New Favorite Taco Mac

OCTOBER 5
Soooo... I felt sketchy about going to the same Taco Mac 2 days in a row so I decided to frequent one that was closer to work since I was just stopping for a beer or two before I headed over. SO GLAD I DID!! The new one has a much bigger draught beer selection, and the bartenders are much nicer. ALSO, there are more alchies there and less real people which is always a plus haha.

Terrapin Rye Pale Ale
Pale Ale; 5.3%
Origin: Athens, GA

I had bought this beer a few times before, and really never enjoyed it. This time I had more of an open mind.. Still an extremely bitter beer to me. The taste lingers in the back of your mouth and is just BIIITTTTERRR. I couldn't drink it fast. Had almost like a grapefruit feeling to it.. that kind of bitterness. The rye and hops are very prevalent in the taste. It's a very pale colored beer. Looks nice, but it bites you.

Sam Adams Octoberfest
Seasonal Dark; 5.7%
Origin: Massachusetts

I chose this picture so you could see how pretty this beer is! We just got it in where I bartend, so I have been loving this beer for quite a while now. It has such a warm, earthy taste. Very malty. I also like it a lot because it's not filling at all like some of the other dark beers have been. Some of the tastes are like a "roasted taste" and almost a caramel hint at the very end of a sip. I love this one! Definitely one of my new favorites. Too bad it's seasonal!!!

Southern Tier Pumking
????; 10.1%
Origin: New York

This is officially the weirdest beer I HAVE EVER TASTED. I don't know if you can even call it beer? It smells like straight up Halloween--candy, caramel, pumpkins, hay... it's eery. AND THEN, if the smell wasn't enough, it's a deep deep orange color. AND THEN, the taste. I will start by trying to explain the taste in beer lingo and then I'll just tell you the Katie version. It has a heavy pumpkin and caramel presence, a little bit of vanilla, and a overall warm dryness to it.

Ok now here is what this beer tastes like: BUTTER POPCORN JELLY BELLIES. I am not joking, it tastes the exact same. So crazy.

This beer is extremely easy to drink (like drinking candy), and this added to its high alcohol content makes it a very tricky ho. Drink with caution.



peace and love,
KTL

OCTOBER 4
Many of the Oktoberfest draughts were going fast, so I opted to aim for those before they were replaced with other seasonal beers.

Warsteiner Oktoberfest

Hefe-Weizen; 5% 
Origin: Germany

Took the first sip of this beer and immediately reconsidered my dedication to this challenge, haha. I HATED it. But I trucked on, and the more I drank the more it grew on me. It was a lighter, fruitier beer which I attribute to it being a Hefe-Weizen. It was a little more lightly colored than I originally predicted it to be. Very low bitterness. Barely any aftertaste.

Terrapin Pumpkinfest
Seasonal Dark; technically a lager; 6.1%
Origin: Athens, GA

This beer had a nice coloring when it was poured-- a very deep orange. The taste wasn't quite as pumpkin-like as I had expected, but there were definitely other spices at play that made it a smoother beer. The only time I could taste the pumpkin was in the aftertaste which tended to linger. Not very bitter. Had a very evident oktoberfest-esque taste however.

Warsteiner Konig-Ludwig
Hefe-Weizen; 5.5%
Origin: Germany

Let me just say. Eww Eww Eww Eww EWWWWW. Definitely not a beer I will be drinking again. It comes with an orange, so I tried it both with and without and this is simply not the beer for me. No.

But don't let me sway you, try it! It might be your new favorite!

Magic Hat #9
IPA; 5.1%
Origin: Vermont

I hated the last beer so much that I had to go back to one of my favorites, haha. I LOVE THIS BEER! Technically it's a pale ale, but it tastes far different than any I've tasted. It is infused with apricots and has almost a buttery taste to it when on draught. Very dry beer, and one of the heavier Magic Hat beers. The company describes it as "not quite a pale ale" which fits its taste, color, and smell perfectly.

Chang
Lager; 5%
Origin: Thailand

My first bottled beer during the challenge. I decided to order it because I'm bartending at a Thai restaurant, and we have several Thai beers. This beer is the best-selling beers in Thailand, and the company that makes it also makes the exotic Mekhong Rice Whiskey we serve. It was a very light beer. No special tastes, no lingering bite. Just a simple, light beer. Now maybe it was just the 4 beers I had before hand, but going back to a lighter, less flavorful beer reminded me of going back to the cheap beers that I love so much. So Chang--winner in my book.

Taco Mac Brewniversity Challenge

STARTING STATS:

    Favorite Beers- Natty Light, Miller Lite, Landshark, Magic Hat #9, Magic Hat Summer Ale, PBR

I happened upon this challenge this summer. Basically, you join the Brewniversity and earn credits for every different beer you try. Different Taco Macs have different beer selections, and the draught beer selections change almost twice a week. For the credits you earn, you earn perks as well such as huge gift certificates, shirts, jackets, giant mugs that you can use at Taco Mac for the same price as a normal beer.... stuff like that.


I figure this is as good a place as any to start learning. Not to mention they are everywhere in Atlanta, which helps.


    

Growing Up

    Since I started drinking many years ago, I have always loved cheap/shitty beer. Natty Light, PBR, Miller High Life... you name it: the lighter, more tasteless the better. Maybe I acquired a taste for it? Maybe I don't really like real beer? Maybe it stems from 4 years on top of the mountain where drinking is such an integral part of life that not much else can be stomached in such quantities let alone afforded.


Whatever the reason, here I am. 


    The main reason for this education is the fact that I now work as a bartender. Of course I know all the keywords/descriptions/blah blah blah to sell beers to customers, but something just doesn't seem right being a bartender who doesn't have good taste in beer. I want to be a beer expert with the most beer knowledge of anyone that walks into my bar.


    The second reason is the Big to my Rob, the co-founder of 30-minute-between-class-pitchers at Shenans, a member of the Mi Casa happy hour club, and queen of all things chat roulette. She's been trying to initiate this for years. So Meredith-- This blog is for you!

And I'm ready to grow up. Gone are the days of Natty Light and PBR. Gone are the days of bullshitting my way through a beer description.


Let the journey to Beervana begin....