Earlier this year, the Athens based brewery Terrapin Beer Company partnered with Knoxville based Saw Works Brewing Company to create a seasonal beer for the rivalry game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Tennessee Volunteers. If you didn't have a chance to try it, and chances are you didn't unless you were in Knoxville, you are in luck because Terrapin is at it again.
This time Terrapin is teaming up with the Gainesville, Florida based Swamp Head Brewery and they have created a beer that will be released starting today on October 31st. Once again this will be limited release and will be available on draft only. It will be available in Jacksonville but if you look hard enough you might be able to get some in Gainesville or St Augustine as well.
How fitting is it that the game once known, and still known to most fans, as the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" now has a beer that has been brewed just to celebrate the game? The beer is fittingly called "Bitter Rivalry" and it is an English Bitter Ale. Here is what Swamp Head had to saw about the beer on their blog….
Initial conversations with our brewers and Spike yielded many ideas, but the one that kept coming up was to use fruit from our home states in a brew that was two breweries coming together to brew and release a beer in a market where, although friendly, there is competition amongst us. Oh yeah, and there’s that football game thing, too. The end result was the choice to brew an English Bitter with Georgia Peaches and Florida Oranges and call it “Bitter Rivalry.”
Since the beer would be released during Florida Georgia weekend and mostly in the Jacksonville market, it had to be sessionable. So, we ended up with a low ABV and decided to keep the peaches and oranges as a subtlety, leaving us with a very drinkable, session English Bitter with light tones of peach and citrus.
So if you are in Jacksonville for the game make sure you put this beer on your list of "to do's" for the weekend. If you head over to the Swamp Head blog, they have a list of places where this brew will be available.
Oh yeah, don't forget about the game. While you are enjoying your "Bitter Rivalry" make sure you read up on the game here at Crystal Ball Run.
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