SweetWater: Exodus Porter

Last beer of the Tackle Box. Maybe I should actually take one of these things fishing... or find out what is behind all the fishing references on the Sweetwater brand. Which is kind of funny. Remember how the other day I said there is no information about the brewery on their site? Well, I was wrong.

The guys over at the SweetWater Twitter account tweeted me and gave me a direct link to all that I was looking for, How The Water Began To Flow. I completely overlooked this information. +1 for them -1 for me. This was actually a good read. A lot of about us sections on brewery pages are long and drawn out. I tend to lose interest on those pages. This one was short and sweet. Answered everything I was looking for the other day. Maybe I have to take a trip down to Atlanta and learn a bit more about them.

First brewed on Bob Marley’s birthday, This Legend-ary porter initially delivers distinct irie hop notes which transcend into rich waves of chocolate, creating a multidimensional taste experience!

I will take that and raise them! Let us see. It starts out a very dark, deep brown that hardly lets any light through as you put it up and carries a tan head. Big and fluffy. The nose is very roasty and malt forward. You can pick up a nice sweetness in there as well that kind of finishes sour.

The first sips are nice and roasty that is then cut with a bit of residual sweetness and a light bitterness. This beer drank quite a bit lighter than I was expecting. I mean, I was not thinking it would be super thick or anything, it was just kind of lighter than I thought for this style. There was a nice hop bite in the back end it finished like some bittersweet chocolate.

Another decent brew, but I feel the LowRyeDer was probably my favorite in the collection. Totally worth the random pick up.

Cheers!

SweetWater: LowRyeDer IPA

Once again I open up the Tackle Box and reach around until I find just what I am looking for. This time I pulled out the LowRyeDer IPA. This is fantastic because I am a big fan of beers with Rye in them. Not necessarily IPAs, but that is all it seems like the breweries are doing these days. It would not be bad to see a Sahti or a Roggenbier to pop up, but I have no control over that unless I brew it myself... which is in the works.

A flame throwin’ Rye IPA ignited by a 25% shot of rye malt and capped by a booty hoppin’ blast of Mt Hood and Centennial hops that makes this IPA bounce!

I think this is my favorite one out of the bunch. The nose on this one was quite earthy and had a nice strong spice and a touch of grapefruit, as it would seem. Bready and spicy all the way through this beer. This one lingers on and is nicely bittered. Crystal sweetness cuts through and helps keep this beer balanced and sits on a fair, grainy body. I have to see if I can find this one around here in a six pack or something.

Cheers!

SweetWater: 420

420 is the next beer that is coming out of this Tackle Box. It is labelled as a Extra Pale Ale and the only beer that comes to mind when I hear that is, Torpedo, which is absolutely one of my favorite beers. 420 has some mighty big expectations to fill. Though, I feel it would be unfair to not judge this one on its own merit. After having a great experience with their IPA, I only expect the best.

SweetWater 420 Extra Pale Ale, our most popular brew, is a tasty West Coast Style Pale Ale with a stimulating hop character and a crisp finish. 1st brewed on April 20th 1997.

I found the nose on this one to be sweet, grainy, and herbal... or did I just want to find the herbal hops in this one... The head on this beer was fairly long lasting which is always a plus in my book. Bready, a touch sour, sweet and a tad burnt. A nice medium body and the floral hops come through here as well. Finishes dry.

This was another good offering from my Tackle Box and one I'd visit again and again. Hard to pick a favorite so far, but I have two beers left.

Cheers!

SweetWater: IPA

I know I said I was going to be drinking some Local Beers, but I just happened to pick up a Tackle Box, so I figured I should knock these out. Especially since there has been a lot of talk about them recently with people I know. The first beer I pulled out of the box was the SweetWater IPA. I hear this is one of the best IPAs brewed in the Atlanta market. Granted, I have nothing to go off of because this is my first, but I will see if there is any truth to this.

There is not a lot of information about the brewery on their website, but a little searching has lead me to believe this company got its start in Boulder Colorado before making the move to Atlanta. I am not sure how long they were around before the move or how long it has been since. Anyway, SweetWater IPA.

This mammouth India Pale Ale is loaded with intense hop character and subjected to an extensive dry-hopping process. Our IPA is unfiltered and as always, not pasteurized, leaving all the natural flavors intact.

The Beer You’ve Been Training For.

The best by date on this beer is 3 months out from me drinking it. I wonder how close that means it was to bottling. I take it though, this is very fresh. The brilliant golden hue of this beer sits beneath a short lasting white head and it has a high carbonation level. Some great tropical scents and grapefruit in the nose, a little resiny and sweet.

Decently bittered but well balanced. You do not get a bitter bite at all. Very smooth and easy. Grapefruit and some juicy, tropical fruits with a little spice. This beer was sitting on a good malt background. It was not just relying on the hops. I found this one pretty good but I wonder what else the box has to offer.

Cheers!