• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

SweetWater Brewery celebrates 17 years with beer and beer bash

February 17, 2014Keith Gribbins

SweetWater SWB 17thAnniv Saison
Brewers went big on SweetWater’s specialty 17th anniversary beer, brewing a complex Saison farmhouse style ale with everything in it but the pitchfork.

SweetWater Brewing Co. is gearing up to celebrate its Golden Birthday — turning 17 on Feb. 17. Flash back to 1997 and SweetWater co-founders Freddy Bensch and Kevin McNerney were just packing up their West Coast lives to bring their fresh, flavorful and complex beers to the South — not something Atlanta knew much about at the time. Those two brewers could’ve never predicted what lied ahead.

Fast forward 15 years to SweetWater polishing off a $19 million expansion project to keep up with exploding Southeastern demand. After upgrading to a 400-barrel (bbl) brewhouse, SweetWater found itself among the top 25 breweries nationwide by production volume. A far cry from its humble start with a 25-bbl brewhouse on the shady side of Fulton Industrial in 1997, but still the same lip-smackin’ brews made by a bunch of the same familiar faces.

What is a birthday without a party? The team is ripping the doors of the brewery and lining up a true SweetWater-style shindig for Sunday, Feb. 23. Celebrating another year of being older, wiser and much better looking, SweetWater invites guests to join them as they raise a few toasts from 2 to 6 p.m. This birthday bash includes tasty cellared samples, rare brews from the Dank Tank lineup, live music from Like a Locomotive featuring a live brass section, a souvenir anniversary pint glass and food trucks a plenty.

SweetWater has one more trick up its sleeve for its anniversary hootenanny — a specialty 17th anniversary brew. Brewers went big on this one with a complex Saison farmhouse style ale with everything in it but the pitchfork. Brewers used two-Row, rye, wheat, Munich, 13/17 and Melanoidin malts; Galena, Saaz, Centennial and Amarillo hops; fermented it with French Saison yeast; and then ran a secondary fermentation with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis. The yeast montage is responsible for the brew’s big 9 percent ABV and its tart effervescent flavors.

“The malt bill gives this brew an earthy, spicy flavor with a light and fluffy mouth-feel, while the hops deliver a moderate bitterness blended with a bit of lemon-lime citrus from the finishing hops,” said SweetWater Head Brewer Nick Nock. “Together, the two plus month fermentation and cellar time, malt bill, hop bill, and yeast strains all work harmoniously to produce a natural tasting, lighter-bodied [for high-gravity] brew, perfect for some outdoors sippin’ in the spring.”

The commemorative brew will debut on draft at the anniversary party and then make a limited run on taps and cold boxes in 22-ounce bombers across the Southeast beginning the last week in February.

You missed Deschutes Brewery’s 30th anniversary week like a buster (embrace your regrets by watching this video)
SweetWater Brewing chooses Atlanta’s Dagger as social media agency of record, with special focus on Tropical Lover Berliner Weisse brand
KBS Week Founders Brewing bar
Watch this video of Founders Brewing’s 20th anniversary party, which you missed like a buster
SweetWater Brewing Logo
SweetWater Brewing to use Halo for its forecasting and demand planning

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. pensmrh877 says

    February 18, 2014 at 9:28 am

    RT @TNTapRoom: http://t.co/pBYORLwFLj Can’t wait for this Saison to be released by @sweetwaterbrew

    Log in to Reply
  2. TNTapRoom says

    February 18, 2014 at 7:35 am

    http://t.co/pBYORLwFLj Can’t wait for this Saison to be released by @sweetwaterbrew

    Log in to Reply
  3. crsimp01 says

    February 17, 2014 at 4:47 pm

    SweetWater Brewery celebrates 17 years with beer and beer bash http://t.co/NOuhxN9sh5 via @craftbrewingbiz

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Dogfish Head’s deal with Mother Nature other beers to know this Earth Week
  • Kegstar partners with the International Brewing and Cider Awards
  • Precision Fermentation and The 5th Ingredient team up, announce integration of BrewMonitor real-time data with Beer30 brewery management software
  • Watch: This cool Pneumatic Scale Angelus canning line is aimed at high carbonation craft beverages (seltzers to RTDs to beer)

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • Lemon-QuestDogfish Head’s deal with Mother Nature other beers to know this Earth Week
    April 20, 2021
  • Understanding ionization: Let’s learn how to air rinse and dry cans and bottles without water
    April 19, 2021
  • Crosby Farm TopWire Hop Project 12Resplendent Oregon hop farm has ultimate beer garden (TopWire Hop Project) reopening April 30 (enjoy some images)
    April 15, 2021
  • Get Your Drink On app people cheers drinksThis Get Your Drink On app gifts beer money to a phone’s digital wallet, so please send me some
    April 15, 2021
  • GEA-InsightPartner-ProduktbildInside the real-time process control of GEA’s InsightPartner software
    April 14, 2021
  • roughhouse brewing cave aged beersCave-aged beer finally excavated by Roughhouse and other beers to know this week
    April 13, 2021

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2021 · CBB Media LLC

Continue ...

sponsored by