Category — It’s Business Time

Sweetwater was one of only two Southeastern bottlers to make the 2007 Brewers Association Top 50 List.  New Orleans area brewer Abita came in at number 17 on the craft list.  California led all states (and likely most nations) with 11 breweries on the list.  Here is a look at the number of breweries in the top 50 for a few other states.

1. Colorado - 6
2. Vermont - 3
3. New York - 3
4. Oregon - 5
5. Massachusetts - 2 (both in top 10)

We see nothing but growth for GA and the rest of the Southeast.  Further, we would love to know where Highland (Asheville, NC) and Terrapin fall on the overall list

[$3.99 Twelve packs forever]

Oh, and nothing from Florida.  With a population of 18 million plus.  Someone who crafted a beer that tasted just like Milwaukee’s Best Light could make a mint.
The List

[What, precisely, are these Georgia Legislators celebrating?]

1. The New York Times has an article on Big Boi’s hip hop ballet.  We are in no way stating that Atlanta needs validation from the elite newspaper, even if we didn’t read the AJC’s coverage of the same topic.
2. Getting drunk.  Helping animals.  What are two things honkies definitely like?  The Critter Crawl is in Little 5 Points this weekend.
3. The AJC has the summary of this year’s state legislation.  Prepare to be underwhelmed.
4. Dan Radakovich is a glutton for punishment.  LSU has hired an athletic director that isn’t DRad.  GT Sports Blog with a nice get.
5. The Georgia baseball squad, at 9-3, has the best conference record in the SEC.  The Bulldogs swept South Carolina this weekend.  If you are in need of more prodigious coverage take a look over here.
6. Arts related jobs are way up in Atlanta according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.  Any guesses as to what percentage can be specifically attributed to the 47 movies/tv shows Tyler Perry shot last year?
7. Want to go the East Atlanta Beer Fest for free?  Volunteer here.

[Just gorge yourself.]

1. Braves and Birds talks state of the Thrashers nation. Some of the facts are quite damning.
2. Yesterday we discovered (only in the same sense as Columbus discovered America) a great Gwinnett blog called Exurban Adventures. With nearly 800,000 residents we question Gwinnett’s exurbanity. Here is their take on the “gang fight” at Mill Creek High School. The battle for control of the Mall of Georgia is getting intense, huh?
3. Rusty from RGM has a great piece of Georgia Legislatature history. Did that elicit yawns? It involves booze. See, we knew you drunkards would be into it.
4. FEMA teat, as predicted, available for suckling.
5. Peach Pundit has an interesting local perspective on the Obama race thing. We will not call it a “controversy,” unless, of course, we can say it the British way.
6. Former SEC basketball official going to prison for running a Ponzi scheme. The SEC official was initially investigated by the, uh, well, SEC. Who is investigating yesterday’s crew for the Georgi-Xavier game?
7. AJC gets around to discussing Moreland Avenue development. So, they are only about 2-3 months behind on the story. If this related to Buckhead we guess the response time might have been quicker.
8. CL has a review of the Glenwood, a restaurant in East Atlanta. The EAV was hit hard by the tornado. Make you way over and support the neighborhood with your patronage.
9. GT Sports Blog has the world’s quickest”Where are they now?” Info on Taylor Bennett.
10. Mixed-use development in Henry County. We are guessing that there is no public transportation element. Don’t be fooled by terminology into thinking something is green, or smart development, or whateve.
11. GrifDrift talks about Shirley Franklin defending her daughter’s light sentence via internet pseudonym. If we had caught the same charge as Kai Frankin we would be servicing our prison boyfriend at this very moment.
12. Tondee’s says an elected official was caught whilst being serviced by a staffer. No names yet.
13. Magic City, the Atlanta strip club known throughout the hip hop world, has been repurchased by its original owner.  We once heard Dennis Scott say the club was a favorite spot to take GT basketball recruits.
14. UGA VI was named top mascot in the NCAA tournament.  Yeah, not much consolation.
15. Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield is upset that she was called out for missing so many votes.  Decatur Metro with her excuses.
16. Terrell Pryor to Ohio State.  You are officially the last college football fan to know.
17. South Atlanta High School basketball wunderkind Derrick Favors is the Georgia Player of the Year, according the official beverage of jortsporters.  How can Georgia get this kid?
18. Kudos to Creative Loafing for putting a reference to the Wire in this headline.
19. The Tour de Georgia starts in 31 days.  Why can’t they call it the Tour of Georgia.  The “de” seems silly outside of French speaking countries.  Euro teams Saunier-Duval, CSC, and Gerolsteiner are among the competitors.
20. Tondee’s has an excellent summary of the 2008 Georgia US Senate race.

