WILD HEAVEN CRAFT BEERS RELEASES ITS LOWEST ALCOHOL BEER TO DATE
Introducing the sessionable “Let There Be Light”
Who says lighter beers have to be boring? Wild Heaven Craft Beers has taken on that challenge with their brand new brew Let There Be Light. As the brewery’s first “sessionable” beer, Let There Be Light comes in at only 4.7% ABV yet is full of flavor. Starting with both barley and wheat, brewmaster Eric Johnson added two rare hops—Nelson Sauvin and Sorachi Ace—along with a bit of orange peel, to create a complex beer with a citrus note that will change the way you think about “light” beer.
“Wild Heaven is always about flavor first and we noticed that people assume you can only get big flavors from big beers.” says Wild Heaven President Nick Purdy. “We challenged ourselves to create a beer that’s really interesting, complex and flavorful, but would fit those occasions that a more sessionable beer fits the bill. With Let There Be Light, an obviously tongue-in-cheek name, we think we’ve done it.”
Beginning February 1st, Wild Heaven Craft Beers is teaming up with select Taco Mac locations around Georgia to offer an exclusive and limited sneak peek of Let There Be Light. The exciting new beer will be featured as February’s “Beer of The Month” at the following Georgia Taco Mac locations: Atlanta Metropolis (Peachtree St.), Virginia-Highland, Suwanee, Alpharetta, Cumming, Perimeter, Buford, Kennesaw, Newnan, Roswell (Crabapple) and Marietta (Dallas Highway).
Each Thursday night during February is “Pint Night” at Taco Mac, offering Wild Heaven fans a chance to get a free Wild Heaven pint glass (like the one below) with their order of Let There Be Light.
Sunday, November 20, 12:00 high noon, at The Beer Growler in Avondale Estates, GA, history was made when Mayor Ed Rieker purchased the first legal Sunday packaged alcohol in the history of DeKalb County. And what was that beverage you might ask? A 64oz growler of Ode To Mercy. Here’s a photo of Wild Heaven founder Nick Purdy, Avondale Estates Mayor Ed Rieker, and Beer Growler co-owner Paul Saunders. Where did you go make your first legal Sunday purchase?
(photo credit: Chris Rank for rankstudios.com)
We’re proud to announce the release of Eric Johnson’s latest creation and our third beer*, Eschaton, releasing on draft-only (for now) in Athens and Atlanta/Decatur this week. Here’s a preview of the not-yet-government-approved bottle label:
Some places we hear that it will be available (we’ll keep updating this list thru next week) before this first small batch runs out:
DRAFT: Brick Store Pub, Cypress Street Pint & Plate, The Porter, The Fred @ Taco Mac-Prado, Taco Mac-Perimeter, Taco Mac-Metropolis, Taco Mac-Kennesaw, The Square Pub, Midway Pub, Thinking Man Tavern, Trappeze
GROWLERS (32 oz only): Ale Yeah!, The Beer Growler (Athens & Avondale), Hop City, 5 Points Growlers (Athens)
FESTIVALS: Hotoberfest (general tasting!), Athens Craft Beer Festival, Decatur Craft Beer Festival
Here’s the very juicy details:
Eschaton is a Belgian-style Quadrupel Ale Aged on Pinot Noir Oak Chips – 10.5% ABV, 20 IBU, 22 SRM
How about a big, malty beer that evokes a good red wine and with a drier finish than you’d expect at 10.5% ABV?
Eschaton is a one-of-a-kind oaked all-malt Quadrupel (or “Belgian Strong Dark” if you prefer) that abounds with dark fruit and pit fruit flavors as well as earthy spiciness. Vanilla oak and warm viniferous notes assert themselves as the beer warms to reveal additional layers of delicious complexity.
Eric’s suggested food pairings: Lamb, rabbit, duck, Stilton cheese, Belgian chocolate, tart fruit desserts.
Follow us on Twitter or on Facebook to get up-to-the-minute updates when these very-limited first kegs go on tap at various establishments.
