Cherry Street Brewing Cooperative - Cumming Georgia

You can find Cherry Street Brewing in Cumming (and yeah I can hear you snicker) Georgia at 5813 S Vickery St, Cumming, GA 30040. Having spent some time there, I can say that there's currently not much to see in the area. Parking is plentiful out front, to the side (it's on a corner, sort of) or down the other areas in front of shops but you may have to walk a bit, as this brewery is very popular.

I first came across Cherry Street having sampled a Chief Sawnee's Coconut Porter many years ago - I really didn't know anything about the brewery but knew right away that this porter was special and would frequently claim it to be the best beer brewed locally, at least at the time. Since then are are many, many contenders but as of around 2015 this was still true - I think of it as the start of the "real" craft brew scene in Atlanta (and yes I know of several that have been around much longer, but in thinking about relatively small batches being made for keg distribution only Cherry Street was (unconfirmed) probably still in that Nano-to-Craft transition category. I next saw the same beer with one other at a Beer Festival (don't remember which one) being poured from a tapped job box (I still have the stickers they were handing out) and then it started showing up at the various bars I frequently visited.

The first time I visited the brewery, I decided to drive up from my then job near 400 and perimeter - I think it took about 45 minutes with some traffic. Two things I remember: 1. ) Driving into the middle of nowhere - really, you come off 400 and go through big expanses of nothing then finally hit a few elementary schools before coming to Vickery St (which leads you into the shopping center - I kept thinking that I was lost or that Maps was directing me wrong or something. 2.) The taproom was closed - this was pretty early and they had limited days/hours. Luckily I was able to go to Tanner's next door and enjoy a couple of flights (The Tanner's own both the Brewery and Pub). I found out later that this was the same Tanner's that used to be closer in as a rotisserie chicken place - from what I remember, I've visited one of those locations back in the day and liked the chicken quite a bit.

In any case, the taproom is something special, with a space that runs into a long room and a bar to the left. There's a newly opened (at least for me) area to the right full of barrels and extra seating plus a decent patio for drinking and watching the the locals shop. There's a well trained and knowledgeable crew pouring beers and providing advise on what to drink next. There's a clipboard available with 25 or so things on draft with a bottle list and maybe a guest tap or two. The beers here are extremely tasty, have great variety and a bit of experimentation - overall I can't think of one that I didn't at least find palatable, with most being exceptional. According to Untapped, I've had 25 different beers from this brewery so I won't bother to list them all - you'll need to come by and sample them yourself. You'll be glad you did - just make sure you have time to do a couple of flights and grab a bite next door before leaving - oh even better, have a designated driver - it really is in the middle of nowhere.

(also published on Yelp)
 

Sweetwater Brewing - Atlanta Georgia

You can find Sweetwater Brewing (this is the actual brewery) at 195 Ottley Dr NE
Atlanta, GA 30324. This is an industrial part accessed by the Armour Dr and Monroe exists from I85 access road, Northeast Expressway. It's a convoluted path that takes you down several streets but you'll know when you see the giant Sweetwater label on a brick tower that you've arrived. Parking is out front but it's difficult to find a space there - however there's plenty of overflow parking so expect a short walk.

This is a huge facility with lots to explore, but in general there are five spaces: the reception area, the main pour room, a retail area where you can buy souvenirs, an event space overlooking the packaging facility, and an external patio complete with stage. I've recently attended several gatherings including the use of the event space so I'll describe them separately (this review is an aggregate of at least three visits, starting in summer 2016 and ending most recently on a May 2017 weekend).

With so many recent local craft breweries popping up it's easy to forget Sweetwater, which I consider the first successful local craft brewery - these days their distribution (the Southeast and points North and West) is so large that many no longer think of them as a craft brewery - I think the concept survives in their seasonals and Dank Tank specials. Back in the day it was pretty much 420 and it's still an excellent standby, but to me it taste different with the Sweetwater IPA tasting closer to the original recipe (not sure if the recipe changed, the brewing methods have changed or my tastes have changed - more likely a bit of all three). 

The entry to the facility features a huge Sweetwater label - make sure you take a selfie there so everyone on your Facebook and Twitter feeds can feel jealous. That's what it's all about after all. Once you finish that requirement, show your ID and come into the reception for your card. Depending on the year you'll also get a custom glass - one of the benefits of going to a brewery "tour" is to get a free glass to add to the collection but really it's all about the beer, and quite a deal getting 6 partial pours for the $10-15 (depending on where you are). Before going up the ramp make sure you take a gander at the beautiful Chihuly-like glass sculpture (you'll get to see it again from the top balcony).

