It’s not every day that an IPA hops into my heart.
But Sceptre Brewing Arts conjured up quite a brew with its Chaos Magician, which happens to be the brewery’s first can release.
Chaos Magician
Brewery: Sceptre Brewing Arts
Alcohol by volume: 6.3%
Style: Double dry-hopped IPA
Bottom line: A dry, slightly sweet hoppy delight
I’ll be honest. West coast-style IPAs packed with loads of hops are usually a hit or miss for me.
I took one sniff of Chaos Magician and thought, “Oh, boy, here we go again.”
Instead of a rush of bitterness, I tasted scuppernongs.
To those who haven’t had the pleasure of exploring rural Georgia, scuppernongs are a native gold variety of muscadine.
This beer brought me back to my summers full of scuppernong picking with my family.
One of our odd hobbies is making wine with muscadines and scuppernongs.
The scuppernong wine makes for a delightfully sweet and golden drink called Chateau Kelsey.
As you can guess, the name was my idea. I wanted to take credit for picking most of the grapes during our first batch, and my parents obliged –– my younger brother wasn’t so happy.
Chaos Magician offers the bitterness from the scuppernong’s skin and a hint of honey-like sweetness from its juice.
The hops responsible for this delicious concoction are Centennial and Mosaic.
I’m sure this wasn’t the brewmaster’s intention to create a bold scuppernong note, but you know, there are no boundaries when interpreting art.
The brewpub opened around two months ago and has been sprinkling barrels of yeast magic into the Oakhurst neighborhood of Decatur.
I’d love to add information about the inspiration behind the beer like I usually do. However, the brewmaster turned out to be quite the magician himself and pulled a real vanishing act this week.
All in all, I encourage anyone down for a beautiful selection of funky brews to check out Sceptre Brewing Arts.
The brewpub is located at 630 East Lake Drive Suite E. in Decatur. For more information about their upcoming beer, visit sceptrebrewingarts.com.
Kelsey Richardson is the education reporter for The Times. She makes a weekly sacrifice for the newspaper by drinking tasty beer and writing about it.