Purple Haze Raspberry Lager

Review Date 5/17/2025  By John Staradumsky

  Style: Fruit Beer   Brewery: Abita   Country: USA   State: Louisiana   $ Per OZ: $.11 (B), $.26 (D)   ABV: 4.2%

 Abita beers! Let’s talk about Abita beers! I’ve been drinking a lot of Abita beers! Most recently, I’ve been enjoying their Mardi Gras Bock and Ride Share Triple IPA and Strawgator and Chocolate Doberge Cake Stout. The latest Abita beer I’m enjoying is Abita Purple Haze Raspberry Lager, a beer I’ve been drinking for decades. Somehow, though, I never posted a review of this beer anywhere, and upon realizing this resolved to do so. Taco Mac to the rescue! I wanted to go to Taco Mac recently and what did they have on tap but Abita Purple Haze. I ordered a mug. Of course I did.

Taco Mac! Let’s talk about Taco Mac! While I was at the bar enjoying my Purple Haze, I was talking to the bartender and manager about the sad clsosure of the original Taco Mac location in Virginia Highlands. Never fear, this isn’t because the chain is suffering; quite the contrary, they have opened a few new locations recently and have plans for more. After 46 years, though, the first location was losing money. I’ve been there before (of course I have) and it’s on the smaller side, and apparently was no longer turning a profit.

This made me recall my first experiences with Taco Mac. Back in the late 90s I first heard tell of a legendary multi-tap chain in the Atlanta area. This was at Oldenberg’s Beer Camp, and I vowed one day to visit one. Never, though, did I ever at that time suspect I would live two miles from one. Below is my first review of Taco Mac that I wrote for the now-defunct Epunions.com back in 2001. I’ve put it in italics just in case you’re only here to read about Abita Purple Haze, so that you can skip down to what you want to know.

If you think there’s a lack of good beer in Georgia, you haven’t been to Taco Mac lately. With locations all over Georgia, Taco Mac is a chain of multi-tap sports bars with typical bar food and lots and lots of beers to choose from. The atmosphere is always clean and pleasant, the TV will have a football, baseball, or basketball game on most of the time and the staff has always been friendly and service prompt when I’ve stopped by for a few beers.

The Marietta Taco Mac (the company calls it the Kennesaw location) is conveniently located next to the Town Center Mall and amidst a huge shopping district in this Atlanta suburb. Is this by some sinister design? Perhaps. It wouldn’t surprise me if a group of beer-loving husbands decided to build the place so they’d have somewhere their wives could drop them off at when they were out shopping on a Saturday afternoon. Of course, my sweet Barbara is a budding beer lover herself, and Taco Mac is a great place for a gal too.

Taco Mac is what beer enthusiasts call a multi-tap, or a bar that features a lot of draft beers. The Marietta location has had about 29 taps on when I have visited, and that makes them one of the chain locations with the fewest draft brews. The Alpharetta location, by contrast, usually has about 104, and the nearby Crabtree location has 112. Atlanta has two locations, one of which boasts the largest beer selection of any bar in the world.

Of course, 29 taps is still a respectable number, and the manager at Marietta Taco Mac does a great job of bringing beers from around the country and the world. I was delighted to see old New England favorite Harpoon India Pale Ale on tap when I visited, as well as Rogue Red Ale, Three Floyds Robert the Bruce Scottish Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Germany’s Veltins Pilsner, England’s John Courage, and local favorites Sweet Georgia Brown, Abita Purple Haze, and Sweetwater 420, just to name a few. Rotation is good, too, so stale beer is not a problem, and I was assured that the draft lines are cleaned thoroughly between keg changings. The beers I tasted certainly testified to that.

In addition to their draft selections Taco Mac also features hundreds of bottled beers lined up in large coolers for your browsing (and drinking) enjoyment. Though I rarely drink bottled beers at a multi-tap, I was so happy to see Harpoon’s Winter Warmer through the sparkling glass doors of one of the coolers that I quickly ordered one. There were plenty of local beers new to me too.

One thing you won’t find at Taco Mac is a gourmet meal. The food is good, basic bar food with the emphasis placed on Mexican cuisine, burgers, nachos, wings, salads and sandwiches. The prices are average to slightly high in my estimation. Ten wings will run you almost $7, a salad about $7.50, burgers and sandwiches around $7 too. The wings are good with various sauces available, ranging from mild to Three Mild Island. Taco Mac claims to be the restaurant that brought Buffalo wings to the south, for what that is worth.  

When we visited most recently, we were doing a bit of Christmas shopping and took a break for an appetizer and a few beers. We ordered the Tabasco Shrimp ($5.99) along with our beers. This consisted of fried popcorn shrimp in a crunchy batter (that didn’t seem all that spicy to me) served over a bed of hand cut fries. This was good but nothing spectacular, a decent snack with my Harpoon IPA. After a few more rounds of shopping we returned for dinner and more beer. I had a steak burrito ($6.95) which was a flour tortilla stuffed with shaved ribeye and covered with cheese, lettuce, onions, and tomatoes and served with frijoles and tortilla chips and salsa. This was more than I could eat. Barbara ordered chicken tender filets, crunchy and golden brown. The waitress gladly substituted frijoles for fries for her. Tacos can be added to any order for $1.95 or ordered individually at the same price. We didn’t order the loaded nachos, but someone else sitting near us did and received a heaping mound.

As a restaurant Taco Mac would get three stars in my book. As a beer bar, it gets five. But hey, when I come here, I’m not looking for a gourmet meal; I’m looking for a great beer selection and something to munch on while I enjoy my beer. With that in mind, Taco Mac comes most highly recommended, and ranks right up there with The Great Lost Bear, The Mews Tavern, The Sunset Tap and Grille and The Blue Tusk in any tallying of the country’s finest beer bars.

 *A special hint to beer enthusiasts: if you visit the Marietta Taco Mac, be sure to ask for directions to Sherlock’s, a fine beer and wine store with a fantastic selection of beer.

All of this brings us full circle back to Abita Purple Haze; as you can see I enjoyed one of these on tap at Taco Mac 24 years ago. It was the first time I had ever had the beer in draft form. I will say I have grown to appreciate Taco Mac’s food menu more than I did then. It is still pub fare, but has changed a lot over the years, though the one constant are the wings. I have devoured thousands of them here over the years, and they are some of the best I have ever eaten.

Longer still than I have been enjoying Taco Mac, I have been enjoying Abita beers. They were available back in New England before I moved south, and of course Georgia being as close to Louisiana as it is, they have been a staple here. Of their Purple Haze, Abita says:

Abita Purple Haze® has always been a flavor trip. We’ve amped up the raspberries for a more fruity flavor and deeper purple hue. Experience the Flavor Trip.

Abita Purple Haze has an alcohol content of 4.2% by volume and I paid $6.08 for a 23-ounce draft at Taco Mac. Total Wine sells it here in Georgia for $8.99 a six-pack in cans, $16.49 for a 12-pack.

My mug of Abita Purple Haze Raspberry Lager arrived bright pinkish purple in color with a tight white cap of foam and soft berry fruit in the nose. Taking a sip I get light toasty malt, subtle tart raspberry fruit, and a balanced hop finish.

A refreshing Abita classic with impressive raspberry burps. Thank you Abita and Taco Mac for so many great beers over the years. Here’s looking forward to lots more to come.

Glad I tried it?  T

Would I rebuy it??