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farity · 9 months

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Found, part 5

Six months later

Anna got home - the home she now shared with Aemond - to the smells of something delicious and meaty. Boudi ran up to her as she always did, sniffing her for treats, and when she realized Anna had none to give, she turned around and ran back to the kitchen.

"There she is," Aemond said, carrying a glass of wine and giving it to her after she kissed him. "Mom's cook made her world famous lasagna and gave me half, should be ready in about five minutes."

"Smells amazing," Anna replied, sipping at her wine. "Oh, this is a new one. I'll go change and be right back." Aemond seemed a little tense, she'd ask him about his work and hopefully be able to get him to let go of any worries.

She put the glass of wine down on the dining room table and headed to their bedroom, ready to start the weekend. There was Jon and Tormund's housewarming tomorrow during the day, and Margot's birthday dinner that-

When she opened the door, Anna stopped, frozen.

The little sitting area at the entrance to the master suite had been transformed with a hundred candles and an entire row of vases with red roses lined the single shelf behind the sofa.

The coffee table was covered in tray after tray of her favorite chocolates and in the center sat a silver bucket with a bottle of Champagne on ice.

She turned and found Aemond, down on one knee, with a small box on one hand and the other one out towards her, waiting for her to take it.

"Aemond."

"Anna." He smiled gently at her. "There is something I have been meaning to ask you."

She let out a breath, her heart pounding. It wasn't that she didn't expect him to propose, she loved him and he loved her and his plans for the future always included her. But once again, he had surprised her.

She took a step toward him and placed her hand on his.

"I know our story is a short one so far," he began, "but if life has taught me something, it is that one never knows what will happen next. All I know is that, whatever that is, I want it to be with you."

Her fingers tightened on his hand and he rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.

She saw the tears gathering in his eye, saw how he was steadying himself. "Anna Caroline Stark, will you marry me? Spend your life with me? Face the world with me?"

Her own eyes were now blurry and she nodded, throwing herself at Aemond as he stood. She started crying and Aemond wiped off her tears and his own. "Wait, here."

He opened the box and Anna's jaw dropped. Inside was a magnificent cushion cut diamond on a platinum band lined with smaller diamonds. "Good god, Aemond," she said, and Boudi, hearing her human's exclamation, bounded into the room, working herself between them.

"Boudi, look, we're going to be an official family," Anna ruffled her dog's fur and then cradled Aemond's face in her hands. "I love you, so fucking much, Aemond Targaryen."

"And I adore you," he said, his voice soft. At the nudging on his knee, he leaned you, "I love you, too, Boudi, you saved my woman's life."

He'd kept his promise to the huge malamute. Her favorite treats arrived every month by the case, and her bed had been upgraded to a massive monogrammed cushion by the living room window, her favorite spot in their new home.

* * * * *

"Wait, Robb, I want to see," Margot elbowed her beloved as she got in camera range.

"Mom?" Aemond scanned the tiny squares, each with the face of a family member. Helaena was there, waiting patiently. Aegon was tapping his fingers on his cheek, and there, finally, was his mother. Anna's family, her mother, siblings and their partners, were waiting patiently.

"Dearest Cat," his mother said smoothly.

"Alicent, you look gorgeous as always," her mother replied.

The initial meeting between the two mothers had gone well, the slow assessment of two matriarchs giving way to an understanding that their love for their children was their main priority.

"Okay, everyone," Aemond said, "pulling Anna's hand up into the camera, "we have some news."

Margot's scream made Robb cover his ears, but he was laughing as she began hitting his arm, "I knew it! I knew it!!!"

"Fucking finally, man! Welcome to the dragons' den, Anna," Aegon said, clapping slowly.

Alicent said nothing, fingertips covering her mouth delicately as her eyes filled with tears, while Cat's face softened into a warm smile. "That is wonderful news, welcome to our family, Aemond, and the rest of the Targaryens," she said.

"Aww, I finally get a sister," Helaena said quietly, and Alicent hugged her daughter to her side.

"I love you both so much, I am very happy," Alicent said, wiping off a tear.

"We love you guys, we'll have you all over for dinner chez nous." Anna added, kissing Aemond's cheek before everyone said goodbye and the call ended.

* * * * *

The wedding, covered on social media with the #starkgaryen hashtag, was disappointingly private, the only fleeting glimpses of bride and groom a few blurry photographs on various family members' feeds. Margot, the glamorous maid of honor, kept watch on Boudi, who had been eyeing the wedding cake since it was wheeled in. "You get enough treats as it is, missy," she scratched the dog's chin and Boudi plopped down, giving in for now.

Anna was resting her head on Aemond's shoulder, her bespoke Louboutins killing her feet after all that dancing. "Happy, my beautiful wife?"

"Always happy with you," she smiled, turning her face up to him for a kiss, "my handsome husband."

"Here," he said, slipping off his jacket and placing it over her shoulders, "come with me."

Anna stood, her hand in Aemond's, "it's not that cold."

