Tour of Gate City Brewing

Today we are going to  Gate City Brewing Company

This involves walking from our end of Roswell, Georgia  to the centre.  We walk past Kimball Hall , where the wedding blessing we attended last night, was held. 

We see lots of placards for a local election.  It looks like one of our young Lib Dems has defected!  

Soon we arrive at the brewery

photo the knot.com

We have been offered a tour of the brewery by Taproom Manager, Michael Palko, who is featured here with Ullage Magazine.  

 

Michael very kindly offered us a tour when we called in the brewery yesterday.  It seems tours are no longer seen as mandatory by the state administration.  Until recently, the brewery could not offer tastings without a tour.  Michael found that people were not really interested in having tours, ( 'Done one brewery tour you have done them all'), so they were dropped.  Thus, we are extremely honoured!

Michael is from Ohio but has lived just up the road from the brewery for some years.  He is an ex wine sommelier and restaurant geek with an obvious passion for good food and drink. He and his wife became regular visitors to the tap room and loved it.  When an opportunity to work there arose he jumped at it.  

He begins by explaining the brewery's logo, which is a Phoenix.  

In Greek mythology,  a phoenix is a long-lived bird that is reincarnated by arising from the ashes of its predecessor.  The logo is inspired by Atlanta from the Ashes, more commonly known as The Phoenix, which is a bronze monument located in the near by city of Atlanta, capital of Georgia .  It symbolises Atlanta's rise from the ashes of the  Civil War,  which is still talked about in hushed tones round here. The Unionists had a tendency to burn all the settlements they attacked, or so I understand it.

Gate City’s name derives from Atlanta’s nickname, the 'Gate City'.  The brewery and 3,000 sqft taproom stand on the site of what used used to be two garages. There are eighteen house-brewed beers on draft. No guest beers are allowed by state law.  Don't ask me what that is about. Each weekend sees live music, comedy, tastings, and community-based events such as yoga....

photo culinarylocal.com

and art work shops ('Paint and Pint') 

 

photo culinarylocal.com  

The first beer I sample is  Mosaic'in Me Crazy, an 4.2 % American Pale Ale which has lots of body and taste and is right up my street.  Next, I ask Michael for another weak one to try and end up with Awe Juice.  This is another American IPA, but this time it's 8%! Perhaps he doesn't understand my accent!  Never mind, it's delicious as you might expect.  

Meanwhile J is sampling the Barley Wine!  

We both stagger round the brewery and notice immedately how impeccably clean it all is.  Michael is amused

Canning is undertaken on site

 

Citra hops from California are used in the brewing process.  This might explain why I am immediately impressed by the beers!  

 

Oak barrels from the UK are used as well as the more standard type.

In the corner of the brewery, which is upstairs, there is a corner where the beers were served originally before the tap room came on line. 

At the end of a great tour we decant to the tap room to finsh our drinks

 

There is a host of other breweries in and around Atlanta; the largest is Sweetwater Brewery.

I have had the good fortune to sample their beers and can vouch for them.  Within the last month Variant    opened up almost next door to Gate City.  Michael welcomes this friendly competition, it makes people more likely to vist this exciting new hub of beer culture.  Read more about breweries in the Atlanta/Roswell area  here

On the way home the sun comes out

 

Later the black cat moves in an J makes a bean dish and then we have an early night!  It's the jet lag.  Honest!