Pic(k) of the Week: And what is so rare as a day in June?

And what is so rare as a day in June?

On 2 June 2018, a new production brewery opened its doors in Tucker, Georgia, a suburb city of Atlanta. Nice, but not necessarily rare. As of 1 January 2018, there were 6,372 breweries in the United States, according to the [U.S.] Brewers Association.

No, what was rare was an out-of-the-craft-beer-mainstream character to the event. The brewery, Tucker Brewing, was pouring only three beers: a bright zesty pilsner, an amber lager, and a hefeweizen. That was it.

TKR Pilsner (pictured above) specs:

• 4.8% alcohol by volume (abv).
• 25 International Bittering Units (IBUs).
• Pilsner malt.
• Hallertau Merkur, Hallertau Perle, and Hersbrucker hops.
• Lager yeast.

The pils was not a 'great' beer, as in drop everything, run, don't walk. At least not yet. But it was not an IPA; it was not murky or sour or flavored with ephemera. It was a tasty beer —bright and zesty— right out of the starting gate, a difficult achievement. And it was a pilsner: ditto. The brewery promises more such German-inspired beers to come. (There's a Helles in the conditioning tank.) That is rare.

On the same weekend that Tucker Brewing opened its doors, another in the metropolitan Atlanta area closed its: Abbey of the Holy Goats, in Roswell, Georgia. That juxtaposition brings to mind the requisites of new brewery success. I believe that those are:

• You need money: a brewery is a business.
• You need expertise: a brewery is a factory.
• You need 'it': an artist's soul helps.
• You need a full pint of Gambrinus' luck.

I don't know if this Tucker Brewing is in possession of all of these. But there is one more thing needed for survival: chutzpah. And it does have that. And a spacious beer garden.

-----more-----

• The yellow sunburst next to the beer is a reflection of the brewery's logo affixed on the wall behind the bar. It's reversed and upside-down from its actual order of "TKR," designating, of course, Tucker.
• "What is so rare a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days" is a poem by 19th-century American poet and abolitionist, James Russell Lowell.


• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of photos taken (or noted) by me, posted on Saturdays, and often, but not always, with a good fermentable as the subject.
• See the photo on Flickr: here.
• Camera: Olympus Pen E-PL1.
• Settings: 20mm | ISO 200 | 1/20 | f/5.6
• Commercial reproduction requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.


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