Though there was talk that My Parents Basement might open a brick-and-mortar location in Decatur, they seem to have ultimately decided on Avondale.

See pic above from their Facebook page, which included this message…

We’re official!! We found our home in Avondale!!

Decaturish reports they plan to open in July or August.

Photo courtesy of My Parents Basement Facebook page

Following up on our quite successful and interesting discussion of IPAs a couple of weeks ago, let’s move on to another popular beer style before it gets too warm out – the stout/porter.

Is there any difference between these two styles?  The Beer Connoisseur says no…

If we go back to the latter half of the 18th century and the first part of the 19th century, stout, more particularly brown stout, was simply the name for the strongest version of porter. Here’s a quote from a book called “A General Dictionary of Commerce, Trade and Manufactures,” published in 1810:

“Porter may be divided into two classes, namely brown-stout and porter properly so called … Brown-stout is only a fuller-bodied kind of porter than that which serves for ordinary drinking. A great deal of this is exported to America and the West Indies.”

…so we’ll consider them together.

What are your favorite stouts and porters?

Photo of El Recluso (“Theophan The Recluse infused with serrano peppers, cocoa nibs, vanilla bean + cinnamon stick”) courtesy of 3 Taverns Brewery’s Facebook page

‘Nuf said?

If you’re new to this game of buying Decatur Craft Beer Festival tickets, know that there are only 4,000 tickets available to the drinking public and the event ALWAYS sells out.  And quickly.

How quickly?  Last year, tickets were gone in 12 days and prior to the event were selling on Craigslist for upwards of $80.  They retail for $35.

So come noon, use THIS LINK and head over to Ticket Alternative to purchase your tickets.  (P.S.  There’s a two ticket limit for this event)

Rus sends in a note found on The Schmacher Restaurant Real Estate Brokers website announcing a new Irish Pub coming to the Square.

New Eats in Decatur: A new concept is coming to the former location of Saba in downtown Decatur. Restaurateur Andy England has purchased the former eatery at 111 Sycamore, St. and will transform it into Dick Mack’s , an Irish Pub, said Steve Josovitz vice president of restaurant brokerage at the The Shumcher Group, Inc.

All due credit, DarenW was first to report on this back when Saba moved to Oakhurst, but now we have a pub name.

Carl forwards a reminder from the Brick Store boys that tomorrow is the big, tap-a-keg-an-hour fest in celebration of 12 years on the Square in Decatur.

Here again is the lineup – with BeerAdvocate links for your convenience (don’t say I never did anything for ya!)

12pm –  Duck Rabbit Brewery “Pauls Day Off” American Strong Ale
1pm – Sweetwater Oak Aged (Bordeaux French Oak 2nd run) Creeper Belgian IPA
2pm – Highland Cattail Wheat (Trappist yeast version)
3pm – Allagash Interlude Wild Ale
4pm – Atlanta Brewing Co. ‘08 Winter Ale in Pappy Van Winkle
5pm – Allagash Confluence Wild Ale
6pm – Ballast Point Victory at Sea Coffe Vanilla Imperial Porter
7pm – Allagash Victor Strong Dark Ale
8pm – Oskar Blues Stranahan Barrel Aged Gordon Double IPA
9pm – Allagash Victoria Strong Pale Ale
10pm – Oskar Blues Stranahan Barrel Aged 10 Fidy Imperial Stout
11pm – Allagash Hugh Malone Belgian IPA
12am – Oskar Blues Stranahan Barrel Aged Dale’s Pale Ale

Starting yesterday the Brick Store is tapping a keg a day in celebration of its 12th Anniversary.  Next Saturday (June 27th) is the big finale, when they will tap a keg an hour from 12pm-12am.  Thanks to Carl for forwarding the announcement with all the details!

Read the full list of kegs-to-be-tapped after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

Always innovating, The Brick Store Pub has started cellaring many of its bottled brews in the basement of an “adjacent bank” (old Trust Building?), taking a page from the best pubs in Belgium. The video features owners Dave and Mike giving a tour of the new space and elaborating on future plans for these cellared and eventually aged beers.

They even hint about eventually hosting small meals down in the space at some point in the future. But we’ll have to wait…these aged brews won’t be ready for harvest until at least 2011.

[serious h/t goes to Next Stop…Decatur]

I did a little digging and discovered that the original video came from ClassicCityBrew.com