Update 10/13/07: The Great American Beer Festival is currently finishing up, but the list of this year's medalists has just been released. While Georgia breweries didn't do as well this year as the have in the past (Atlanta Brewing Co. was the only one to bring home a medal with a gold for Red Brick Blonde), several other states saw local breweries scoring medals. It was also a great year to be a brewery in Tennessee. For North Carolina, Foothills Brewing received silvers for their Baltic Porter and Gruffmeister 8 Maibock. Tennessee saw three breweries medaling for their state. It's unclear which brewpub(s) from the Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Group were rewarded (there are several Tennessee brewpubs owned by the group), but they were credited with three bronzes (SummerFest, Alt, and Hefeweizen), one silver (Southside Pils), an two golds (Schwarzbier and Czech Lager). Blackstone Brewing Co. had a silver and a bronze for their Nut Brown Ale and St. Charles Porter. Finally, Boscos was awarded gold for their Hefeweizen.

Update 7/12/07: Alabama lost its only production brewery (at least temporarily) to a fire tha may have damaged the building past the point of repair on Juy 5, 2007. Olde Towne Brewing Co. of Huntsville was the only brewery in the state to bottle and keg their brews for off-premise cosumption. According to an article from the Huntsville Times, other breweries may keep Olde Towne beer flowing temporarily as owner Don Alan Hankins searches for a new home for his company.

Update 7/12/07: We've completed a long-overdue update of the brewery and brewpub pages to take into account of the moving and closing that's happened in the past year.

Update 3/19/07: Terrapin Beer has recently announced their purchase of a facility at 255 Newton Bridge Road, off of Loop 10 in North Athens. They are currently renovating the process of converting the building into a brewery and they expect it to open in the summer of 2007.

Update 2/17/07: The long awaited entry of Dogfish Head Brewery into the Georgia market finally has a set E.T.A. As of March 1, several Dogfish Head beers, including the 60 Minute and 90 Minute IPAs, will be available in Georgia. I'm not sure what took them so long; they've been advertising themselves as "coming soon" at beer festivals in the state for the past two years. However, the paperwork has been officially filed and approved, so the brewery's beers are on their way.

Update 2/14/07: The top beer drinker in the country may be one of Georgia's finest. Phil Farrell, from the Chicken City Ale Raisers homebrewing club is one of four finalists for Wynkoop Brewing Company's annual competition to see who they think is the best amateur proponent of craft beer in the country. We'll let you know how Phil fared after the final announcement in Denver on Feb. 24. Update: Phil was not chosen as the overall winner. Diane Catanzaro was chosen instead.

Update 1/1/07: 5 Seasons North is now up and running. Former Dogwood Brewing owner Crawford Moran is in charge of brewing in the former Embers Grill location in Alpharette, GA, and is brewing a lineup largely independent from the original Sandy Springs location. Another Dogwood connection can be found at Twain's, where Jordan Fleetwood, creator of one of Dogwood's most acclaimed beers, is brewmaster.

Update 11/26/06: Embers Grill may have closed up shop, but Twain's Billiards and Tap reopened last week as a brewpub. Decatur now has the impressive Brick Store beer bar and a brewpub within walking distance of each other, making the suburb of Atlanta easily one of the best places for beer geeks in metro Atlanta.

Update 11/26/06: Embers Grill closed only months after opening its doors. This is a great loss as brewster Julie Baggett was creating some truly great beers at the Alpharetta brewpub. However, another area brewpub has decided to purchase the building and create a second location for their iconic restaurant and brewery. More information on this later.

Update 8/22/06: The What's On Tap page is fully functional and we have expanded its coverage to include Gordon Biersch in Atlanta, Dahlonega Brewing in Dahlonega, and Cannon in Columbus.

Update 8/1/06: We've begun updating the What's On Tap page again. We don't have every brewpub up to date, but we are working on getting this completed by this weekend. When finished, we should have listings for most of Georgia's brewpubs updated about every other week.

Update 7/28/06: The loss of the Buckhead Brewery brewpub chain last year was a major blow to the Metro Atlanta beer scene. However, the Alpharetta location has had new life breathed into it by French-born Gilles Maillet. Maillet purchased the abandoned Buckhead Brewery building and has transformed it into Embers Grill. After some delays getting the doors opened, Embers served its first customers on July 26, 2006. Brewer Julie Baggett, who has been chomping at the bit to get back into a brewhouse after working in the chemical sales business for a few years, has four beers already flowing, a biere de garde maturing in the tanks and more taps to fill. The food at Embers is excellent (and on par with 5 Seasons' price range) and Baggett's Disorder Porter is heavenly.

