SweetWater Brewing Co.
Atlanta, GA
Available: GA NC
Two friends who had learned their beer tastes in Colorado and California opened SweetWater Brewing Co. in Atlanta in 1997. Their brewery aims to bring the taste of “aggressive West coast style beers” to the Southeast.
Alcohol by weight: 5.96
Color: n/a
Bitterness: 36
Gravity: 1058
It looks like a porter—dark chocolate with a handsome eggshell head that hangs on and on. A hoppy nose confirms that it’s a porter, but on the palate it is more like a bottom-fermented beer than an ale. The roundness reminds me of a bock beer with an underlying sweetness that is un-porter like. We enjoyed it with fresh albacore tuna steaks on braised greens, sweet potato ravioli, and winter vegetables gratinée.
Dark, rich, dense and wonderfully cocoa and malt. The aroma provides an undisputable assurance of what’s to come in the flavor; enticingly exotic. A hint of sweet smoke, a touch of hop floral and a poetic balance of hop flavor and malt sweetness. Nothing shouts. Rather the entire essence of this well made porter is soothing in all ways. A friendly beer with lots of personality. Go for Greatness!
A brown/black beer with deep ruby hints and a creamy, barley-colored head, it has a big, tempting aroma of bitter chocolate, peppery hops and sour fruit. Creamy malt, tangy hops, tart fruit and dry chocolate combine on the palate. The beer has a quenching finished dominated by rich chocolate notes balanced by sweet malt and bitter hops. A beautifully made and complex beer that would go well with salt fish or sea food.
Founder of Merchant du Vin and the Pike Brewing Co., Charles Finkel is a pioneer in the marketing of craft beers in America.
Author of the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, founder of the Great American Beer Festival and a Beer Examiner at www.examiner.com, Papazian is a leading voice in beer and brewing.
Roger Protz is the author of Complete Guide to World Beer and 300 Beers to Try Before You Die. He is a respected beer authority and editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.
