Delicious Casks & Winners at our 2017 ACAT
01/21/2017
Our 2017 Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting was an amazing day highlighted by 51 cask-conditioned ales from the USA and UK. The morning judging session included former Stone brewer Mitch Steele, London beer writer Des de Moor and Steve Hamburg of the Chicago Beer Society.
Look below for the full cask line-up, list of winners and photos from the event.
- Photos by Ale Sharpton & Phil Farrell -
01. Arches Brewing Southern Bel' Belgian
Ale - A 6.8% ABV golden ale with
Belgian pilsner malt and added depth from biscuit and honey malts. Accentuated
by fruity esters from the Belgian yeast, the vanilla, coconut and spiced
character arises from the unusual wood species that this beer is aged over.
02. Black Diamond Mo-Rakinox - A West Coast influenced IPA with some of the newest
experimental hops we could get our hands on. Mosaic and Equinox provide bright,
juicy tropical flavors, while Rakau hops add pure "dank." 6.5% ABV.
03. Burnt Hickory King Zeke - A powerful version of our Ezekiel's Wheel, King
Ezekiel is dry-hopped with a load of Amarillo in the cask and big enuff to rope
a tiger and hold off any Savior. 6.5% ABV.
04. Cedar Creek Dankosaurus American
IPA. The Motueka dry-hops in this
awesome cask ramp up the tropical notes of Danko while providing an interesting
lime and lemon character.
05. Coastal Empire Wild Kingdom
Pomegranate Brett Sour is an
imperial wheat ale brewed with pomegranate and fermented with Brettanomyces and
Lactobacillus. 9.7% ABV.
06. MAZURT The Dingo Drank My Stout
Leatherwood Honey RIS - After
babies, there isn't anything that tastes better to a dingo than a MAZURT
Leatherwood RIS. This big, 13.6% ABV Russian imperial stout is heavenly infused
with this tasty and rare honey found only on the remote island of Tasmania.
Brewed with deep roasted, high-grade Kenyan coffee, Vermont grade-B maple
syrup, Peruvian cocoa nibs, Madagascar vanilla and Leatherwood honey, this
amazing stout is coveted by envious, sober, thirsty dingoes everywhere.
07. 5 Seasons Prado Cherry Bomb is our beloved Scotch ale aged in a Heaven Hill
bourbon barrel, providing notes of vanilla and bourbon heat. Bing cherries
marinated in bourbon complement the smooth malt character with a pleasing, tart
nuance.
SECOND PLACE UK-STYLE: 08. Copper Creek Oatmeal Stout is a classic, fairly hoppy version of the style made
with flaked oats for a silky body. Its inviting aromas and flavors are a
mixture of roasty, chocolaty and malty tones.
09. Creature Comforts Double Koko Buni is our 8.7% ABV, rich and velvety imperial milk
porter with toasted coconut, Condor Chocolate cocoa nibs, 1000 Faces coffee and
vanilla.
THIRD PLACE CLASSIC STYLE: 10. Founders Red's Rye IPA. Noted for its distinct grapefruit characteristics and
biting finish, this version takes it to a whole new level with the addition of
Mosaic hops to the cask.
11. Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Engineers
Reserve with Ghost Naga Chilies (UK
- 9% ABV). After feedback from the USA suggested the ABV of our original Old
Engine Oil (6%) was too low, we created this intensely flavored brew.
FIRST PLACE UK-STYLE: 12. J.W. Lees 2015 Harvest Ale aged in
Calvados Barrels (UK - 11.5%
ABV). Classic English barleywine with loads of rich Maris Otter malt
accentuated by a fruity cider brandy barrel character.
13. J.W. Lees 2015 Harvest Ale aged in
Sherry Barrels (UK - 11.5% ABV).
Warming, malty barleywine balanced by classic Golding hops from East Kent and
fermented in open, copper-lined vessels, followed by aging in sherry casks.
14. Moon River Cliffs of Insanity with
Chipotles. This 8.5% ABV sneak
peek of our new imperial stout was primed with dark brown sugar and
cask-conditioned with dried chipotle peppers rehydrated with rum.
15. Morland Old Golden Hen (UK - 4.1% ABV). This quaffable English golden ale is
made with the finest pale malts and Galaxy hops. Look for subtle tropical fruit
notes, citrus and a deliciously smooth finish.