[Spring Training Phenom]

1. The AJC with a great article on Terrapin’s new digs. Looks like they have jumped on the brewery tour bandwagon. Wethinks they will be able to find an audience in the Classic City.
2. Stuff White People Like has made its way around the internet faster than the pictures of “Kristen.” Now comes Stuff Educated Black People Like. On their list - Moving to Atlanta. (h/t Metroblogging)
3. A reader noticed that the Metro Brokers sign on I-85 South has ceased listing the number of homes for sale in Atlanta. Guess it was getting a little depressing.
4. Georgia Sports Blog summarizes all the media entities and personalities rallying to give Coach Felton another year.
5. Braves cuts. Definitely guys you haven’t heard of.

[College Football Schadenfreude is the best type of schadenfreude.]

1. The AJC asks rich people what they would buy if they won the lottery. How did nobody see the unintentional irony and kill this thing. For strong stomachs only.
2. Nice find here by CL about who will be moving in to the Cabbagetown space formerly occupied by Village Pizza Co. One of the first times we ever visited Cabbagetown a dude got shot. True story, yet we still love Cabbagetown.
3. California pizza restaurant zpizza has opened at Spire. AroundMidtown, a solid intown blog, has more details.
4. An excellent neighborhood and an excellent way to get drunk are coming together. Tomorrow is the Oakhurst Wine Crawl. Decatur Metro drops the knowledge.
5. Spoon hits town on April 14th. You should probably think about being there. Cable & Tweed.
6. This Buckhead Library issue is picking up steam. Hopefully the good guys will win on this one. GT hosted a forum on the issue last night.
7. Lenox Mall is asking to have huge trees cut down because people can’t see their sign. They are also hosting a festival named after a tree. So, yeah.
8. Georgia Sports Blog talks about Felton’s future. We are feeling ambivalent, and that is a helluva lot worse than being mad. UGA needs to win some basketball games. Or sign Derrick Favors.
9. Behind this EDSBS curtain you will see Barack Obama doing the Heisman pose whilst holding an actual Heisman trophy.
10. There was a 7 Wonders of the World theme park, convention center, and resort planned. Huh?!?! Oh, and a indoor water park, just what we need. The AJC comes full circle with an interesting story.

[The owner of Aaron’s thinks this is ugly.  We think the business of exploiting poor people through high interest rates is ugly.]

1. Get ready for another year of arguments about how much blanket space a person is allowed to save at the park.  Screen on the Green has been moved to Centennial Park.  AJC with more info.
2. Conservatives are bragging about McCain’s leads in Georgia of 8 and 7 points over Obama and Clinton, respectively.  It doesn’t seem all that awesome when you consider that Bush won by 17% just four years ago.   Georgia Politics Unfiltered has slightly more details.
3. El Bar, the not-so-secret yet secret bar located underneath El Azteca is closing its doors on February 29th.  This would be a brilliant ploy to make the bar less popular (and thus, more secrety).  CL with some coverage.
4. Post Northwest merger Delta will remain in Atlanta according to Peach Pundit.  Sorry Minnesota, you will have to console yourself with your superiority in both curling and speed skating.
5. Kudos to Jay Bookman for explaining why the new transportation is bad for Metro Atlanta.  But we need that bill for the Dooling (population: 168) Bypass.
6. Georgia Sports Blog talks about the measures UGA Athletics has taken to minimize the number of Tennessee fans inside Stegeman for tomorrow’s game.  Our suggestion is holding the National Varmint Hunting Convention on the day of the game.
7. The Buckhead library may be razed.  No jokes here - THIS WOULD BE A TRAGEDY.  AJC with more.

[William Henry Harrison. Whig. Get it? Lame.]

1. The Whigs played Letterman the other night. Cable & Tweed has the video.
2. The city has a $70 million budget shortfall. One of the budget cuts involves the reduction of travel expenses. Shirley Franklin travel related irony ensues.
3. Chick-fil-A is a fast food business beast. The Atlanta Business Chronicle has the details.

