Last Call for a Dogwood

Posted at 11:45 pm by Patrick under Beer Culture

The menu board at the Brick Store for Dogwood’s Wake listed an impressive lineup. I particularly enjoyed the IPA (love the citrusy hop character and smooth drinkability), and the barleywine (suprisingly drinkable for a beer of its strength).

And, not surprisingly, a large crowd came to pay its last repsects to Dogwood Brewing Company. For most of the night, the PA system played either The Rainbow Connection (yes the one from The Muppet Movie), or I Like Beer, by Tom T. Hall. I really could’ve used the lyrics to this one — it seemed everyone else knew it but me.

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Whiskey barrel fun

Posted at 6:00 pm by Patrick under Beer Culture, Beer Photos

I tried the Dogwood Winter Ale tonight, but this version was a bit unique as it was aged in a Jack Daniel’s cask for 9 months before packaging. To say its stay in the oak cask has changed the character of the beer would be an understatement. The base dubbel, itself perhaps a bit fusely and too roasty for my sensibility about that style, became unruly after its gestation in the cask. The oaky character of the cask completely overwhelms the base beer, to the point I’m not sure that extended cellaring would ever help mellow out the strong oak flavor. I felt like I was drinking a dilute whiskey, rather than a Belgian beer.

I know Crawford and the brewers were trying something different, and oak cask conditioning is the latest rage, but this beer probably could’ve been left off the list for the Dogwood Wake at the Brick Store, if nothing else to preserve the lasting reputation of the brewery in its final hour.

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RIP: Dogwood Brewing Company

Posted at 5:30 pm by Patrick under Beer Culture, Beer Photos

Dogwood’s Barleywine (which was never released to the public, until tonight) was a fitting way to honor the closing of a fine Atlanta brewery. Slightly sweet, with a bit of a citrusy finish, it was a good example of an American barleywine, and it’s really too bad it never made it out to the trade.

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