For the first time in a very long time, I missed my flight. For the first time ever, I was one minute late to something. The plane was still there, but they wouldn't let me through. Charlottesville airport FAIL. But I didn't miss anything through a miracle twist of fate, someone was too drunk to get on a plane in Charlotte, so I slid on in their place and made it to Atlanta just as the taxi was leaving the hotel to the brewery.
And the luckiest guy in the world made it to the brewery as scheduled.
And the taps had me excited to be there. When you're at a brewery, there's a lot to discover.
The obligatory glass of beer shot. I needed the refreshing embrace of a crisp IPA after the stressful journey.
Special-release beers everyone can fall in love with. I'm a sucker for the good stuff available only in deuces.
The experimental "Dank Tank" is a brewer's playground. Incredible juice comes from this thing, and it's painted in a way that celebrates the ritual.
Sweet Water also hand-paints their Jockey Boxes, which I think is particularly cool.
The place is gigantic. at 450,000 BBL capacity, I was thoroughly impressed. I spend a lot of time in smaller breweries.
Drinking the beer that is being made right there. I always love that.
Big bottling lines remind me of Laverne & Shirley.
I'd been keeping touch with Sweet Water online, so I had a friend there when I arrived: Brian the Social Media Director. Cool dude who was interesting to talk with, he gave me advice on where to get the most out of the Atlanta craft beer scene.
The brewery filled up with people, and I made friends quickly. People in Atlanta are exceedingly friendly. Breweries are really great places to meet people.
I went to Sweet Water as a representative of Virginia Eagle Distributing. We're hoping to represent them in Virginia. To me, it'd be a privilege to share their brews with Virginians, and I'm really crossing my fingers.
I loved Atlanta, and I love this side of the business. I learned a ton on this trip from restaurant and bar owners and the awesome people at the brewery. And Atlanta is an open city if you're willing to throw yourself in. If my phone hadn't died, I would have kept taking pictures of my epic adventures, but people were calling me from the office to see how the meeting went. It went well. I would have a great time getting this beer into the mouths of Virginian beer-drinkers.
I didn't want to leave the city without drinking a Coca-Cola. The morning I left I woke up just in time to get to the airport, so it was a last-minute thing. The woman in line with me said she drank six a day. Atlantans love Coke.
If you go to Atlanta, make sure to try these places:
- Sweet Water Brewery Great Brewery with great people and great beer.
- Argosy Super chic craft beer bar and wood-fired pizza. Excellent.
- Midway Pub Tons of taps and laid back atmosphere. Serious dart players.
- Church "A goddamn bar" with so much character you'll never want to leave. Educated doorman clued me in on some cool spots. Ping-pong upstairs and a nun hanging from the ceiling rotating in space to hit a ping-pong ball.
- Trader Vic's The last of the once-great empire of tiki bars on the east coast. I'm in love with Trader Vic's and will go to any one I can find. Inventors of the Mai-tai, but they also make delicious Suffering Bastards.
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