Since I moved to Georgia a little over a year and a half ago, I have not had much trouble finding good beer. There are several very good brewpubs here, and excellent bottled beers from both the Dogwood and Sweetwater breweries are readily available. One brewery that I’ve discussed a little less frequently, however, has been The Atlanta Brewing Company, makers of the Red Brick line as well as Laughing Skull Bohemian Pilsner.

Atlanta Brewing Company was founded almost ten years ago, way back in 1994. The company operates a small brewery in the heart of Atlanta. They brew several beers under the Red Brick label, including their flagship Red Brick Ale and a winter brew. Red Brick was the brainchild of Greg Kelly, a former marketing executive for Guinness for many years. Kelly, an Atlanta native, decided that his hometown needed a microbrewery, and so raised the funds to construct one.

To be sure, there have been many marketing professionals who have gone on to establish successful brewing companies. Jim Koch of Boston Beer Company, makers of the immensely popular Samuel Adams beers immediately comes to mind. In the case of Red Brick, however, I must admit that I find their beers to be the most lackluster of the Atlanta microbrewing triumvirate.

Of course, this is not to say that I don’t enjoy Red Brick beers. Their Winter Brew and Red Brick Ale are good beers and I enjoy them from time to time. Peachtree pale ale is a quaffable, slightly fruity example of the style. That said, I tend to find myself gravitating towards Dogwood and Sweetwater beers more often than I do brews from Atlanta Brewing.

Laughing Skull Bohemian Pilsner is a case in point. I have sampled this beer in bottles on several occasions and always thought it was just a little bit too light. This past Saturday night while sipping a pint at Summits Wayside Tavern in Sandy Springs, I was actually shocked. Had I not seen the barmaid pulling the Laughing Skull tap handle, I would have truly believed she had poured me a Pabst Blue Ribbon by mistake.

Laughing Skull Bohemian Pilsner pours to a bright golden color with a very faint, almost nondescript malt nose and a light head formation. My olfactory senses were forced to work overtime to discern anything here. The palate is very bland with an unpleasant, almost adjunct like flavor to it, though this is an all malt brew. The finish is balanced but I really don’t get much in the way of hops. Otherwise, the beer is clean and drinkable if you like this sort of thing.

Overall, I find Laughing Skull to be a disappointment. It seems to me to be very much like a macrobrew, and perhaps that is why it seems to be popular. Price wise it is not much more expensive than Bud, at least in bottles. Nevertheless, when I see a beer advertised as a Bohemian pilsner, I expect at least some of the soft malt character for which the style is known. A dry, slightly assertive hop finish would be nice too.

Sadly, Laughing Skull offers neither of these characteristics. The best thing about the beer is the label, but one can only wish as much thought went into the beer itself as did the marketing.



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