The entry into the main tasting room is to your right at the top of the ramp - you'll need to walk by the retail area where you can purchase souvenir T-shirts and the like. I normally don't spend any time there but I think you'll find a tie-dyed shirt or three that will tickle your fancy. The bar is on the left and wraps around down a long hall with additional taps. There's about 6 options at each group of taps - I think there are three groups. As the crowd starts getting think additional staff usually comes out to help so the lines move relatively quickly. You're supposed to get a 1/3rd pour but often it's fairly heavy so plenty of opportunity to taste the current selections. My standbys here are the 420, the IPA and just about any Dank Tank - I've tried most of the flavored beers and call me a snob, but I don't care for them (not particular to Sweetwater but to any brewery - I just rarely like the flavored ones). On this day my favorite was the Wookie On Down and from a previous visit, Happy Ending (more on these later).

If you're here for an event there's a special event room towards the back of the building - I believe this is relatively new as the fixtures and interior showed little of the wear you see from so many visitors. The event room has windows that overlook the main bottling facility - if you're there during the week it's quite a sight to see with lots going on - the amount of activity is amazing. On the evening I attended it was for box.com so there were tables setup and catered food in the back. There was a Powerpoint shown on the wall which was a bit weak, but the service was very good and the beer refreshing. I stuck with the Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout and also tried the Old Johnson's Farm Imperial Stout with Rasperries (too fruity for me).

The fourth area worth seeing is the tour itself, where you're lead by a guide describing the process and seeing the "guts" of the business, so to speak. The facility is huge and the tour worth attending - make sure you fill your glass before it starts.

The final area is the patio - there's a stage on one end and on a previous weekend visit there was live music. It has a festive air and there's a few activities (giant jinga and cornhole) and some hammocks if your feel inclined. On very busy and hot days there's also staff pouring from counters outside so you don't have to walk back in.

In all the staff here are way cool, very friendly and have little of the snobbish attitude you find at some breweries. Visitors are a mix of business people, students and locals - it's an awesome crowd.

Now for the beer - while sampling I like to use the Untapped app:

* 420 - Extra Pale Ale - 3/5 the old standby, I'll drink it if the other options are Bud/Miller
* IPA - India Pale Ale -  3.5/5 lots of hops in this unfiltered ale. My replacement for 420 when it's available.

* Georgia Brown - American Brown Ale - 2/5 I really want to like brown ales but they tend to be a bit too sweet for me and this is no exception.

* Hop Hash - Hash Infused Double IPA - 4/5 awesome supper hoppy IPA with plenty of alcohol punch. I'd like to see this one as a regular but seems it's out of production (figures)
* Hash Session IPA - Hash Infused Session IPA  - 3/5 a lightweight version of the Hop Hash, very palatable. Think of this as something you'd drink cutting the grass in the heat - plenty of hops.
* Grass Monkey - 4/5 lots of citrus, especially lemon or lemon grass. Fairly lightweight and a great beer to accompany hot spicy food.

* Happy Ending - Dry Hopped Imperial Stout - 4/5

* Wookie Down - Imperial Red Ale - 4.5/5 Reddish dark ale with hints of citrus a malt. It doesn't get much better than this.

* Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout - 4/5 I do love me some stouts (this one is only available in winter or very early sprint). Hoppy, light chocolate and good alcohol taste all make for an excellent stout to me.

* Old Johnson's Farm Imperial Stout with Raspberries - 3/5 can't say that I care for this too much - the raspberries leave an aftertaste that works against the normally quite delicious coffee, chocolate, roasted barley and black malt.

-- John



(also posted to Yelp)

Superica - Krog Street Market - Inman Park Atlanta

You can find Superica at 99 Krog St, Ste C, Atlanta, GA 30307 in Krog Street Market. Parking is across the street in an open lot, along the streets in any available space or in a private lot provided by a valet.

We visited Superica as the beginning of a short crawl that ended at the Dogwood Arts Festival (walking along the Beltline) and ending at Ponce City Market with my friend Arvin R (we eventually picked up Kymber W on the way back). If you haven't been to Krog Street Market yet you really should try it - if for nothing else, the huge beer selection at Hop City - but I digress. On this day we decided to hit Superica for brunch before hitting the Beltline - we had no real plan other than to eat and drink beer, get a little exercise and take in the sights.

The Krog Street Market used to be Tyler Perry's music studio and can be found in Inman Park - it's now a multi-use facility that houses several restaurants and shops and has become an intown destination, with several things to offer including today's visit to Superica. This is my second time at Superica, having visited previously right after they opened and frankly, not having had the best time. Those of you who know me also know that I have one of those cast-iron stomachs that can withstand quite a lot, both is spiciness and in outright obnoxious behaved food - my prior visit to Superica ended with me having a rather painful evening and next day - first time this has happened to me in many years (and that includes a trip to India!). I can only guess that the mojo that I had as Superica was a bit tainted and initially this did not provide further impetus to return. However I finally decided that I should give the restaurant a second try and I'm glad I did as this is indeed fine Tex-Mex.

