Sweetwater 420 is the flagship beer from Atlanta’s biggest brewery. And that brewery has taken ownership of the weekend around April 20th in the city since 2005. This year’s Sweetwater 420 Fest featured Widespread Panic, The Avett Brothers, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Moon Taxi, JJ Grey & Mofro, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and Cory Wong.
Paste editor-in-chief Josh Jackson was on hand to moderate a couple of panels with Baltimore’s Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and Portland, Ore.’s Fruition, each of whom collaborated on a new beer at the brewery. Pigeons took their name to heart and helped head brewer Nick Nock make an IPA with ingredients any bird would love, including blackberries and… crickets. Fortunately, you couldn’t really taste that last ingredient, and the resulting IPPPPA was both bird-friendly and delicious, though not particularly vegan. Fruition also took their name into consideration, helping brew a peach Berliner Weisse with jalapeños.
Photographer Gordon Hight was on hand to capture the music. (Beer panel photo by Reid Ramsey.)
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JJ Grey
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JJ Grey
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Moon Taxi
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Moon Taxi
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Moon Taxi
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Widespread Panic
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Widespread Panic
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Widespread Panic
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Jason Isbell