16. Paradox Beer Company Skully #46 Osa
Frambuesa. We paired our red wine
barrel-aged wild sour brown ale with luscious red raspberries. Subtle wine
barrel character, our house Brettanomyces strain and raspberry aroma lead to a
jammy, wine-like taste. 8.3% ABV.
17. Red Brick Passion of the Bretts IPA - Our flagship Hoplanta IPA fermented with six
complex strains of Brettanomyces, then conditioned in the cask with passion
fruit.
18. Rivertown Brewing Vanilla Bourbon
Pecan Imperial Porter comes from
bourbon-aged 7.9% ABV Roebling Imperial Porter with tasty additions of vanilla
and pecans.
19. Service Brewing Ground Pounder Pale
Ale with black pepper and lime
zest. We enjoyed the black pepper and lime notes from Pacific Jade hops so
much, we wanted to double down in this cask with additions of black peppercorns
and fresh lime zest. 4.6% ABV.
20. Slice & Pint Cloud 9 Barleywine. Finally, after 12 years, we recreated the old Dogwood
Brewing barleywine recipe - an English-style barleywine with loads of English
malt. We aged this cask for a year on French oak.
21. Steady Hand Beer Company Anthem of
the Sun - A 6.4% ABV blonde stout
with nutty biscuit and toffee notes. The smooth body, hint of floral hops and
light caramel complement the golden toasted coconut character.
22. Thomas Creek Class Five IPA - A big Galaxy dry-hop addition to our new recipe for
Class Five makes for a citrusy and crisp American IPA brewed for the true
hop-head.
23. Three Taverns Funk Yard - A mixed fermentation sour ale made with Belgian
yeast and Lactobacillus, then aged in oak barrels with Brettanomyces, and
dry-hopped in this special cask with Mosaic and Amarillo. 6% ABV.
24. Twain's Salted Caramel English
Strong Ale was aged with medium
toasted American oak. It's salty-sweet up front but finishes semi-dry,
preventing the caramel from becoming overwhelming. 9.0% ABV.
25. Urban Tree Ginger Zestanero Cider started with infusing our semi-dry cider with fresh
ginger and habanero peppers. To make it even better, it was aged in a
Nicaraguan rum barrel for nine months. And if that wasn't enough, we added
several winter spices like cinnamon, anise and licorice - creating a unique festive
cider. (Allergen Warning: spices were made in a facility that manufactures
nuts.)
26. Wild Heaven Joni is an American wild ale crafted with generous
additions of tart cherries and aged in aromatic Bordeaux barrels. 5% ABV.
27. Abbey of the Holy Goats - Goats in
the Garden. The goats got into
the elderflower garden, so we decided to brew a dry and refreshing saison with
elderflowers and traditional Belgian beer spices. 7.2% ABV.
SECOND PLACE CLASSIC STYLE: 28. BlueTarp All I Want for My Birthday
is a Big Booty Baltic Porter -
Unlike a stout, smooth dark chocolate dominates over subdued roast coffee
notes. Sweetness reminiscent of balsamic vinegar (without the acidic bite)
makes for a creamy, mid-winter beer with a deep burgundy blackness. 9.2% ABV,
42 IBUs.
29. Cherry Street Fidel Casktro - Bourbon barrel O.A.S.I.S. Russian-style imperial
stout brewed with sarsaparilla whiskey-soaked cocoa nibs and vanilla beans with
Spanish cedar cubes and Cuban coffee added to the cask. 10.5% ABV.
30. Dry County Old 41 Oatmeal Stout with vanilla beans. We took our smooth and creamy Old
41 Oatmeal Stout and added vanilla beans to make it even more silky and
delicious. 5.9% ABV, 25 IBUs.
31. Eagle Creek Bourbon Barrel-Aged
River Street Praline Brown was
aged in bourbon barrels for a year and offers subtle notes of caramel, vanilla,
American oak and bourbon that permeate the palate.
32. Fyne Ales Highlander (UK - 4.8% ABV). An amber, Scottish-style session ale
with notes of caramel malts, toffee and a hint of citrus from Mount Hood and
Celeia hops.
