Brew Day at Burnt Hickory Brewery

Burnt Hickory Brew System

Burnt Hickory Brew System

The kind folks at Burnt Hickory Brewery in Kennesaw, GA were gracious enough to let me come help out on brew day this week. Burnt Hickory has been around for just over a year now and during that time they have created a great notoriety for producing some killer beers. Their line up of monster beers are changing the beer game in Georgia; every beer here is bigger and Bigger is Better. The brewery is producing higher than average ABV beers that are packed full of flavor and creativity. The beers produced here will knock the socks off veteran beer drinkers and blow the minds of craft beer neophytes. One of my favorites brewed at Burnt Hickory is a seasonal called “Noggin Knocker” it is an Imperial Eggnog Stout; Need I say more? No? To bad cause it gets better… It’s a barrel aged spiced milk stout that clocks in at 13.5% ABV. This beast then gets split into whiskey and rum barrels and is aged to perfection. Holy Shit this stuff is good. Whats it taste like? You will just have to try it yourself, this is no time for a review of this bucket list beer. It’ll be awhile before this beer comes back around, so let’s dry out our moist panties and move on. Cannon Dragger IPA was on the production list for brew day at BHB this week. This is a big american IPA that is full of hops. It’s a bit bigger that your average IPA at 8% ABV and is a mainstay for the brewery that is available year round. In addition to brewing some beers a little brewery maintenance and new fermenter construction happened that day. New fermenters = more beer for all of us!

Head brewer Will assembling a new fermeter at Burnt Hickory Brewery.

Head brewer Will assembling a new fermeter.

Brew day went off with out a hitch and with lots of beer hitting the fermenter’s before the day was done. Burnt Hickory is offering a brewery tour on May 18th so make sure to be there. Until then you can find their beers on tap in the Kennesaw area.

Hoppilicious Bigfoot

A glass of Sierra Nevada Big Foot with Wet Citra Hops added to the glass

Big Foot hopped up with some wet Citra hops.

I decided to amp up an all ready big brew(Sierra Nevada Big Foot) by throwing in some Citra hops that I had in the freezer; the Citra hops were wet hops left over from harvest season. I made sure to stash some in my freezer for future use. I swirled and squished the hops a bit in the beer to force some of tasty fresh hop goodness into the beer immediately. After it sat for about 5 – 10 mins it was like i was drinking a completely different beer. It tasted like a malt bomb of an IPA with the fresh citrus notes battling the malty finish. The fresh Citra flavors hung out for a while after sipping and left my pallet begging for another swill.

I’m judging you and I don’t even know you.

Home brew, beer, Sandy Springs, GA, beer fest, Heritage Sandy Springs

Bottles of home brew lined up for judging.

Last night at a TOP SECRET location in Dunwoody 30+ home brews where tasted, rated, and enjoyed by an elite team of beer connoisseurs. Beers were categorized and tasted in group format to get an average score for each home brew. My judging buddy and I evaluated two separate style groups of beers; Amber/Brown and Sweet Stout/Russian Imperial Stout. Each beer was evaluated by comparing it to its particular style guidelines. Judging categories included Aroma, Appearance, Flavor, Mouthfeel, and Overall Impression. Thankfully all the entries that I was assigned were very well crafted and mostly enjoyable. The winners will be announced this weekend at the Heritage Sandy Springs Brew Fest and the “Best of Show” winner will get to brew their creation at Red Brick and their beer will be served at the brewery.