking? Picked up a six pack of Firewater IPA cans. I'm a sucker for cans. Firewater IPA (ABV 6.0%) is from Catawba Brewing co. They are a North Carolina based brewer. It was good not great. Would be willing to try some of there other beers sometime maybe its better on draft.

Alabama Beer

Figured we would start off with two of our favorite Alabama beers. Naked Pig Pale Ale is from Back Forty Beer Co out of Gadsden, Alabama.  ABV is 6% and IBU 43. Back Forty is a fairly new company like most of the breweries in the state but now that alcohol laws are starting to loosen we are finally able to get some fun local beers. You can check out their story and other beers on their site www.backfortybeer.com.

 Check out the cute little pig logo they created. He just looks so damn happy.

The second beer we wanted to share with you is from north Alabama, Monkeynaut IPA from Straight to Ale.  ABV is 7.25% and IBU 70. Straight to Ale is based out of Huntsville, AL which is also known as "The Rocket City" because of the US Space and Rocket Center that is located there and the work they have done with the space program and thus the space themed name. Monkeynaut is a citrus floral hoppy beer. Check out the sweet can. You can visit http://www.straighttoale.com/ for more info on this Alabama brewer.

New Beer Blog!

Hello and welcome to our new blog! My husband and I are beer lovers from Birmingham, AL. We decided to start this new blog because we post a lot of beer crap on our other blog, VegetarianSouth, and decided all the beer photos need a proper home. We aren't beer experts but hope to introduce people to new beers and breweries. We are also outdoorsy. We like to hike and kayak. We camp and fish a little too on the side.