Brewery Review: Sweetwater Brewing Company of Atlanta, Georgia

Sweetwater Brewing Company, of Atlanta, Georgia, is a microbrewery located in Midtown, Atlanta. The brewery was started by two college roommates from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Freddy Bensch and Kevin McNearny. Sweetwater brews a more aggressive, West Coast style of beer and has made itself a name in the Southeastern United States, where the brews are distributed and sold.

On my recent pass-through in the city of Atlanta, I had the opportunity to sit down and enjoy a brew (or two) from Sweetwater. The place offers many different regularly brewed beers, such as the 420 Extra Pale Ale (5.4% ABV), the Georgia Brown (5.1% ABV), the IPA (an extensively dry-hopped, non-pasteurized, and unfiltered ale), the Blue (a blueberry ale of 4.9% ABV), and the Hummer (a Belgian white ale of 5.1% ABV). Sweetwater Brewery also offers seasonal beers like the Happy Ending (a 9% ABV Imperial Stout available January through March), the Road Trip (a Pilsner beer available April through August), the Motor Boat (and ESB-style beer available August through October with an ABV of 5.6%), and the Festive Ale (a very limited edition 8.6% ABV ale offered October through December).

I initially decided on tasting the Sweetwater Blue, since I am partial to fruit beers overall. The Blue had a nice copper color to it, but very little blueberry color, aroma, or even flavor. I've made blueberry ales of my own, and while they do not have to be sweet (in fact, they should not be), the beer should at least have some tinge of blueberry smell to it (and a slight blue color). I suspected that this beer was either seriously under-blueberried, or perhaps it was treated with just a pinch of blueberry syrup. Otherwise, the beer was good.

I then took a taste of the 420 Extra Pale Ale. While I'm not the biggest fan of Pale Ales in general, I did note the bitterness of the 420. No hop aroma came through, however, which is always a nice touch for a Pale Ale. The 420 had probably not been dry-hopped. This beer also had a nice copper color to it.

I finally decided to order the Georgia Brown, which was described as being a malty, and somewhat sweet, brown ale. This beer had a much darker brown hue to it. Taking a whiff of the brew, I was a bit surprised when I smelled excessive hops. I took a taste, and had to wait a few seconds before I could pinpoint what exactly was wrong with this beer. My verdict: the beer tasted like an IPA or some other Pale Ale. There was very little sweetness to the beer, as would be expected with a Brown.

To make my beer go down a bit better, I checked out Sweetwater's food menu. There wasn't anything particularly novel about the food here- the standard burgers, pastas, and pizzas were offered. I decided to order the loaded nachos.

When my nachos showed up, I found them loaded indeed- incredible amounts of guacamole and sour cream covered the chips. I had to wade through the dollops of cream in order to find a chip or two. While at first my nachos were quite satisfying, in time they became a gooey mess. The chips, once crisp, melted into the guacamole and the sour cream; I had to leave the rest behind as a loss to the mountains of goop.

Meanwhile, my beer was not getting any better. The bitterness of the Brown Ale stayed on my tongue, something that should only happen with a Pale Ale. I left half my beer unfinished and asked for the bill.

My second surprise was seeing the price for my brew: apparently, each glass ran $7! I had never paid this much money for a (half) glass of beer. It's a good thing I only purchased one!

In conclusion, I doubt I'll be returning to Sweetwater Brewery in the future. The "aggressive" West Coast style of brewing might be fine for hoppy beers like Pale Ales, but I don't want bitterness in every beer I touch. Despite the fact that Sweetwater has won a few awards now, I think it needs to reconsider how it hops its beers.

Here is some additional information about Sweetwater Brewery:

Address: 195 Ottley Drive, NE
Atlanta, GA 30324
Phone: (404) 691-2537
Web: www.sweetwaterbrew.com