Orpheus Brewing

Brewery laws in GA change tomorrow, which will be a nice, though modest and confusing improvement within our byzantine system. Here’s what you can expect when you come to Orpheus starting July 2:

Most importantly, you’ll be able to take some souvenir beer away with you! As part of a $12 tour package, you’ll be able to take up to 72 oz of beer (a 6 pack, or equivalent quantity). We’ll have Transmigration of Souls and Atalanta available this week. We’ll eventually have tour packages that include growlers and bottles (we expect bottles of Wandering Blues, Cognac Barrel-aged Sykophantes, and Bourbon Barrel-aged The 12th Labor in the next month or so).

Instead of buying a glass for us to fill with free beer, you’ll now be buying a $12 brewery tour that includes samples (up to 36 oz instead of the old 32 oz). Because the beer samples come as part of the paid tour, that means that you won’t be able to bring your glass back for beer samples.

You’ll be able to buy a tour package that contains combined tastings and souvenir beer, or buy multiple packages, as long as they doesn’t add up to over 36 oz of beer tastings and 72 oz souvenir beer per day.

We’re extending tour hours: Thursday/Friday 6-9 and Saturday/Sunday 2-5. Also, expect to start seeing food carts soon!

We fought to be able to sell beer, and this is what we got instead. It’s a little step in the right direction, but we’re still crippled in what the laws allow us to produce. Lost in all the talk of brewery jobs, consumer choice, and helping small business is the issue of the choices we have to make to get beer to shelves and taps at a reasonable price to you. My favorite base malt is a beautiful Scottish pale malt called Golden Promise. I can occasionally justify its expense on beers that don’t use our normally ridiculous amount of hops or fruit. In almost every other state, I’d be able to choose to use it in every beer though, because of the additional revenue from selling some of the beer direct. There would be more plums in Atalanta and more hops in Transmigrations of Souls, but our laws stifle the ability to use the best ingredients to make the best product we can at a reasonable price, and the new law doesn’t change that dynamic. This isn’t over until I’m free to make those choices myself, and not be so limited by the way the state forces us to sell our beer.

So, we’ll all enjoy this ability to let you take a small amount of beer home with you, but the fight isn’t over. We’re not ready to celebrate Brewery Independence just yet.

-Jason Pellett
Brewmaster/President

We are very excited to announce the release of Lyric Ale and Atalanta in cans on Monday, November 3rd. These are our two year-round offerings because they so well represent what we stand for at Orpheus – beauty, harmony, and something a little wild.

Atalanta was named Creative Loafing’s Best New Beer of 2014. It’s a tart plum saison, and will be the first ever GA sour beer to be packaged in cans or bottles. When I started brewing years ago, a big part of my desire was to be able to have sour beer that I could drink regularly. With Atalanta now in 6-pack cans, that dream is a reality.

Lyric Ale was the beer that in many ways started Orpheus Brewing. I wanted the delicious fruity character of hops, but in a dry, pleasant format instead of the malty, bitter character of so many IPAs. To do that, I made a saison with an abundance of tropical fruit tasting hops. The result is a beer that’s light and dry, with a soft peach flesh flavor and a background of citrus.

Something that really excited us about these cans beyond the beer is the art that we were able to get from local artists. Brandon Sadler and Peter Ferrari have some of the most iconic art on walls around Atlanta, and it’s thrilling to see their art on our cans. Brandon did the art for Atalanta and Peter for Lyric Ale. Part of what we love about beer is the stories that happen around it, and their art really heightens that experience.

We hope you enjoy these cans, and look for additions to our can lineup in early 2015.

-Jason Pellett

Test Batch #1 of Lyric Ale, September 2011

A note from the brewmaster

3 years ago, I didn’t really care for many IPAs. I thought that that the wonderful aromatics of many hops could be more enjoyable without a bunch of clashing caramel or toasted malt in the way (sorry to all the East Coast IPA fans out there). To that end, I brewed a saison that was heavily hopped with Nelson Sauvin and Galaxy hops. I called it Global Pale Ale, for the European yeast, American malt, and South Pacific hops. It was unlike any beer I had ever had, and in many ways was the unofficial beginning of Orpheus Brewing. That was also the last beer I brewed with malt extract, so I had to significantly alter my recipe after the first batch to make the transition to all grain. I brewed 35 batches in the last 3 years, but was never able to quite match that first batch.

