FIRST DRAFT: City Tap House opens in Midtown, Gate City anniversary, and other news

Midtown’s City Tap House is now open, further expanding the national chain of elevated gastropubs. The restaurant fills the space left by the German-style brewpub Gordon Biersch, and will continue the location’s legacy of chef-driven food and a varied selection of local and international craft beer.

The 10,000 square-foot restaurant space includes a covered patio and two floors of seating, with multiple full bars, a miniature fireside lounge, and space available for both large and small events. The extensive menu is designed to pair with the available beer selection, and will include small bites like the signature ten-spice wings and crab hushpuppies, as well as large plates like the rabbit pot pie with bacon and vegetable stew. The menu is overseen by Executive Chef Greg Gettles, a nationally-acclaimed chef and advocate for locally-sourced ingredients, who most recently worked as General Manager of Atlanta’s Root Baking Co.

For now, City Tap is open 3 p.m.-midnight Monday-Thursday, 3 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3-10 p.m. on Sundays, serving happy hour and a full dinner menu. Plans for brunch and lunch service are currently in the works, and should be announced as the business develops in the next few months.

Address: 848 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta.

Other Beer News

The team behind Hop City Beer, one of Atlanta’s most beloved craft beer stores, recently announced plans to open a new project in the Lee + White food and beverage development in Atlanta’s West End. The business will be a gastropub called Boxcar, which will feature a rotating draft of 80 different beers curated from local and national selection, as well as wine and and cocktails. Boxcar’s farm-to-table menu of appetizers and full entrees is driven by Executive Chef Matt Hutchins, who previously worked in the kitchen of Hop City’s first restaurant, Barleygarden Kitchen & Craft Bar.

Boxcar joins Monday Night Garage, Cultured South Fermentation Co. and a future Wild Heaven Beer location in Lee + White’s little fermentation family. The building is decorated with the industrial aesthetic and graffiti of a freight train car, finished lovingly with a giant mural of famous twentieth-century hobo and author Ray Leon Livingston. The space will also include a retail side, with an expansive and rotating selection of about 1,000 craft beer and wine options.

Roswell’s Gate City Brewing Co. celebrates its fourth birthday on the weekend of February 8, 9 and 10, with a huge anniversary blowout. The brewery is a powerhouse of the Roswell brewing community, known for its friendly collaborative nature and the wide array of beer styles on tap. Gate City’s birthday beer is Black Forest Birthday Cake Milk Stout, flavored with chocolate and cherry, thickened with lactose and vanilla, and finished at a comparatively light for a stout 7 percent ABV. General admission is free every day but paid packages at $25 and $50 ensure access to special release take-home beers, and come with Gate City swag. The party also includes live music, and various food trucks every day.

On February 8, Monday Night Brewing will release Slam Dunk, a milkshake IPA flavored with vanilla and orange like an orange creamsicle. Citrusy hops round out the sweet and smooth ice cream flavors with a more classically beer body and aroma, finished a 7.2 percent ABV. It will be available in cans and on draft from the Hop Hut.

Friends in the Atlanta craft beer community: If you have a cool event or new beer release in need of coverage, drop a line to Creative Loafing’s beer correspondent, Alex Patton, at alex.patton at creativeloafing.com