Five Best Breweries In and Around ATL
Wow, it’s been since….a long time. To be honest, we’ve been traveling so much, we built a house, we moved, jobs have been shifting and growing. It’s been a lot. All the while The Goodish Traveler is in the back of my mind. I felt so bad in May and then in June and July. Then it just kept getting farther and farther away from me. I’ve been so focused on my massive career shift that I’ve let the blog go to the wayside, unfortunately. But we back!
As you all know, I’m a huge fan of breweries. Whenever Justin and I travel, we go onto Yelp and find the coolest brewery and will, usually, make a whole vacation out of ale trails, brew rucks and brewery hopping.
I was thinking of doing some brewery tips and tricks from Austin, one of our favorite towns BUT obviously we used to live in ATL and have frequented many an ATL brewery so here I am to give you the best brewery run down from Atlanta and beyond. I’m going to have to narrow it down to five because, honestly, I could go on for a while.
So, without further ado let’s cover the five best breweries in and around ATL. Now, we’re going to cover beer uniqueness, brewery atmosphere, the beer taste and any extra cool stuff like the ability to take cool insta photos.
1.) My personal favorite for beer uniqueness inside the perimeter would have to be Orpheus Brewing. They’re constantly coming up with super experimental beers and while many of them tend to be sour, they’re still super creative. I LOVE their IPA’s they come out with (most notably Transmigration of Souls) and also enjoy taking my friends there who love their sours. If you’re into sours, they’re really your brewery. They also tend to have really cool events in their parking lot with super good food trucks. While their brewery itself might not be very cozy to sit in for a long period of time, they do have good outside seating on their decks to the right of the brewery. Either that or you can sit in their parking lot which also isn’t too great. Orpheus is definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in having some creative drinks with friends!
The deck out on the side of the brewery can offer up some pretty good views of Piedmont Park.
2.) Monday Night Brewing is probably my favorite Atlanta producer of super dope IPA’s. I know, I know. I talk a lot about IPAs. My besties love sours. My husband loves stouts and Monday Night can really cater to all of us. They have a couple of ATL locations to choose from with Monday Night Garage being my favorite. They have the much loved Hop Hut where you can try some of their experimental beers and super hoppy IPA’s. If you happen to go to the Garage, you’ll be delighted with their amazing plant selection. That’s right. Plant selection. Plant Nerds can be found at the entrance to Monday Night selling awesome plants, plant pots and all other sort of plant nerd items. I happen to be very into beer and very into plants so I thought I had ascended to some sort of heaven when I found Plant Nerds over at Monday Night.
They’re a great location for watching a football game, hanging out in their outside space or even a good jumping off point for brewery hopping as there are two other breweries that are located adjacent to Monday Night (Wild Heaven & Best End). They’ve also got some super unique beer names such as Death Raptor. :P
The great outside seating section at Monday Night Garage looking over the Beltline.
3.) New Realm Brewing comes in at number three but definitely number one in the great Instagram shots department (updated to add that the great skyline view is now gone thanks. to construction). Typically super busy, New Realm is best visited during the weekdays as they’re typically crazy packed out during the weekends. They boast some amazing views right off the Beltline if you’re wanting to get some great views of the skyline or what used to be the hulking, falling apart mass formerly called The Masquerade.
They’ve got some great staple beers and a fantastic inside/outside seating location that you’ll love. They typically have some great bands playing on the weekends if you’re ready to push through the masses. New Realm also has something that I love as well which is the double, triple and quadruple beer counters. It can get so clogged up at some breweries but New Realm has an upstairs, downstairs, and outside section where you can order which really helps to break up the crowds. They also typically have about a hundred dogs there at any one time so be sure to pet all of them.
4.) Steady Hand Beer Co. is definitely one not to miss. We recently found this lil gem a few months ago and LOVE the outdoorsy vibe, their inventive beers, and the fact that it's rarely super busy.
image courtesy of Steady Hand
While Steady Hand lives in a not-so-appealing industrial parking lot, the inside is fully decked out like an Appalachian dreamscape. Also, be sure to check out their IG as they typically have some pretty good local bands come to perform on the weekends as well as pop-up vendors from local artists.
Don’t sleep on Steady Hand to go visit the bigger, more well-known breweries in ATL because you’ll miss out on such a good, underrated spot with even better beers. Not only are they pretty great, but there are tons of other breweries nearby if you want a lil brewery tour with Second Self and Round Trip being right around the corner.
5.) And lastly, Dr. Scofflaws, located at the newly constructed The Works, is perfect if you want a big, open brewery with a cool inside/outside feel with awesome (I’m told) sours and pretty good IPA’s. They have some awesome flagship beers like POG Basement and Dirty Beaches. Not only do you get some good beers, but The Works also has tons of good food. Get some drinks, grab some food. What else is better?
Image courtesy of Smith Dalia Architects
There are SO many awesome breweries in ATL to check out and I completely plan on going to every single one I can find. If you want a fun weekend with friends, go check some out and let me know which ones are your favorite!
Also, IPA’s are the best. I don’t understand you sour beer drinkers. :P
-Tiff
