(Sorta) Local beer from (very) local ingredients

Bob Townsend's Beer Town column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week has a bit of local interest for readers of The Star. Townsend was at Five Seasons Brewing Co. in Alpharetta, Ga. (on Halloween?) for the unveiling of the brewpub's Great Pumpkin Ale. According to the column, it was made with 100 pounds of organic Sweet Sugar pumpkins from Moore Farms in Woodland. Good free publicity for Will & Laurie Moore!

Laurie Moore tells Star reporter Andy Johns (he picked up the phone as soon as I mentioned the AJC column to him) the brewpub uses their pumpkins for deserts as well as the beer. The farm follows all-organic practices, though they're not USDA-certified organic. Most of the Moores' produce goes to Atlanta-area restaurants such as Five Seasons.

Fifteen gallons of the Great Pumpkin Ale, by the way, was poured into a hollowed-out 300-pound pumpkin from another farm. After unveiling the pumpkin (they really did cover it with a sheet and pull it away ... ta-da!), they pounded a cask-ale-style tap into the gourd and served the brew straight from the squash. There's an excellent picture at the AJC's site.

Even more Jackson

In his piece today, Atlanta Journal-Constitution beer columnist Bob Townsend provides remembrances of recently-departed beer writer & enthusiast Michael Jackson. He quotes a number of Atlanta-area bar & restaurant owners and beer lovers about their thoughts on the man. The best line, from Andy Klubock, owner of Summits Wayside Taverns:

"It meant a lot to me for him to come and look at what we were doing. He's like the pope of beer. I needed his blessing."

A little of this n' a lambic of that

Bob Townsend, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's beer columnist, discusses this week the art of blending Belgian lambics. I envy the experience, and his contacts. Lambics are a world I've only seen the shore of from a distance - I sampled my first at the Magic City Brewfest back in June.

Townsend, on the other hand, hooked up with Don Feinberg, an importer of Belgian beers who had two big casks of rare lambics to share.

Once, all beers were lambics, in a way. It's a style in which the beer ferments spontaneously. Brewers don't add any yeast, they just allow the yeast in the atmosphere to do what it will, the way things were done before anyone knew yeast had anything to do with fermentation. Modern lambics often are flavored with fruit such as raspberry or cherry. The flavors can be very intense, ranging from very sweet to very sour. One type, known as geuze, involves blending different lambics for flavors unique to each brewer.

Feinberg had Townsend and his other guests blend lambics from each cask, essentially creating their own geuze. Check out the size of the casks in the AJC's photo.