Twain's continues work on its transformation into a brewpub with work on the brewhouse having begun earlier this summer. We'll post more information when we hear more news.

Update 9/06/05: The Atlanta area may be seeing a new brewpub next year. Twain's Billiards in Decatur is looking to add a brewery to their bar and hope to turn into an active brewpub in 2006. We'll keep you posted as the process progresses.

Update 8/05/05: Congratulations to North Carolina's beer geeks. Gov. Easley has signed HB392, which now lifts the state's limit on the alcohol content of beer to 15% by volume.

Update 8/05/05: Chattanooga's Southern Brewer's Festival has changed dates and location. Instead of August, the festivall will take place on September 10 and has moved from the parking lot next to Big River to the 21st Century Waterfront at Chestnut St. and Riverside Dr.

Update 8/03/05: North Carolina's HB392, which would raise the alcohol limit for beer to 15 percent alcohol by volume, has been passed by the state Senate. The only hurdle remaining for the bill is the governor. A signature or being ignored for 10 days would allow the bill to pass into law.

Update 6/28/05: Georgia will be getting a new brewer in the next few days. Rome Street Tavern Grill in Carrollton, GA, expects to tap the first of their beers in less than a week. This is the first good news beer lovers in the Atlanta area have had in a while after the closings of Dogwood and Buckhead. We'll post most information about Rome Street as we get it. Also watch this space for information about a beer geek gathering at Rome Street. TheBeerCellar.com plans on organizing a brewery warming of sorts for Rome Street as soon as their beer is available.

Update 5/5/05: North Carolina's HB392, which would raise the limit on beer, has been passed by the House by a vote of 68-46. While the original bill would have eliminated any limit on the alcohol content in beer, the version passed by the house instead raises the limit from 6% a.b.v. to 15% a.b.v. The bill will head to the state Senate sometime after May 19.

Update 4/13/05: For those following the legislation in North Carolina, HB392, the bill that would eliminate a limit on alcohol content in that state, passed in the House Commerce Committee 18-11. The bill now heads back to the ABC Commission. Two amendments introduced by Mutual distributing were defeated, and some supporters of the bill continue to call for a boycott of products distributed by Mutual in response to their opposition of the bill. Pop the Cap is not officially endorsing the boycott, however.

Update 3/31/05: It looks like Georgians for World Class Beer may have started a small revolution for better access to good beer in the Southeast. After GWCB successfully lobbied for a higher A.B.V. limit last year, North Carolinians longing for barley wines and belgians started working on their state government through Pop The Cap. Just recently, beer lovers in Alabama followed suit and formed Free The Hops. If you are in either of those states, please do everything you can to help these two groups achieve their goals.

Update 3/31/05: Make sure to check our events listing. It's been updated with several choice events coming up.

Update 2/21/05: The Great Atlanta Pub Crawl will be held sometime on March 5 in connection with Ratebeer.com's homebrew contest at 5 Seasons Brewing. Click the Pub Crawl link above for more information. Seats on the bus will be $30 and proceeds will go to the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

Update 10/4/04: Terrapin Beer Company is the latest brewery in Georgia to release a big beer. Some of you may have had the Big Hoppy Monster at 5 Seasons where Terrapin brewer Spike Buckowski also works, but the 5 Seasons recipe is under 6% alcohol. Terrapin recently released an 8% version of the beer under the same name. Visit Atlantabeer.com for a listings of bars set to carry the Imperial IPA version of the Monster.

Update 10/4/04: This is news we don't like to report, but sometimes, we have to. Dogowood Brewing Co. announced earlier this week that they will be closing their doors for good soon. This loss hits close to home for many Georgia beergeeks as Crawford was one of the more accessible, generous and friendly brewers in the state. While there are still great breweries to be found in Georgia, the loss of Dogwood is still painful. Crawford said that the brewery will have a "wake" to commemorate the brewery on Oct. 25. Until then, make sure to stockpile your favorite Dogwood brews. They won't be around for long.     

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