 Brunch here was interesting as you can imagine, a South-of-the-Border mix of breakfast food and good Mexican spicy favorites.  We were provided a basket of chips with a few dips which was an awesome way to start things - also on tap my favorite local brew, Creature Comforts Tropicalia. 

I ordered the  Huevos Rancheros - house tortilla, 2X beans, ranchero sauce, 2 eggs sunny-side up, avcado and bacon. I must say that this is the best version of this classic dish that I've ever had and I've had the dish many, many times in several areas of the US and Mexico.  Everything here worked to build an interesting, textural palate - and it went so well with the tropical citrus in the beer. Simply delicious.

Arvin ordered the  Chorizo, Potato & Eggs - 2 eggs scrambled with chorizo, potatoes and cheese - really quite a ton of cheese. I tasted these but frankly the didn't compare to mine.

We also ordered a side of Hot Cakes - Double Stack with whipped butter and buttermilk syrup as it wouldn't have been a breakfast without pancakes, right? Anyway, these were quite good with a really surprising syrup and honestly, we didn't need these and didn't get through half the stack. Who knew?

The service on this day was quite good - we arrived early enough that it wasn't too busy but it was packed with a wait by the time we left. In all quite a good way to start a hike and day of drinking!

-- John 

(also posted to Yelp) 
 

China Feng - Buford Highway Near Druid Hills - Atlanta Georgia

You can find China Feng at 3062 Buford Hwy NE, Atlanta, GA 30329 in a small strip mall on the western side of Buford Hwy that is also home of International Cafe. Across the street is Montie's and the intersection is with Curtis Dr, which becomes Corporate Blvd on the east side of BufHy. Parking is out front and to the side - China Feng is the corner business as the building makes an "L" or "V" shape.

This visit was part of the Buford Highway Restaurant Crawl started by  John F many years ago (it's also how I started to write reviews, during the first pass of his crawl, then starting in Duluth and moving south. This time we started at the southern most point and are moving north, one restaurant a week). When John wrote "China Feng" I thought - great! A restaurant I haven't tried (if you know me you also know I spend a lot of time exploring Buford Highway). Alas, once I got to the location I realized I had visited China Feng before but it's been 15 years or so.


The exterior is nothing special - stacked stone facade with a stucco overhead structure - CHINA FENG is on both sides of the corner and there are windows (covered with blinds) also facing both sides. It's fairly nondescript with little indicating it's a Chinese restaurant other than the name. The interior is clean and, similar to the exterior very plain and functional - there was one other customer waiting for take-out. We were greeted by a lady with menus who helped us decide what to order. The menu is a quad-fold takeout menu in paper, but for use laminated as a flat sheet.

After looking it over we made several selections, starting with edamame, some steamed pot-stickers and hot-and-sour soup. Once again, nothing special here - the pot-stickers were a bit weak I though - these are the thicker-skin type that taste more doughy than meaty. The soup was of the style that has a lot of beef stock and corn-starch with no meat but including egg-drop and some slivered daikon or jicama.

For dinner I ordered the Triple Delicacies - Prawns, chicken filets, scallops sauteed with bell peppers, snow peas, water chestnuts in a delicate spicy sauce -  extra spicy please. John ordered the Dragon and Phoenix - divided plate of assorted vegetables with lobster, shrimp sauteed in a spicy white sauce and chicken chunks lightly fried in hot spicy sauce. Sean ordered the Bean Curd (Tofu) in Brown Sauce. The food in general was reasonably fresh without any real distinctive flavors but very palatable.

This style of cooking I refer to as "Swag Chinese" - your basic Americanized Chinese fair. If you're from the US you've probably been eating this stuff all your life and there's certainly a place for it in American cuisine. It does have quite a bit of corn-starch in all the dishes and really, between the white (oyster) sauce and the brown sauce, there's only the option to spice things up a bit (and even though it may look spicy it isn't, really). If you don't mind that style of Chinese food then you'll probably like China Feng quite a bit - I thought the service was good (we were the only table, but there was a stead stream of take-out orders) - I think they do a good business and are probably very consistent.

I sampled all the food ordered on this night and while not bad, it wasn't anything special - it's very solid Americanized Chinese food. The prices I thought were very cheap also and you can't beat the convenience of this location - it would make a good fallback if you don't want to wait for other restaurants nearby on busy nights. Call this on 3/5 stars.

-- John

(also posted to Yelp)