Beer Engine on Left, Frank Tate hop tower on Right
Crawford Moran, Brewmaster at 5 Seasons Westside, and 5 Seasons North (Alpharetta) is doing a lot for casks and craft beer in Atlanta.
Every Thursday at both locations, at 5:55 pm a cask has been tapped. Casks have ranged from IPA’s, Brown Ales, and Porters. Today is no exception as we are just hours from 2 more casks about to hit the beer engine.
Westside location today is featuring an Oatmeal Porter cask. Crawford describes it as “A nice, easy drinking, sessionable porter. It’s brewed with floor malted Maris Otter barley – simply the best malt in the world. The oats add another dimension to the character, a little more complexity, and a fuller mouth feel. It should be a great style for the beer engine.”
NOTE – THE HOP BOMB EXPRESS WILL BE TAPPING OCTOBER 1st at WESTSIDE!
The cask at the North location is a real treat. It’s dubbed the “Hop Bomb Express.” HBE is the Plan B IPA that has been dry hopped, again IN the cask, and then as it is gravity tapped (on the beer engine, essentially “pumped” into your pint glass,) it is run through a device called the “Frank Tate” a tower full of whole leaf hops. (See image above.) At this point the beer is passing through whole leaf hops on the way to the glass adding more hop character. Finally, the actual pint glass is dry hopped. Hopheads, you CAN’T miss this.
Another note, the 5 Seasons North location has bottles of their Haiku Trippel aged in French Oak cask. Also, bottles of the Reserve 500 — an imperial stout aged in a Woodford Reserve Bourbon Barrel for 500 days, then bottle conditioned with a Belgian Trappist Yeast strain(Trappist = special Monk strain.) Both are 750 ml, corked.
One last bit of news, 5 Seasons Westside location will be keep a cask full time now. So, if you can’t make it to the cask tapping, you will always have access to one. Another big step for beer in Atlanta, thanks to Crawford. I’m sure craft beer newbies & beer geeks alike will rejoice! Keep up the amazing work Crawford Moran and brewing team!
Interested but can’t make it to the casks tonight? Follow me on twitter for pics @atlbeermaster & @atlantabeer and check out my Facebook page here — http:bit.ly/LFqsX
