Can you beat Hop City?!

Ben and I finally made it over to Antico Pizza in the West Side. Yes, it was a pain to make the trek from the perfect city of Decatur. But the West Side was worth the trip. The pizza--though I'm not here to talk about the pizza--was perfection! I won't go into it, but we brought our own (because they literally only make Neapolitan style pizza and calzones, oh and a few canolli. Our pizza was enjoyed even more because we had the Founders Centennial IPA and the Great Divide Hercules (Double IPA). The Founders can't be got here in GA and was lovingly brought in from TN or NC or something. They both truly deserve their A rating on Beeradvocate, but I prefered the Centennial along with the pizza (Hercules was too sweet).

But hither dither, we used the opportunity to go into Hop City. Mama mia, what a beer store! Of course the staff were super knowledgeable (even if they didn't swoon when we talked about DSBC) We skipped the Belgian section entirely and hunted around for the best possible Yankee Swap Beer Club gift ever. The only requirements (besides being beer related) is it must cost around $15.

[Yes, our beer club is engaging in a "White elephant gift exchange" also known as a yankee swap (watch the Office episode on this subject). No, we didn't purchase an iPod.]

We bought lots of stuff we hadn't seen in GA before, a six pack of random brews (Brooklyn Chocolate Stout, Hop Wallop, Hop Infusion) and the Clipper City Yule Tide (it has a Santa on it) and the Oskar Blues Old Chubb (no Xmas relation but it Red & Green. Plus, we never have scotch ales!) for our Beer Club holiday themed beer.

We got a Thomas Creek Extreme IPA for our upcoming Beer Club getaway to Chaaaaat-a-Nooga , which Ben will complement with his Cincinnati feature of Mt Carmel Nut Brown Ale and the Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. Be excited, this is rated an "A" both by the bros and by the general masses on BA! Lots of good beers to look forward to in our lil' club.

Decatur, up your game...watch out Sherlocks, Hop City is in town!