* Yes, we know technically this is our 4th beer if you count Ode To Mercy Special Winter Ale (which will return this winter again, draft only). But since we plan to bottle Eschaton as soon as we can make enough of it and keep it available year-round, it’s really the 3rd member of the roster. Whew!
We are thrilled to have been named “Best New Beer” by Creative Loafing in their 2011 Best of Atlanta issue!
We’re One Year Old! Not All Grown Up, But a Pretty Nice Start.
It was one year ago today that Wild Heaven sold our first beers….
(photo credit: Chris Rank for rankstudios.com)
We (Nick Purdy & Eric Johnson) had been working on the idea of launching a beer company since 2007, and last September 14th, at a party in the famous Belgian Bar at Decatur’s Brick Store Pub, our very first Ode To Mercy Imperial Brown Ales and Invocation Belgian-style Golden Ales were served to a crowd of friends, family and eager fans. Since that day, we’ve managed to sell beer in over 400 locations, which kinda blows our minds. More importantly, we’ve heard from so many that they simply love the beers, and that’s what means the most to us. Here’s a few highlights from the year:
October: Our first festival was Hotoberfest, and you can be we’ll bet back this year! Ode To Mercy was voted the Gold winner as the favorite beer at the fest, with Invocation just a few votes behind, earning Honorable Mention.
November: We launched the beers in Alabama cities Huntsville and Birmingham, where Georgia’s newest beers were welcomed with open arms at the best beer bars in the state. Those Alabamians particularly like brown ales so they were all over Ode To Mercy.
December: There wasn’t time to make an entire new beer for our first Christmas season but we managed to age a small batch of Ode To Mercy on bourbon oak instead of the normal toasted oak so that we could release Ode To Mercy Special Winter Ale. Look for it again later this year when it gets cold!
January: Around the beginning of the year, a lease was signed on an 8,000 square foot building in Decatur/Avondale that will serve as our future brewery. To say the building was an incredible find is an understatement.
February-April: Our expansion continued with new locations adding the beer all the time. Our ratings on the big beer sites tell us that folks REALLY like the beers.
May: In May we launched our packaged beers in 12oz 4-packs in Georgia. We started with a launch party at Decatur’s Ale Yeah! beer market and followed it up with a rooftop party in the Old Fourth Ward area of Atlanta. We were surprised the demand for the beer was so strong so quickly.
June: Wild Heaven hired it’s first salesperson, the lefty pitcher Will Palmer (we’ll post more about him soon). You may have already seen his smiling mug, but if not, you’ll see him soon enough!
July: Bottles launch in Alabama starting with the Rocket City Brewfest in Huntsville.
August: Federal label approval received for our 3rd beer, scheduled to launch late September, a Belgian-style Quadrupel Ale.
September: We didn’t throw a party today, but later this month we’ll announce the locations you can find our long-awaited third beer, the quad. And right here we’re telling you for the first time that the beer is called…..Eschaton.
Thanks for all your support! News on our brewery-in-progress coming soon!
After 4 days, we’re up to 93 places to get our bottles. Great job, Georgia Crown!
In only our 4th day in the market, there’s now 71 places you can get Wild Heaven Craft Beers in bottles. Here’s the list sorted by city:
Around 35 places already! Here’s a list and by the way, “Ponce Beverage Corp” is the Green’s on Ponce de Leon. A couple don’t show up in the list below—Beverage Mart in Roswell and Holmes Liquor in Dalton:
Bottles! 4-packs! Wild Heaven INVAD’N ur houzes!!
Seriously, we’re excited to announce the release of our bottles. We’d say it’s been a long time coming, but that’s not really true. It’s only been eight months since our launch. But what an eight months its been…incredible critical reception, fans in two states (at least!) and a warm welcome from most of the best places in Georgia and Alabama to find a really great craft beer.
Here’s some photos of what you’re looking for, and you can read all the details over on our Press page.
Later this spring, we’ll be distributing a new, brighter, bigger, better Wild Heaven tap handle. Our first ones are fine (and people have told us lots of nice things about them) but we wanted one that is easier to read and shows off our excellent logo a little better. Here’s the production sample we just received. What do you think?
