Blog Topic: Beer Me

In the Loop: Cheers! Watkinsville Approves Sunday Sales

By Lee Becker | March 22, 2017 4:42pm

Photo Credit: Paul Joseph

Watkinsville voters overwhelmingly approved the Sunday sales of alcoholic drinks in the city’s restaurants and the Sunday sales of beer and wine in the city’s convenience stores in voting in the special election that ended Tuesday.

Vote rturnout was low, but the margins in favor of Sunday sales in the city were even higher than they were when county voters approved Sunday sales last November.

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In the Loop: Gov. Deal Bet 12 Tropicalias on the Falcons Game

By Blake Aued | January 18, 2017 3:59pm

Photo Credit: courtesy of Creature Comforts

It's hard to imagine Baptist Gov. Nathan Deal kicking back with a cold one to watch some football, but if he does, he has good taste. Deal included 12 Athens-made Creature Comforts Tropicalias in a wager with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker over this weekend's Falcons-Packers game.

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In the Loop: Creature Comforts Is Building a Second Brewery in Boulevard

By Blake Aued | January 17, 2017 7:39pm

Photo Credit: courtesy of Creature Comforts

Creature Comforts will renovate part of an old mill off Chase Street just north of Boulevard into an $8 million new brewery slated to open this fall, the Athens company announced today.

The Athens-Clarke County Commission unanimously approved a $475,000 taxpayer contribution to the project at a specially called meeting tonight. The county Industrial Development Authority will use the money to buy brewing equipment that it will lease to Creature Comforts for a nominal fee for five years, after which Creature Comforts will own the equipment.

"This is an Athens company, and we want to keep those expansions here," ACC Manager Blaine Williams said.

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Grub Notes: Beer Roundup: Releases From Creature Comforts, Terrapin, New Brewpub Akademia

By Blake Aued | January 12, 2017 1:46pm

Photo Credit: courtesy of Creature Comforts

Athens brewery Creature Comforts is releasing two limited-edition releases this month, Southerly Love and Get Comfortable.

Back for the first time since 2014 is Southerly Love (6.4% ABV), an American Wild Ale brewed with Belgian brettanomyces yeast and Idaho 7, Cascade and Crystal hops, giving it papaya and tangerine flavors to go with brett beers’ trademark funk. The collaboration with Florida’s 7venth Sun Brewery will be available on draft and in 750-milliliter souvenir bombers at the brewery starting Jan. 17.

University of Georgia scientific illustration major Katie Schmidt designed the label, pictured above.

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In the Loop: Sunday Booze Is Now Legal in Oconee County

By Lee Becker | December 12, 2016 4:46pm

^Everyone in Oconee County this morning.

Restaurants, groceries and convenience stores in Oconee County currently selling beer, wine and alcoholic drinks are free to do so on Sunday.

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners changed the county’s alcoholic beverage ordinance on Tuesday night by adding hours for sales on Sundays, but did not require license holders to get new licenses.

So all the existing license holders needed to do on Sunday was ring up the sales when customers brought the beer and wine to the cash registers or fill the drink orders when customers made them.

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Grub Notes: Koko Buni's Back and Terrapin Expands

By Blake Aued | November 22, 2016 5:07pm

Athens brewery Creature Comforts is rereleasing its popular milk porter, Koko Buni, later this month in cans and on draft—just in time for the cold weather that a week ago seemed like it'd never come.

Koko Buni (6.8% ABV) is brewed with Ecuadorean chocolate from Condor Chocolates and 100 Faces coffee, as well as vanilla and toasted coconut. Local artist David Hale won a CNBC competition in April for his can design.

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In the Loop: Where to Get Drunk and Watch the Election Results

By Blake Aued | November 8, 2016 3:42pm

via GIPHY

Whether in despair or in triumph, you will be drinking tonight. Here's where to do it.

For Democrats: The Clarke County Democratic Committee will be watching results at Southern Brewing Co. It’s free, but a brewery tour that includes 36 ounces of beer samples is $12.

For Republicans: The Athens GOP is hosting its viewing party at Locos on Barnett Shoals Road.

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In the Loop: Athens Is Getting a Civil Rights Committee, and No One Is Too Happy About It

By Blake Aued | November 2, 2016 4:01pm

Photo Credit: Blake Aued

City Hall was packed out Tuesday.

Every single Athens-Clarke County commissioner favors forming a local civil rights committee to deal with issues of discrimination in Athens, and so did almost every single one of the 100 people who packed City Hall for a commission vote on the topic Tuesday night. So why did most of them leave mad?

A bizarre 6-2 vote instructing county staff to bring forward a framework for the civil rights committee revealed rancor between not only the citizen activists pushing for the committee and the commissioners who approved it, but behind the rail as well.

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In the Loop: The Party's Back On at Frat Beach

By Blake Aued | October 27, 2016 1:35pm

Photo Credit: UGA News Service

Glynn County workers and volunteers clean up "frat beach" after the Georgia-Florida game in 2012.

Glynn County, GA has decided to Make Frat Beach Fratty Again. Sort of.

Authorities at the beach community that’s a notorious party spot for UGA students on the Georgia-Florida football weekend have decided to scale back the police presence after cracking down on rowdy students last year, the Golden Isles News reported.

Last year’s “zero tolerance” approach will still be in effect, but police won’t be out in force on St. Simons Island roads like they were last year.

“Last year may have been a bit of overkill,” County Commission Chairman Richard Strickland said last month, according to the News. “We were trying to get their attention, to make them understand. We appreciate them being here, but at the same time we have laws and we want you to behave yourselves. But we are more than happy to have them here.”

Last year, after getting fed up with partiers trashing the beach, Glynn County commissioners sent a stern letter to UGA and Florida students warning them to behave themselves. They didn’t this year. Apparently coastal merchants complained that the heavy police presence hurt their business.

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Grub Notes: Creature Comforts' Latest Beer, Transmission, Is Out Today

By Blake Aued | September 29, 2016 2:46pm

Today Creature Comforts is release its latest beer, Transmission, a collaboration with Arizona Wildness Brewing Co. It’s a funky citrus saison (5.6% ABV) brewed with honey from Danielsville’s Booger Hill Bee Co., oranges and lemons from The Farm at Agritopia in Gilbert, AZ, and citrusy Mandarina Bavaria and Lemondrop hops, then bottle-conditioned for four months with Creature Comforts’ house yeast and bacteria cultures. Transmission will be available in 750 milliliter bombers at the brewery only.

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