The North and The South

I'm back from the first part of my vacation, and for a while I didn't think I was going to sample much beer. For the first few days of the first week, I was hard-pressed to find anything that was not a Budweiser or Michelob product. I wouldn't drink that stuff, let alone review it.

I did pick up a 12-pack of a Yuengling Black and Tan, which isn't bad, but not worth a review, in my humble opinion.

The last beer review I gave was of a microbrewery on Hollywood Beach, and then for several days I went without a drop of beer.

Until I hit Savannah, Georgia, where I found a wonderful brew pub. And on Saturday night, on my way home, I discovered another brew pub just north of the Mason-Dixon Line, and after having sampled 15 beers between the two breweries, I felt I had too much information to review individual beers. So I'm giving one massive overview of them all over two posts; hence, the title.

I'll start with The South today.

Your Huckleberry Friend

Moon River Brewing Company

Savannah GA

I couldn't help but think of a friend from South Korea, Steve Fuller, when I think of this brew pub. Steve was a true buddy: always smiling, always positive. When he wanted to show you that he had your back, that he was with you and was in your corner, he would say, "I'm your huckleberry." It took me a while to click in that he was referring to a line in the song, Moon River, where Andy Williams sings,

We're after the same rainbow's end—
waiting 'round the bend,
my huckleberry friend,
Moon River and me.

The expression caught on. A few of us at Jeonju University used the phrase. And coming up in Gyeosunim, the expression becomes popular.

Moon River Brewing Company is located in the historic district of Savannah, just a block away from city hall and just south of River Street. It is rumoured that the brew pub is haunted, and so this was a great place to visit before we took a ghost tour of the old town.

I tried a sampler that included seven small glasses of about four ounces each. I'm not going to go into great detail about each one; I'll only give the highlights and my impressions.

• Belly-Washer Golden Ale: English-styled golden pale ale with light flavour; nice hops.
• Wild Wacky Wit: a Belgian wheat ale with lemony citrus nose; coriander comes through on the mouth with some spice and a slightly pine finish. Interesting.
• Apparition Ale: a light amber English pale ale with a bitter grapefruit rind flavour; a nice, lingering finish.
• Dixie Kristall: this Belgian-styled trippel packs a punch (11% ABV); great herbal nose and a flavourful, fruity taste on the palate.
• Slo-vannah: a pungent APA (I detected a scent of sweat with herbal tones—a horse in a barn?) with orange and peach in the mouth. For a light beer (4% ABV), it had a complex, full body.
• Swamp Fox IPA: this beer is whisky-coloured and has definite lemony-citrus over tones, and plenty of hops. Hoppy hoppy joy joy!
• Nick's Balls of Gold: I can't believe this beer is 16% ABV. Not heady at all, though I could taste a trace of alcohol. Murky caramel in colour and with a creamy caramel taste, this beer holds a hoppy finish and a happy ending to my sampler.

Maybe I did see spirits around me on the tour.

I loved the beer on tap at this brewery. The only problem is that the beer is only available at Moon River's brew pub. If I want to have it again, I have to pick it up in Savannah. If only it was closer to home.

Tomorrow, I'll review another brew company that is further north and closer to home, and has more locations. And you can buy the beer to go.