Blog Topic: Upcoming in Athens

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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Culture Briefs: UGA Schedules Memorial Service for Late Professor Judith Ortiz Cofer

By Blake Aued | January 10, 2017 3:27pm

Photo Credit: The University of Georgia

The University of Georgia will hold a memorial service Friday, Jan. 27 for Judith Ortiz Cofer, an award-winning author, poet and professor who died of cancer at her Jackson County home Dec. 30.

Ortiz Cofer was born in Puerto Rico in 1952. Her family moved to New Jersey in 1956, then to Augusta, GA when she was 15. She taught English and creative writing at UGA for nearly 30 years before retiring in 2013.

Ortiz Cofer was known for her prose and poetry about growing up Puerto Rican and being torn culturally between the mainland U.S. and her traditional family. Her 1989 novel The Line of the Sun was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and she was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2010.

The memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. at The Chapel, with a reception following at the Demosthenian Hall.

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In the Loop: Get Ready for Snowpocalypse 2017

By Blake Aued | January 6, 2017 1:17pm

Good thing they finally built the Brain Train, amirite?

The latest forecast from the National Weather Service predicts a mix of rain and sleet tonight and 1–3 inches of snow Saturday morning in Athens.

The UGA campus will close at 3:30 p.m., meaning all classes and other activities are canceled, and faculty and staff can go home early. Campus Transit shuts down at 4:30 p.m. The men's basketball game Saturday and the women's basketball game Sunday are still going on as planned, for the moment. Check here for updates.

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Homedrone: Allman Brothers Drummer Butch Trucks Plays The Foundry Tonight, Plus Weekend Music Picks

By Gabe Vodicka | January 5, 2017 3:10pm

Butch Trucks (and drums)

If you're just back in town and looking for a way to properly ring in the New Year on this fifth day of January, you could do a lot worse than The Foundry, where Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks will perform with his newly formed Freight Train Band.

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In the Loop: Where and When to Recycle Your Christmas Tree

By Blake Aued | January 4, 2017 2:22pm

Photo Credit: Kelvinsong/Wikimedia Commons

The presents have been opened, you're finally over your hangover from all that eggnog plus New Year's Eve champagne, and life is getting back to normal now that the holidays are over. So, what to do with that slowly dying pine tree in your living room?

Athens-Clarke County has four drop-off locations to recycle Christmas trees for free (and get a free seedling) during its "Bring One for the Chipper" event Saturday, Jan. 7 from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. They are:

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In the Loop: Sign Up for Obamacare While You Still Can

By Blake Aued | December 28, 2016 12:25pm

Photo Credit: National Cancer Institute

It's no secret that the incoming Trump Administration and congressional Republicans are plannning to dismantle Obamacare. But you can still sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act—at least for the next year.

While the deadline to buy coverage effective on Jan. 1 was Dec. 19, HHS has extended the open enrollment period until Jan. 31, 2017.

In addition, health care navigators from the Macon-based group Insure Georgia will be at the Athens-Clarke County Library (2025 Baxter St.) from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Thursday to help people sign up.

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Grub Notes: Metro Diner Is Coming to the Former East-West Bistro Downtown

By Hillary Brown | December 13, 2016 1:13pm

Those 'chos sure look outta bounds.

Photo Credit: Metro Diner

The two-story space that housed East West Bistro for many years, on Broad Street downtown, finally seems to be getting a tenant: a diner chain out of Jacksonville, FL.

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In the Loop: What Would You Fund With a Local Transportation Tax?

By Blake Aued | December 12, 2016 3:55pm

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones/file

Athens-Clarke County will host a public forum Wednesday from 7–8 p.m. at the ACC Library for people with questions or comments about an upcoming sales-tax referendum for transportation.

The Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST) will be on the Nov. 7, 2017 ballot. If approved, it will raise an estimated $104 million over five years to spend on roads, bridges, sidewalks, bike lanes and paths and public transit.

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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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Culture Briefs: Athens Symphony Christmas Concert Tickets Available Nov. 28

By Abigail Sherrod | November 22, 2016 11:20am

Photo Credit: Athens Symphony

Come one, come… many! This year, the Classic Center will be offering complimentary tickets to the Athens Symphony's annual Christmas concerts, which take place Saturday, Dec. 10 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. in the Classic Center Theatre.

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