THIRD PLACE UK-STYLE: 33. Fyne Ales Maverick (UK - 4.2% ABV) ranks as a classic British bitter
hopped with Bramling Cross and Challenger. A reddish copper ale with an aroma
of mixed fruit and caramel malts.
34. Fyne Ales Ragnarok (UK - 7.4% ABV). American-style IPA with a fine Maris
Otter malt backbone and pleasing citrus hop aroma and flavor.
35. Gate City Chocolate Raspberry
Terminus Porter is a luscious
dark ale brewed with cacao nibs and organic raspberries.
36. Jekyll Brewing Southern Juice IPA is brewed with wheat and oats for an intriguing malt
profile backed up with huge additions of Citra and Simcoe hops.
37. Left Nut Squirrel Nut Zappers is a light to medium bodied English-style brown ale
brewed with pecans. This cask holds whole coffee beans from Yonah Coffee in
Helen, GA and local white oak chips conditioned with bourbon. (Allergen
Warning: contains tree nuts.)
FIRST PLACE SPECIALTY & PEOPLE'S CHOICE: 38. Lincoln Fill Station / Cherry Street Triple Chocolate Chunk is a 12% ABV imperial stout with chocolate and
toasted coconut aged on Ghana cocoa nibs in a Belle Meade bourbon barrel for
eight months.
39. Max Lager's Choco-Mungo - St. Mungo Scotch Ale aged in a Four Roses bourbon
barrel and cask-conditioned with toasted cocoa nibs from Ghana. 6% ABV.
THIRD PLACE SPECIALTY: 40. Monday Night Something Pretentious. The base beer is a double barrel (bourbon then rum)
Scotch ale with added toasted coconut, vanilla beans, cocoa nibs and burnt
orange peel.
41. Red Hare My Belgian Friend Came Over
for Breakfast - Berry Belgian
Waffle ale with vanilla beans and cinnamon, aged on bourbon-soaked oak chips.
42. Reformation Dry-Hopped Jude Reserve - A Belgian tripel with fresh pears and grapefruit.
An abundance of Nelson Sauvin hops add white wine notes and strong fruit character
to the aroma.
FIRST PLACE CLASSIC STYLE: 43. Scofflaw Double Dry-Hopped Double
Jeopardy - A 10% ABV double IPA
with an initial dry-hop of Galaxy and Simcoe, followed in this special cask
with Centennial, Amarillo, Citra and even more Simcoe.
44. Second Self A Hopwork Orange - IPA dry-hopped with Mosaic, Huell Melon and Medusa
hops in the cask, along with orange peel and fresh-squeezed Valencia orange
juice.
45. Southbound Mystery Ship is a 100% Brettanomyces fermented imperial red ale
dry-hopped with Mosaic and Rakau, providing notes of tropical fruit accented
with 1800 Reposado soaked oak chips and fresh lime juice.
46. Southern Brewing Red N' Black
Berliner - Southeastern Berliner
re-fermented on 12 pounds of raspberries and blackberries. Tart tropical fruit
notes complement the luscious berries.
47. SweetWater Raspberry Delight - A big, deep, black stout with strong coffee and
chocolate notes balanced by the perfect hop profile. The kicker is the boatload
of fresh Meeker raspberries from Oregon. 10% ABV, 69 IBUs.
48. Terrapin Tart Cherry Wake-n-Bake - Brewed with Wake-n-Bake coffee from Jittery Joe's
and tart cherry juice added during fermentation, this thick imperial stout
offers notes of coffee, ripe fruit and dark chocolate.
49. Variant Brewing / Dry Country Collaboration
Imperial Breakfast Stout offers a
notable presence of cinnamon with roasted coffee and maple sweetness. 10.5%
ABV.
50. Wicked Weed Cuban Coffee Dark Age
Stout was aged in bourbon barrels
for nine months and spiced with coffee, cinnamon, smoked chipotle peppers,
vanilla and chocolate.
SECOND PLACE SPECIALTY: 51. Wrecking Bar Coffee Coconut
Barrel-Aged Siberius Maximus Imperial Stout. Our viscous, rich and complex imperial stout was
well rested in Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels with a decadent cask treatment on
toasted coconut flakes and dark roasted coffee beans.
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