The name has changed a few times, from Global Pale Ale to Eurydice to Argo and finally to Lyric Ale. The recipe has also changed significantly. When I first made the beer, Nelson Sauvin was relatively obscure, but has since become one of the most sought after hops in the craft brewing world. Continue reading →

A note from the brewmaster

A lot of words get thrown around in brewing, and “consistency” is one that comes up a lot. It’s the metric by which many people still manage to call Bud Lite a good beer (don’t count me amongst those people), and advancing homebrewers strive for that sacred repeatability of a good recipe. As we’ve begun filling our tanks with batch #2 of all of our beers, it’s something that’s been on my mind.

I’ve decided against consistency this time. Not that the beers will be strikingly different, but I’m much more interested in getting them to be the beer I envisioned, than in exactly repeating the way they came out the first time. I’m going to share maybe a few more details than I should, and let you know my thoughts on batch 1, plus what we’re trying to do differently for batch 2. Continue reading →

Who are the Argonauts?
Inspired by the band of Greek mythological heroes, the Orpheus Brewing Argonauts are our heroes who bring our tasting room to life.

What do the Argonauts do?
The Argonauts assist in the operation of the Orpheus Brewing tasting room. From pouring beers to selling tasting glasses and tickets, you are the heroes who introduce everyone who walks in the door to our beer and brand. On any given shift, you may be asked to do the following:
• Work the Door, checking ID’s and selling tasting glasses
• Work the Bar, pouring beers for tasting room guests
• Work the Merchandise Room, selling our t-shirts and swag to the public
Naturally, Orpheus Brewing staff will always be around to organize and assist you.

What do the Argonauts get?
The Argonauts are rewarded for their quest in the form of t-shirts, swag, tips and, of course Orpheus Brewing beer!

What are the expectations of an Argonaut?
While the rewards of being an Argonaut are vast, each volunteer has certain responsibilities as representatives of Orpheus Brewing.
• Complete the Argonaut training session: before your first shift; an Orpheus Brewing team member will lead you through an hour training session to familiarize you with the innermost workings of our brewery and brand.
• Work a two-hour shift in the tasting room
• Represent Orpheus Brewing in a professional manner
• Have fun!

How do I become and Argonaut?
Send an email to Liz Lorber (liz@orpheusbrewing.com) and she will sign you up!

It’s been a little over 3 months since we began construction, and I can’t decide if it seems like it’s been much longer or much shorter than that. We’ve taken what had basically been a concrete cave and an idea, and turned it into a physical brewery. We also managed to hire two great people along the way. The to-do list that I’ve been constantly updating for construction and setting up for production has actually started shrinking in the last few days as all the preparations to start production finally come to a close (of course, the to-do lists for making and selling the beer will be never ending). Continue reading →

When I started looking for a partner to help start Orpheus about 1.5 years ago, Rebecca was the first person I talked to. Anyone who has had the fortune of sitting at the Porter with her behind the bar can probably see why. So now , we are thrilled to have her join us as our sales rep, and want to let her make her introduction. -Jason

Rebecca: I remember my first beer. I remember watching a college football game with friends at our local sports bar. I remember feeling silly ordering a bay breeze cocktail at a sports bar while watching football-Who does that? I remember deciding I would not be THAT girl. I remember deciding to be the girl WHO orders a beer instead-and since that moment many years ago-I have never looked back. Continue reading →

In many ways, my love for craft beer was born abroad. I can still remember the first small-batch beer I ever tried; it was 1998 and I was an exchange student living in the south of France. The family I was living with, as is apparently normal in that part of the world, insisted on sending me to school with two bottles of the local brew to drink with lunch. I was 16 and though I didn’t know it at the time, it was the beginning of a life-long passion for both beer and travel.
Continue reading →