Bluetarp and High Card Brewing - Decatur Altanta Georgia

I'm writing this as I've been meaning to for a while - Bluetarp Brewing is moving to a different location and I wanted to relate my experience at its current.

You can find Bluetarp Brewing at 731 E College Ave, Decatur, GA 30030. I've always thought this are as more part of Avondale Estates but it seems it's actually at the border of Avondale and Decatur. You'll pull down a short road that feeds long industrial/commercial style buildings - Bluetarp is on the left with parking to the right facing and down the street.

Bluetarp Brewing is part of a triangle made up of Three Taverns, Bluetarp and Wild Heaven - I've managed to do a short brewery walk between the three on a couple of occasions but usually visit each brewery solo, unless there's a bottle release. On this most recent occasion I attended the BA Deep Helm release down the street so stopped into Bluetarp and visited with them, along with High Card Brewing who are currently contracting with Bluetarp to brew their delicious White Queen Blonde Imperial Stout (and others) and share one end of the counter where you can pickup their current draft and a few varieties in cans.

The space is what I would call your typical warehouse location with a small door leading into the taproom - you order beer along the end back-wall (there's a long bar). If they're busy they may be checking your ID near the entrance - to the left is some casual seating. There's a pretty good patio out front where you can do your usual patio-things - this is also a pet friendly establishment (seems most breweries are). Bluetarp is really setup for the purchase and enjoyment of beer so it's a bit no frills. Pricing is fairly typical for craft breweries and they're good about providing half-pours in lieu of flights - this is one of the oldest Atlanta breweries so they go back to the ticket-and-glass system before the brewery-direct-to-consumer laws changed a couple of years ago.

The people behind the bar are very nice and attentive - you queue up until you get your beers and they'll let you start a tab if that's your preference. Of the beer I like the following from Bluetarp (these are my short reviews from Untapped):

* Blue Moon Pale Wheat Ale - 4/5 Interesting beer, mostly due to the beautiful blood red color. Otherwise fairly slammable with a dry finish.

* Juicin' IPA - 4/5 Juicy and Hoppy IPA with a pretty decent amount of citrus and a fairly dry finish.

* Last Place Stout - 4.25/5 Nice Imperial stout, fairly boozy, great coffee, chocolate and malt nose. Good mouthfeel and lacing.

* All I Want for My Birthday is a Big Booty Baltic Porter - 4.25/5 Delicious almost oily porter with great nutty/malty profile.

* Go Funk Yourself Farmhouse IPA - 4.25/5 Tart, hoppy and fat - might be too tart for most IPA fans and maybe too hoppy for sour fans. I liked it quite a bit.

* Hawking Radiation Imperial IPA - 4/5 Very solid DIPA, citrus notes, hoppy nose and finish, fairly juicy they dry.

And these from High Card:

* NE Lowball IPA - 4/5 New England IPA with some haziness, tropical notes and most of the hops on the backend - very low bitterness.

* White Queen Blonde Stout - 4/4 This is a delicious blonde imperial stout with nice mouthfeel and a complex flavor profile.

* Wild Pirate Queen - BA White Queen - 4.25/5 Take the most excellent Pirate Queen and add slight tartness and rum BA notes - it’s a beautiful combo with great mouthfeel.

Bluetarp and High Card will be moving to Tucker, right behind Local 7 on the Tucker Square, sometime in 2019. Looking forward to them moving closer to my home.

(also posted to Yelp)

Three Taverns Craft Brewery - Decatur Atlanta Georgia

You can find Three Taverns Craft Brewery at 121 New St, Decatur, GA 30030- while this is property Decatur by city districting lines, it may mean more looking for the Brewery by it's proximity to Avondale Estates as New St comes off of East College and is basically on the border between Decatur and Avondale slightly west of the Avondale MARTA station, a great travel option.

The photos and experience are a bit old - it's from a visit on 2017.01.28 back before the laws were changed regarding the direct purchase of beer in Georgia - at the time you could pay for a "Brewery Tour" which usually included a glass and tickets that could be used to sample the beer. On this occasion I put together a small brewery crawl with some friends - there are three breweries within walking distance of each other: Three Taverns, Blue Tarp and Wild Heaven. We also made stops at My Parents Basement (for lunch) and closed things out at Palookaville for dinner.

Three Taverns Craft Brewery in on New Street, about two blocks from East College - you turn onto New and then make a right into their parking lot. As with most Atlanta breweries, the facility parking is almost negligible - but fear not as there's plenty of street parking. This is a metal warehouse-style building with an awning above the taproom tentrance and "121" to the left of the door. The exterior belies the expansive rooms within - the facility is pretty big. 

The taproom itself has reclaimed wood walls and an interesting gear/wheel sculpture behind one counter and exposed brick behind the main tap counter - by the exposed wooden ceiling this was probably the original structure. If you're a beer geek (and who isn't?), make sure you take the tour - it's a nice facility - you'll also spot some barrels with goodies aging inside and if you're lucky they'll have something available that's unusual and not found locally in cans - and really, that's the best thing about visiting local breweries, experiencing the delicious limited offerings found only on site.

