A.B.C. Beverage Tastings
August – December 2018
Atlas Oyster House is proud to present the next installment of Atlas Beverage Classes (A.B.C.). This semester we will be focusing on local breweries and distilleries, dicovering what is going on in the beverage world right here in our backyard. In addition to the beverage tastings, we will feature small plates paired with each beverage, as prepared by Executive Chef Billy Ballou and Pastry Chef David Williams.
A.B.C. will be held outside, on the Deck Bar, the first Thursday of the month (August through December) and will feature a presenter discussing the highlighted beverages. Classes will consist of four tastings of beverages with four mini appetizers to complement each tasting. Classes will cover the basics as well as specific information regarding the history of the brewery/distillery and their beers or spirits.
There are two classes every month, each an hour and a half long. The first class begins promptly at 5:00 p.m. with the second class beginning at 7:00 p.m. Class cost is $20 per person (plus tax and gratuity), per class, which gets each participant one tasting of each of the featured beverages. In addition, throughout the class, participants should be prepared for “pop quizzes,” where we will be giving away T-shirts, beer glassware, gift certificates and more. Seating is limited so reservations are required, so be sure to make yours by emailing maria@goodgrits.com or calling 850-217-2347. The featured themes for each class are as follows:
August 2nd: De Luna Winery (Pensacola, FL)
One day, my wife and I were touring a winery when she sampled a tasty, luscious cherry wine. “This is the only wine I ever want, for the rest of my life,” she stated. Obviously, that was a declaration that couldn’t be ignored. The only problem: it was $40 a bottle. “I believe I can make a cherry wine,” I thought to myself. So off to the kitchen I went and, after a few weeks of mixing and fermenting, the first batch of Cherry Bomb was ready. “These taste better than the other guy’s wine!,” she said. After much consideration, a few sleepless nights, and a business plan in my head, I sold my house, and my Corvette and took all the money and began the process of building a winery in Pensacola, Florida. Hence, De Luna Winery was born.
- De Luna’s Hurricane paired with a Baked Oyster Casio with house-cured bacon bits served with a creamy cole slaw
- Pomegranate Poinsetta paired with a cucumber and pomegranate salad tossed in a lemon vinaigrette
- De Luna Lemonade paired with pimento cheese ball rolled in toasted pecans and served with sea salted crackers
- De Luna Sangria paired with a lemon bar and cherry mint ice cream
September 6th: Redneck Riviera (Pensacola, FL)
Redneck Riviera Pensacola based brewpub and brewing education center, focused on crafting world-class beers with a local flair.
- Sea Oat Pale Ale paired with a savory oatmeal with sautéed turnips and bacon bits with a soft poached egg with finished with a hollandaise sauce
- RRBP paired with grilled sea scallop with a chipotle remoulade garnished with celery micro greens
- Crescent City paired with maple and coffee glazed house-cured bacon skewer with a cabbage, apple, and radish slaw
- Shovelbum Ale paired with peanut butter chocolate dirt cake with chocolate-dipped pretzels
October 4th: Gulf Coast Brewery
November 1st: Scratch Ankle Distillery (Milton FL)
This Milton based distillery run by Samaduroff and his wife, Diane, offers production, bottling and sale of whiskeys, rum and moonshine at its Commerce Road location. Samaduroff is a marine engineer in his full-time job. He works five weeks on and five weeks off for a Louisiana-based marine transportation company. Samaduroff has been dabbling in distilling since the early 1970s when he went to the Congo with his family after his parents joined the Peace Corps. “There wasn’t anything to drink and my dad built a still and I helped him,” Samaduroff said. Samaduroff said he thinks there is a market for micro-craft breweries and distilleries. At Scratch Ankle, all of the grains used in production are grown in Florida. Samaduroff said he gets corn from Jay, rye from Dade City and molasses for the rums from Lakeland. “We started to see the craft-distillery movement and see it sold in liquor stores,” Samaduroff said. “I had old recipes and the knowledge and I’m an engineer by trade. Let’s put it all together.”
- Jalapeno Shine paired with pimento cheese jalapeno popper served with a red pepper jelly
- Dark Moon Shine paired with bourbon glazed beef satay skewer with a pineapple slaw
- Twisted Apple Pie Rum paired with braised brussel sprouts with house cured bacon and a drizzle of clove honey
- Full Moon Shine paired with honey almond shortbread cookies with peach basil jam
December 6th: A Little Madness Brewing Co. ( Pensacola, FL)
In 2015, we closed on a property full of invasive kudzu in the hopes of bringing our dream of opening our microbrewery to reality – only to discover that no land use code existed to develop our dream. So we did the next logical thing – we lobbied to write a new code to make it possible for breweries, brewpubs, distilleries, and wineries to exist outside of Pensacola city limits! Stay tuned as this woman/family/brewer owned and operated microbrewery makes its journey.
- Lavender Iron Whit paired with crawfish wonton drizzled with duck and eel sauce
- Paloma Ale paired with sesame shrimp egg roll with sweet and sour and hoisin sauce
- ID Black IPA paired with hickory smoked pulled pork slider tossed in a smoked jalapeno BBQ sauce served open faced and topped with a Hawaiian slaw
- Precedential Porter paired with dark chocolate cake with orange cream cheese frosting