Classic City Brew Fest – Athens, Georgia 2009

While visiting Georgia for an innkeeping conference, we were invited to the Classic City Brew Fest in Athens.  This event is put together by Owen Ogletree, BJCP National Beer Judge and columnist for Southern Brew News and Athens Magazine.  The event is a charity fund raiser for the Athens Area Humane Society.  We really enjoyed this festival it seemed to have a little something for everyone.  The venue provided both indoor and outdoor space, which came in handy as we had a mix of sun and rain.  They had a funky band Swords & Whiskey playing a mix of Classic Rock, Blues and Celtic music. We were surprised to find that the food and bottled water for sale was very reasonably priced, only $1 for a bottle of water.  Usually at a Brew Fest food and drinks are marked way up because of the captive audience, but not here.

The best part was the BEER!  This particular festival had a mix of breweries and beer distributors representing there brands creating a large variety of beer.  From the novice beer drinker to the a more sophisticated  palate, Classic City Brew Fest had a variety for beers for both and everyone in between.  They had some larger brands such as Shocktop (Anheuser-Busch), Blue Moon (Coors) and Yuengling (new in the state of GA).  We were amazed to see some of the more interesting brands from importers such as Merchant duVin featuring several of their products including Rochefort, Westmalle, etc… not just the 6 and the dubbel but the 8 and the triple.   Another distributor brought their full line of Rogue including XS Imperial Porter and XS Imperial Red…these beers run $17-$20 per bottle retail.  Quite a treat and not often found at a beer festival.  During the day we got a chance to speak with a few brewers and owners including:

Cooper Creek Brewing Company in Athens, GA – Matt Buley, Brewer

Atlanta Brewing Company (Atlanta’s oldest Brewery) in Atlanta, GA – Dave McClure, Brewer and Dave Weil, General Manager

Holy Mackerel Gordash Brewing Company in Fort Lauderdale, FL – Robert Gordash, Owner

Terrapin Beer Co. in Athens, GA – Spike, Brewer & Co-Owner and John Co-Owner

All in all I would recommend the Classic City Brew Fest.  We have lots more from the Georgia area on the way – so we will see you next time on Here for the Beer!