Amazing Rocket City Adventures Craft Beer Experience
This post is an Amazing Rocket City Adventures Craft Beer Experience. It is a review of the craft beer scene in Huntsville.
Background
Huntsville has a great craft beer scene and has many great breweries. The industry is new as the State of Alabama previously had laws which prevented breweries from opening unless they were established prior to prohibition. In addition, there were previous laws that restricted the alcohol level and the packaging of the products.
All those things previously prevented craft breweries from operating in Alabama. Fortunately, the laws were changed over the past ten years and breweries are now able to operate.
Today the breweries are free to operate and compete in the market. Several great options have become available.
I had the opportunity to participate in an organized craft beer tasting event at Hudson Alpha, a scientific and research complex.
Hudson Alpha
Hudson Alpha is a large complex that fosters collaboration between researchers and marketers from the medical community. Tenants get access to great research laboratories as well as information from researchers and the environment fosters collaboration.
One of the main laboratories at the property is a DNA analysis service where machines costing $1 Million analyze a human’s entire DNA at a cost of about $6,000. The analysis can be used for multiple purposes, but the most common one is for the identification of which medicines will work on a person for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.
A hospital can send a blood sample to the location, and the computers analyze it over the period of a week or two and then the data is returned to the hospital so that the doctors can make a better diagnosis or treatment recommendation.
The facility is known for its double helix DNA shaped garden; however, it employees some of the brightest scientists, engineers and analysts in the medical community.
Craft Beer
The craft beer tasting event was setup in the lobby of the Hudson Alpha complex. The complex had large window which offered amazing views of Huntsville and the surrounding areas.
The beer vendors were setup together on tables and a group of volunteers were staffing them and would provide a taste to all the attendees.
Upon arrival at the location, the attendees received a tasting glass and were invited to sample the different options.
The breweries each had between two and four types of beer to sample, so all the attendees had a chance to have as much beer as you wanted.
At each station, staff from the craft breweries were present to talk about the offerings and provide background on the beer and the story about the brewery.
Interestingly, the staff from the breweries were not allowed to serve the beer. For some reason, only volunteers could do that.
The following breweries were present:
Blue Pants
Blue Pants offered some great options for IPA as well as a stout.
The beer had a good smooth flavor.
Green Bus
The owner of Green Bus was present at the event and he told me about his story of driving a green Volkswagen bus. He also provided background information on the craft brew industry of Huntsville.
The beer was excellent and I would recommend checking it out.
Mad Malts
Mad Malts offered four options as well. I sampled the IPA and it was hoppy but had a smooth finish.
The logo was amusing as well.
Rocket Republic
I really enjoyed Rocket Republic. I sampled all four of their beers and had a long discussion with the brewer about the company.
Straight To Ale
This brewery offered several options as well. It was one of the up and coming options and it was quiet popular with the attendees.
They offered the Lily Flagg, which was a milk stout that had a coffee flavor and was excellent.
A Pineapple Cider was available, which was also excellent. It wasn’t as sweet as normal for a cider and it was easy to drink.
They also offered the Intimidator Dopplebock which was a German style beer that had 9% alcohol and a good flavor of Carmel and toffee.
Salty Nut
Salty Nut offered large cans of beer, and they had an IPA, Blonde and a cider.
All three options were excellent.
The proprietor suggested to mix the IPA with the cider, which made for an awesome combination. He said you could ask for it at the brewery although it wasn’t bottled that way.
The options were excellent for introductory beer drinkers, as they were on the lighter side in terms of flavor.
Yellowhammer
Yellowhammer is located in the same building as Earth and Stone pizza in Huntsville. The beer pairs well with the pizza and they have a lot of options.
I selected the Belgian White option, which was smooth and I had a couple glasses of it. The beer was excellent and it was easy to sip and drink.
Food
In addition to the beer options, several restaurants offered samples of their food selections. The food all paired well with the beers and it was a nice enhancement to the day of drinking.
Drake’s
Drake’s offered a choice between sushi and cheeseburgers.
The sushi had three options including a vegetarian one.
The sushi was fresh and had a good taste.
The cheeseburgers were excellent. They were cooked medium and were full of flavor. You could either top the cheese burger with a lettuce, tomatoes and pickles or enjoy it plane. I tried it both ways and found them to be incredible.
Earth & Stone Woodfire Pizza
Earth & Stone is a Wood Fire Pizza restaurant located in the same building as Yellowtail. The pizzas are made fresh and cooked in wood fire ovens.
They have five or six different pizza options for the attendees.
The pizza was thin and it was cooked perfectly and it had a great flavor from the wood fire oven.
The pizzas were topped with various fresh ingredients and they were enjoyable. The pizza paired well with most of the beer at the event.
Sugar Belle Cupcakes
Small cupcakes were available from Sugar Belle. The cupcakes were fresh and there was a choice between several types of chocolate ones as well as strawberry.
The cake was fresh and the frosting was sweet. The cupcakes were a great two-bite option.
Terranova’s
Terranova’s had the most options for food at the event. The restaurant features Italian food.
The food options include three pastas, mashed potatoes, garlic bread, strawberry salad as well as a dessert options.
I sampled two of the pastas including some vegetarian cannelloni and a lasagna.
Both pastas were fresh and they were served warm. The ingredients were fresh and the pasta was excellent.
The salad was the best thing served as it was light and tangy and it had an incredible dressing.
Beer Stores
A couple beer stores were also present that offered some additional beer options as well.
I’d recommend checking out each of them to sample some of the awesome craft beer options of Huntsville.
Overall
This was an Amazing Rocket City Adventures Craft Beer Experience. Overall it was an excellent experience getting to taste some great beer and food in a unique environment. It is amazing that in such a short period of time, so many awesome Craft Breweries are available in Huntsville.
Note: The beer tasting event was hosted by TBEX as part of a conference that I attended. The admission fee for the event was paid for by the conference. The views expressed here are mine.
1 comment
Interesting venue for beer tasting!