Friends, I know you’ve come here to read about Second Self Summer IPA from Atlanta's Second Self Brewery, and we’ll get to that momentarily. First, though, I want to take this opportunity to lecture you about Taco Mac. Certainly, I mention Taco Mac a lot on this august website of mine, so perhaps a little background is in order.

First, let me tell you how they got started, or rather, I’ll let Taco Mac tell you. From their webpage:

It all started back in 1979 when a couple of guys from Buffalo, NY made a pit stop in Atlanta on their way to Florida…they decided to stay. All they had was a little cash and a great idea to bring a popular northern cuisine to the sunny South….It didn’t take long to find the perfect spot, a quaint little taco shack on the corner of Virginia and North Highland Avenues – now known as Virginia-Highland…..the Mexican-Irish sounding name, Taco Mac, remained. As the popularity of their Buffalo Wings increased, cold beer and sports seemed like natural partners. Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, the wall of drafts grew to offer the largest selection of micro-brewed beers and imports in the South – decades before anyone was pouring “craft” beers.

And so it all began. I first heard about Taco Mac back at Oldenberg’s Beer Camp back in the late 90s. Stan Hieronymus and Daria Labinsky were giving a presentation on multitap bars they had visited, and spoke of Taco Mac in revered tones. I found out why this was true the first time I visited Georgia back in the summer of 2000 and drank beer and ate wings at one for the first time.

Now I live here, and Taco Mac is a true heaven on Earth for beer lovers (there’s one 2.6 miles from my house). Their Brewniversity program rewards drinkers for trying different beers (draft or bottle), and they constantly rotate in new fresh beer to satisfy their fans. Almost all locations have at least 100 taps, so choice is never a problem at Taco Mac.

What has this to do with Second Self Summer IPA? Plenty actually. You see, one of my favorite times to go to Taco Mac is on Thursday nights for Pint Glass Night. Each month, Taco Mac features a brewery and selects four (sometimes 5) of their beers as Beer of the Month. On Thursday nights, they give away a free glass with the logo of that brewery, while supplies last. The glasses are different each Thursday and all you have to do to get one is buy one of the beers of the month.

There’s just one problem: with 25 different locations in Georgia pouring beers of the month all month long (and usually into the following month), it would literally require hundreds and hundreds of kegs to supply the demand. That may be more than most small local brewers can handle, so how to support and promote them as featured beer of the month then?

The answer is here with the June 2015 Beers of the Month. For the first time in my experience at Taco Mac, four small Georgia brewers are featured, one beer each, one glass each. They are, in addition to Second Self: Southbound, Orpheus, and Eventide. Second Self's featured beer is the Summer IPA, of course.

Second Self says of this beer on their website:

Second Self Summer IPA has an alcohol content of 4.9% by volume with 69 IBUs. This is a draft only brew, and I paid $5.50 for a full 20-ounce mug of it here at Taco Mac (and that came with a glass). Actually, I had an extra 6-ounces of this one, because Taco Mac now allows you to buy a flight of all of the beers of the month for $9, which I did. The flight comes with a glass too on Thursdays, sweetening the deal.

My mug of Second Self Summer IPA was actually my first beer in two weeks as I had been sick for a while. That certainly made it taste even better. The beer is amber orange in color with a medium sized head of creamy foam and some refreshing light resin in the nose. Taking a sip I got soft caramel malt up front quickly subsumed by a robust resiny hop aroma and dry bitter finish.

They don’t call this a session IPA, but it does follow that trend. It’s not really an IPA folks, not at 4.9% by volume and the corresponding gravity which is too low for the style. It is a tasty American Pale Ale however, and as such I did very much enjoy it with my first order of Taco Mac’s legendary wings in two weeks.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft



Home