[Our Current Conception of Where Forsyth County is Located]

1. Panderfest 2008, also known as the Georgia Legislature, is going to be sure that you can water your lawn. Good to know our commitment to water conservation isn’t meaningful. Next on the agenda, making sure Whitewater stays open. Our favorite part of this legislation is the online tutorial. The AJC details this waste of your tax dollars and more.
2. PeachPundit has dubbed Glenn Richardson Tax Jesus. More coverage here.
3. Atlantan Cee-Lo and former Athenian Danger Mouse are getting ready to release Gnarls Barkley’s second album. I guess Q-100 may finally have to stop playing Crazy. SOHH with the details.
4. The AJC lets a GSU professor roll out some serious anecdotal evidence about when science was wrong. He lists, like, three whole times. This of course leads to the logical conclusion that “we know almost nothing” about global warming. This editorial would fit nicely in a high school newspaper, so long as that paper was published at a below average public school.
5. Katt Williams is coming out with a rap album. I wish he would come out with a comedy CD. For those who haven’t seem The Pimp Chronicles, I express my deepest sympathies.  The special was filmed at the Atlanta Civic Center.
6. Braves and Birds talks about the Falcons new head coach, Mike Smith.  I am on the Falcons season ticket wait-list.  Think I will get my tickets?
7. One of our favorite state legislators has a competitor in his next Republican primary.  Tondee’s Tavern with some sparse details.
8. Atlanta retail robbing crews should start making plans now.  Oscar de la Renta is opening a store at Ben Carter’s Streets of Buckhead development.
9. SunTrust profits are down 99 percent, but at least they are making a profit.  With last year’s rumored buyout partners suffering worse fates, it seems that SunTrust may not be on its way out of Atlanta.  AJC with coverage.
10. Y’all seem to love lists (lawyaz especially).  Forsyth County is 13th on the Forbes list of richest counties in the US.  Don’t get all cocky Forsyth, you’re still, like, a 2 hour and 45 minute drive from Atlanta.
11. Manchester Orchestra is playing at the Loft tonight.  Chances of awesomenes, 100%.
    

I always enjoy validation by rank.  Here are two lists to tide everyone over until we can write something for today.

Top 10 Atlanta Law Firms by # of Attorneys - Atlanta Business Chronicle Book of Lists

1. Alston & Bird (433)
2. King & Spalding (403)
3. KIlpatrick Stockton (279)
4. Sutherland Asbill & Brennan (257)
5. Troutman Sanders (242)
6. Powell Goldstein (179)
7. Morris, Manning & Martin (161)
8. Smith, Gambrell & Russell (159)
9. McKenna Long & Aldridge (157)
10. Jones Day (128)

America’s Most Wired Cities 2008 - Forbes

1. Atlanta, GA
2. Seattle, WA
3.  Raleigh, NC
4. San Francisco, CA
5. Baltimore, MD
6. Orlando, FL
7. Charlotte, NC
8. Chicago, IL
9. New York, NY
10. Portland, OR

Meaningless, yet delicious.

[Unfortunately, we will always remember fat Marlon Brando]

1. Homegrown Restaurant Concepts, the Atlanta-based restaurant group that created Doc Chey’s, is opening an Italian Restaurant called Stella Neighborhood Trattoria in Grant Park near the corner of Memorial Drive and Boulevard. The restaurant will have a bar and patio and opens in February. We could probably insert something hilarious about A Streetcar Named Desire if we had ever seen the play. Simpsons episodes excluded.
2. Greenwash - a pejorative term that environmentalists and other critics use to describe the activity of giving a positive public image to putatively environmentally unsound practices. We apologize for the condescension if you already knew this definition. Watch the local news and realize how pertinent it is.
3. I’ll take intifada for $1000, Alex. Salman Rushdie is going to be at Emory on Sunday 10 February at 5:00 pm. Tickets are $10.
4. The Atlanta Business Chronicle talks about Luda’s new restaurant. They titled the article New restaurant not really a Ludacris idea. No really.
5. Gyant at Soul of Hip Hop has written a letter to Andre 3000 asking him to save Atlanta Hip Hop.
6. Burnt-tasting coffee aficionados will have to find a new spot. Starbucks in Virginia-Highland is closing. Bloglanta talks about it.
7. Delta appears to be staying in Atlanta. All Skymiles tickets are booked through 2027.
8. Creative Loafing details a man who wants to get the prostitutes out of Midtown. In other news, the United States seeks peace in the middle east.
9. Metroblogging wants you to know about the Sheriff of East Atlanta.
10. Wasn’t there a time when Barry Manilow jokes were funny. No, before Can’t Hardly Wait, in the eighties or something. He plays Phillips on Saturday.