After a long road trip to open the season, the Atlanta Braves will finally open their new home, SunTrust Park, on this coming Friday. When they do, the fans will get to take in a unique beer that is only sold at the ballpark. Fitting in with the Braves and their tomahawk chop, the beer is Chopsecutioner, a bat wood aged IPA.
Wait, a bat? Like a baseball bat? Yes, Terrapin Beer Company, based in Athens, Georgia, has created this beer that uses Mizuno baseball bats as part of the process. The logo:
That’s really cool.
I was able to get hooked up with a growler and try the new brew. Here’s the color:
My verdict is that it’s very good. It’s a lighter IPA with a great flavor. That was the goal, per brewmaster Brian “Spike” Buckowski, as he wanted to create something much lighter than their signature Hopsecutioner.
“When I’m sitting in the hot sun watching a baseball game, 7.3 percent alcohol beer is pretty tough, especially if you have a couple,” he said.
When asked how he’d score himself on a scale of 1-10 on how the beer emerged versus his expectations going in on this project, he said a nine.
But are there actually just a bunch of Mizuno bats brewing in with the beer?
“You can actually age something on wood chips or spirals or honeycombs,” said Buckowski. “You can also age beer in bourbon barrels, wine barrels and extract beers like that.”
“We brew the Chopsecutioner and after the fermentation we transfer the beer onto the wood chips and then cool the beer down and age it. There’s some waste from bats from when they spin them down or carve them down and that’s the product that we use to age the beer. The wood chips from them making the bats and that’s what we use.”
Terrapin Beer Company will have a Brew Lab in SunTrust Park. Chopsecutioner isn’t the only baseball-themed beer, either, as they are also offering On Deck IPA, and Swing Batter Brown Ale.
Add this to the list of reasons to check out the new ballpark, Braves fans who are at least 21. That Brew Lab should be a destination.