Theophan the Recluse Belgian Imperial Stout

Quasimodo Belgian Style Quad

Feest Noel - spiced Quasimodo

Third Age Sherry Barrel Aged Old Ale

On this day there were several beers worth trying (so I did, of course):

1. A Night on Ponce IPA - I've had this several times to skipped
2. Hoplicity DIPA - this was quite good, I think much better than their regular IPA.
3. A Night in Brussels IPA - I also skipped this one.
4. Prince of Pilsen - not a fan of Pilsners so I've never tried this one. 
5. Quasimodo - this as a pretty great Belgian Style Quad
6. Feest Noel - this is a spiced up version of Quasimodo with cardamom, all spice and clove - it was a bit too much for me but I can see why someone would like it 
7. Third Age - this Sherry Barrel Aged Old Ale - I thought I would like this more - I'm not sure what I expected.
8. Theophan the Recluse - I've had this before but like it so much I had more while visiting - this is a delicious Belgian-style Imperial Stout - strong, boozy, rich and worth it.
9. There were also three sours, but I passed on all three: Rapturous (rasperry sour), No.10-Basileus (cucumber basil) and No.11-Blacklisted (black currant rosemary tark dark ale). 
10. Rowdy and Proud IPA - not listed but also worth trying - I like it better than A Night on Ponce. 

The people at Three Taverns are exceptionally nice - both the staff and the other patrons. I didn't get that douchey hipster vibe while visiting - the crowd was a bit older so that might be it, or it may just be the location - this part of town doesn't have the collegiate attitude of intown breweries. In any case, the first location on our brewery crawl was quite successful. We had fun and the beer and brewery experience was most excellent.

@JohnEatonATL and @excitedtofeast on Instagram

(also posted to Yelp)

Raging Burrito and Taco - Decatur Atlanta Georgia

You can find Raging Burrito and Taco at 141 Sycamore St, Decatur, GA 30030. This is the strip of stores and businesses behind the Decatur Square when faced from Ponce. Parking is both good and bad for this area - in general it sucks a bit due to how busy it is, especially around prime feeding times. The good news is that there's a bunch of on street parking and nearby lots. The bad news is that pretty much everything is pay-to-park but Decatur did a pretty smart thing and put technically advanced meters in place so you can use a credit card - you can also input your mobile and if you start running out of time you can pay for more from your mobile - it's awesome.

This is my first visit to Raging Burrito - it seems like every time I've wanted to go in the past there was a wait and frankly too many other restaurants nearby to hold out for this one. Fortunately I was with a group who had either called called ahead or waited it out (they were already seated when I arrived) so no wait for me. The interior of this place is typical for this row of buildings - exposed brick walls with a mix of industrial and modern fixtures, and some eclecticism like a wall of African-styled masks. There's additional seating to the back and also a hidden patio.

The food is Tex-Mex with a focus on jumbo burritos and their "World Famous" margaritas. They also have a handful of local craft brews on tap, but on this late afternoon I went for the margarita - quite tasty and served in a pint glass so enough to whet-your-whistle for a while.

We started with an Appetizer Trio (choice of dips - we went with Raging Avocado Sauce, Homemade Guacamole and Queso Dip - all were quite good and the chips very fresh, served warm.

Dinner included lots of beans, melty cheese, salsa fresca and plenty of cilantro on pretty much everything. I thought the food quite good as were the margaritas.

The service was a bit iffy - the party included 8 people and the place was busy - we had to hunt for a server a few times to get basics like water, napkins and setups. I think we would have stayed for an extra round if it had been better. In general the experience was 3.5 stars but I feel like being generous and will round up to 4/5.

(also published to Yelp)

Thumbs Up Diner - Decatur Georgia

You can find this location of Thumbs Up Diner at 174 W Ponce De Leon Ave, Decatur, GA 30030 - this is on the down-hill side of the Decatur Square to the west on Ponce. Parking is fairly limited nearby but thank fully Decatur has a fairly fantastic pay-to-park setup with their meters (they'll text you when they're close to running out of time and you can add via your smartphone).

I've eaten at this location of Thumbs Up many times over the years and decided it was time to review - if I'm not mistaken, this is the first Thumbs Up Diner or at any rate, the first I was aware of. It's a bit quirky, from the Googiesque, kitschy interior (which is awesome, by the way - love the slanted ceiling, ball-lights and boomerang formica) to the wait staff, to the we-only-accept-cash policy, there's plenty here to invoke nostalgia. 

Over time you'll see many regulars at this location, however it does become uncomfortably busy on the weekends and especially when the weather is nice. Be prepared to wait, and wait, and wait some more. It's best to hit this place during off-hours so you can be seated immediately. Note that while the Diner opens at 7:00 AM during the week it opens slightly later at 8:00 AM during the weekend. Also, it closes at 3:00 PM everyday.

The menu here is your basic Diner style of presentation and food selection - just about anything you would like under the breakfast heading plus sandwiches and salads. My favorites are the French Toast (made with an eggy Challah bread so you get that custardy inside), the buckwheat pancakes and the grits - in fact this is only of only a couple of places in Atlanta where I feel the grits are exceptional. 

I'm also a fan of both the coffee (robust, slightly lighter than a dark roast but still full of flavor) and the bacon (tastes like apple-wood smoke to me and sliced on the thicker side). The biscuits here are also very good if you like something made with other than white flower - there seems to be a bit of whole grain in there - actually most of the menu items tend to be on the healthier, better quality side and will cost slightly more. There's also some type of fruit compote or marmalade that appears homemade that you can spread on your biscuit - that's fine, southern eating right there. I think I've tried about a dozen items on the menu and I've always gotten great food and good service.

In all I think you'll like this place - actually I've eaten at three locations and have no complaints other than they get really, really busy.

-- John

(Also posted to Yelp)