"It might be on the plane," he said, and watched her eyes widen.

When she looked around at the people still dancing, she caught Margot's wink and little wave before Aemond pulled her around the corner.

"You're packed, don't worry," he added, smiling at her, "Margot was a big help. That woman can shop."

Anna laughed, "is that why the shops down in Union Square were closed last week? She cleared them out?"

"I don't want to think about it," Aemond replied, taking her to where the helicopter waited for them.

"Will you tell me where we're going?"

Aemond turned, looked at the woman who had turned his life upside down. "It's somewhere warm, but not too warm, don't want my Bay Area girl to get too uncomfortable."

"Or my porcelain dragon to burn his skin," she smiled, caressing his face."

Shrugging, Aemond kissed her. "There's always SPF 100." He trailed his fingertips over the delicate planes of her face. "I adore you, Anna. I would do anything for you," he said, raising an eyebrow, "and I would do it again."

"I love you so much," she replied, feeling cherished and loved.

"Let's go," he said, tugging on her hand.

* * * * *

THE END

#aemond targaryen #aemond fanfiction #hotd fanfic #hotd fanfiction #aemond targaryen fanfic #aemond targaryen x oc

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miamibeerscene · 6 years

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Inside Atlanta’s New Beer Hangout: Monday Night Brewing’s Garage

Monday Night Brewing’s Garage opens as a second location in Atlanta. (Credit: Ale Sharpton)

November 27, 2017

It’s just a little past 2 p.m. on a clement October Friday in Southwest Atlanta, and the newest addition to its beer scene—Monday Night Brewing’s Garage, a facility dedicated to sour and barrel-aging beers—is evidently becoming one of the area’s popular chill spots to spark off the weekend.

It’s the second addition to Monday Night’s family; its original brewing headquarters opened in West Midtown six years prior. Compared to its grandiose kickoff two Saturdays ago hosting more than 1,500 people gawking at the complex’s 22,000 square feet unveiling three stainless tanks, two foeders, a koelschip called the Crunkship, chandelier lighting, three taprooms, and beloved native ATL rap group The Nappy Roots rocking the crowd outdoors, the Garage’s current lunchtime serenity would’ve been virtually unimaginable.

Signature glassware at Monday Night Brewing’s Garage, the new sour facility in Atlanta. (Credit: Ale Sharpton)

Visitors mostly in their 20s are sitting at tables scattered throughout the building’s expansive foyer. They are either splitting a pizza from a nearby shop, in a group playing the “Heads Up” charades game yelling clues at someone holding a smartphone to their forehead, or individually pounding away on laptops with headphones; an eclectic mix of lounge grooves, 80s hits and hip-hop from its “Golden Era” serves as the soundtrack for everyone else. The common denominator is they all have the Garage’s signature stemmed glassware containing brews of various hues and styles to help usher in the weekend.

(READ: The Sour Beer Pickle in American Brewing)

At the “Pegboard” taproom bar in the front stands Monday Night co-founder and CMO Jonathan Baker; he is lightheartedly titled “the reasonably qualified creative guy” on the company’s website who handles everything from marketing and branding to social media. Obediently sitting at his side is Eden, a black Labrador and pit bull mix who Jonathan affectionately refers to as literally his “Road Dog”; she accompanies him on constant commutes to both Monday Night locations every day.

Clad in faded jeans, vintage Nikes, and a hoodie boasting a vibrant galactic pattern, Jonathan, 34, adjusts his glasses and studies the list of brews available before making his selection. Laughing, he admits that the last two weeks have been so chaotic that he doesn’t even know what’s currently on tap. Settling on the very popular Han Brolo—an American pale ale at 4.7% ABV—because it’s “super crushable” he says, Jonathan thanks the pourer, and then heads to the next tap station called the “Sticker Taproom Bar” due to all the beer-themed adhesives decorating its base. Eden follows of course.

After making a quick glance at the popular Netflix series “Stranger Things” projected on a white wall adorned with sculpted busts of horned animals, flying predators and dinosaurs to simply “trip people out” he laughs, Jonathan is ready to field questions on Monday Night’s amazing story leading to the Garage.

Monday Night Brewing’s Jonathan Baker thumbs through the beer list at the Garage. (Credit: Ale Sharpton)

Q: Let’s go back to the beginning of Monday Night Brewing. How did it get started and who did you conceptualize it with?

Jonathan: I was in a Bible study with Jeff [Heck] and Joel [Iverson] along with some other guys. It started at Joel’s house first and then Jeff’s for five years; the studies began at 6 a.m. on Fridays for an hour and half each session. Jeff and Joel had both been gifted with homebrewing kits, and the Bible study decided to fire one up on a Monday night at Joel’s house back in 2006. We loved brewing and the community of beer so much that we made our Monday night brew sessions a weekly thing. About three months in, I proposed turning it into a business and it blossomed from there.

We put in as much of our own money as we had. When that ran out—and it ran out quickly—we turned to friends and family, and also applied for an SBA [Small Business] loan.

(BEER TRAVEL: Plan Your Next Beercation)

Q: What were the most difficult obstacles for opening the brewery and why did you pick Atlanta’s Westside?

Jonathan: Understanding the legalities of making and selling beer was one of the biggest obstacles we faced opening a brewery. We knew nothing about the three-tier system, the politics of getting your beer on draft, and how many layers of red tape there are. We spent 18 months simply interviewing and choosing a wholesaler partner for our home market. We opened up our original location on the Westside, a part of town where all three of us had recently moved. This area of town has become a great cultural boon to the city with amazing art, music, and food options. Our brewery is right in the thick of it with ample parking and an amazing patio as well.

Q: Name the first beers you came out with at the original brewery and why those?

Jonathan: We launched with Eye Patch Ale and Drafty Kilt. Eye Patch was a labor of love for us; it’s an English-style IPA that we brewed 24 different ways over the course of five years tweaking and perfecting.

Drafty Kilt was our wild card. There weren’t any breweries in the Southeast brewing a year-round Scotch ale, and very few in the U.S. Drafty Kilt is a toasty Scotch ale with a little Cherrywood-smoked malt and it really helped define us as a brewery in those early days. It’s also won some awards, including a medal at the World Beer Cup. [Monday Night recently won the Silver Medal in the Chocolate Beer category for Tears of My Enemies and a Bronze Medal in the Other Strong Beers category at the 2017 Great American Beer Festival as well.]

(LEARN: How to Choose the Right Glass for Your Beer)

Q: Discuss how the barrel aging began at the original brewery and how that led to the talks about opening the Garage.

Monday Night Brewing’s Garage has three barrel-aging rooms. (Credit: Ale Sharpton)

Jonathan: Our barrel-aging program began with a bourbon barrel version of Drafty Kilt, which actually won a gold at the Great American Beer Festival. It was then that we realized we were on to something. Our barrel program director, Peter Kiley, is a total artist when it comes to barrel aging. He came from winemaking, so he has a knack for working with barrels through that experience. We won a Silver at the World Beer Cup for another barrel-aged creation, Laissez-Faire, a Cabernet barrel-aged wheat wine; from there we decided we needed to expand our barrel program. We really wanted to start getting into sours, which spurred us to start looking off-site for room. Once we toured what is now the Garage, we knew we had something special for our second location. It had such a cool vibe, the potential to be an integral part of the community surrounding it, and frontage to the BeltLine. [The BeltLine is a developing multi-use trail replacing a former rail line going through Atlanta.]

Q: Talk more about the Garage’s concept? Also, why did you pick the West End and how did you get the support from the surrounding community?

Jonathan: It took us about a year from touring the Garage the first time to opening its doors; it was pretty quick, honestly. The name, just like Monday Night, is a reflection of who we are. Peter came up with the ‘Garage’ name over a brainstorming session and some brews one night and it made perfect sense since we homebrewed out of the garage for years.

As for the location, we opened the Garage in the West End to build on these two ideas: community and experimentation. Southwest Atlanta is home to so many vibrant and growing neighborhoods, but it has been a craft beer desert for a while. We wanted to help change that and give these neighborhoods a physical space for them to hang out in. This is an underserved part of the city and part of our mission is to also deepen human relationships. We wanted to have a building and a beverage that pulls people together. That is meaningful to us.

(VISIT: Find a Georgia Brewery)

Q: Talk about what you plan to brew here, the Crunkship, and your future plans.

Jonathan: The Garage is home to Georgia’s first koelschip affectionally named the Crunkship. It is vented to the outside where we have planted an urban orchard replete with fruits like apples, pears, persimmons, grapes, pineapple, guava, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, and others. We’ll be able to pipe in all the air congregating around these plants to ferment. We’ll also be able to use these fruits in the production of our beers.

We have three barrel-aging rooms with different climate controls so that we can operate their humidity and temperature levels independently. We have a primary fermentation room, a souring room and a clean barrel room. In the main production area, we’ve installed some new stainless-steel tanks in addition to two foeders with more to come. We also moved our bottling line down from our original brewery and are in the process of installing a lab.

We have some pretty crazy stuff planned for the future, but what we’re doing here at the Garage is what we call “slow beer.” We want to combine traditional methods of brewing and aging with new ideas and processes. Some of these beers will take years to complete, so I think you’ll really see us hit our stride around 2020. That’s not to say we won’t be putting out good beers until then; we already have some pretty fun stuff in barrels over there, with more on the way.

Dennis Malcolm Byron (aka Ale Sharpton)Author Website

Dennis Malcolm Byron, a.k.a. Ale Sharpton, is a world-renowned beer authority, award-winning journalist, blogger (AleSharpton.com), photographer, event host and gourmand. He has contributed to more than 20 magazines and numerous websites, and passionately travels the globe to cover what he terms the world’s best beverage. Although a native New Yorker and alumnus of Cornell University, he proudly calls Atlanta his home. Globetrot with him on Twitter and Instagram. Read more by this author

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