A Toast to South Florida

During a recent beach trip to South Florida, I got a chance to sample a few new beers with mixed results.

I first bought a six-pack of Wailua Wheat Ale from a Publix near our hotel for consumption in the room and on the beach. Unlike the Publix supermarkets at home, the ones in South Florida, or at least this one, did not have a very good selection of microbrews to choose from in their beer aisle. I am not a huge wheat ale fan, but the fact printed on the bottles that it was infused with passion fruit peaked my interest. Plus it had a waterfall on the label and I am a sucker for pretty pictures. It was actually a pretty good beer. The passion fruit was definitely apparent in the taste and actually cut the sharp wheat taste that usually turns me off to these concoctions. It had a good finish and appealing aftertaste. A very nice surprise. It's a seasonal product of Kona Brewing and as the name implies this small microbrewery is located in Hawaii (although the bottle indicated this particular six pack was brewed and bottled in a new partner brewery in New Hampshire for East Coast distribution).

On our second night in South Florida, we had dinner at a Yard House Restaurant in nearby Palm Beach Gardens. Yard House is easily my favorite "chain" restaurant with over 100 beers on tap and excellent food. If only one would come to Nashville!! My first choice was the exceptional Stoudts Double IPA from Pennsylvania. Full of hoppy flavor and aroma with a nice smooth finish. It was great to see that this Yard House had a few different selections in terms of regional brews than the other one I visited in Las Vegas (out there, they had a double IPA from San Francisco).

Stoudt's has been a pioneer in the microbrewing business and one of the first to open in Pennsylvania. back in 1987. They are located just outside Philadelphia and have a nice range of products according to their website. Definitely might be worth a visit if I am in the area again and I will be on the lookout for more of their products to try in the meantime. My second choice at the Yard House was the Juniper Pale Ale from Rogue Brewing in Oregon of whom I am a big fan and have tried several of their great products. This one was no exception. Full body with a clean, fresh delivery. I do think I would have enjoyed this one more had I tried it before the double IPA. I have made this mistake before and have got to remember that in the future if I want to try more than one selection at a place that has a double IPA I need to hold out to try it last because they are so powerful that they "pale" other ales (pun intended) in taste and aroma.

The third and last evening in South Florida found us driving south a few minutes to downtown West Palm Beach's City Place, a large, beautiful shopping and dining complex. The restaurant/microbrewery there is called Brewzzi (cool name), an Italian-bistro/microbrewery regional chain. It reminded me a lot of the Big River Restaurant/Brewery regional chain we have back at home. The restaurant decor was similar, the menu offerings were similar and the beer was similar. Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of Big River brews and in turn was not overly impressed with what Brewzzi had to offer either. The beer that both brew is decent in taste, but is so LIMITED in terms of variety, originality and creativity. In short, the beers they brew are boring and predictable, and I think they do that intentionally. They are going for mass appeal and looking to attract casual beer drinkers who don't want to stray too far from their domestic mass-produced swill. but still want to say they "drank a microbrew." It's a good and albeit successful marketing strategy, but it's fairly eye-rolling to me as a self-proclaimed "beer snob." They aren't fooling me one bit. I asked for their "Reserve" which their menu claimed was for the "beer connoisseur" and was promptly told they were out of it. I knew where this was going. So I had to settle for their boring common offerings. I tried their "Brewmaster's Special" American Dark and it was about as good as what it was trying to be....Michelob Amber Bock. I went next for their darker lager, Black Duke. I liked the name and thought it was a decent but forgettable brew. I also had a taste of their Brewmaster Special Kolsch but it didn't have the hoppiness I was enjoy (kolsch-style brews never do to my experience so far).

ODDITIES AND ENTITIES:

My wife and my friend, Nate, have been yapping about their love for ginger beer for a few months now. I tried it in Australia last year where it's very popular, but it doesn't do a lot for me (but neither does the taste of ginger). To satisfy their longing for ginger beer, Nate ordered a few bottles of ginger extract called Elixir G from California (not available here for some reason). You pour a table spoon into a glass of lager beer and "wah-lah" you have ginger beer. So I gave it a try with a bottle of Victory Lager that Nate brought over. I also had it with Heineken Light Lager that Ashlee bought. OK, not bad on a warm summer evening and probably great with Asian food (I am right - we just tried it tonight). I give all the credit to the extract, however, which has a very pure ginger taste and aroma and pretty much overpowers the weak taste of the lager anyway.

Tapping the 12th South Tap Room in Nashville

Last night we had tickets to see the "Queen of Mean" Lisa Lampanelli at the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville, but beforehand my wife and I met our firend, Nate, at the 12th (Avenue) South Tap Room for dinner and, of course, some beer. I had been wanting to check this place out for a while and last night was the perfect opportunity since Magic Hat Brewing was advertising that they were going to have a sample tastings there as well. Magic Hat products are high on my favorites list, so it was a no-brainer.

We arrived a little after 5 PM and got our first Magic Hat sample - their new summer seasonal ale called Wacko - great name. It had the red color of a fruit-infused beer, but the light, crisp taste of a clean summer-style ale with a nice subtle finish. Zero fruit taste...interesting with that crazy color. Next we tried their Odd Notion Summer Ale which was a Belgian-style pale yellow brew which was nice and light. Unfortuately, that was the extent of our free tastings, although they were running some happy-hour-like deals on their other beers that the taproom carried, but those weren't anything I hadn't had before so I moved on to a few others that I didn't recognize off their fairly-impressive beer menu.

My first choice was the homerun of the evening. A superb hoppy elixir from Victory Brewing in Pennsylvania (just outside Philly) called "Hop Wallop." It wasn't labeled an IPA, but it might as well have been. Excellent hoppy aroma and taste from a bottle - now surpassing my current favorite bottled IPA from Sweetwater. Unfortunately, I don't think Victory beer is readily available in this area (yet, hopefully) since the tap room had a large sign on their door proclaiming that Victory beer was "finally" in Nashville. My friend, Nate, is a stout lover and he went for the Victory Storm King Stout of which he graciously allowed me a sip. Another excellent bottled product. It was ultra-smooth despite it's jet black appearance and heavy body.

I wanted another Hop Wallop (love that name) bad, but decided to do a bit more menu-exploring and moved on to Lakefront Organic ESB. An ESB (extra special bitter) is an English-style ale - the most well-known of which is Bass. Lakefront is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin microbrewery and this concoction was very solid in taste and texture. I stand by this proclamation fairly strongly because I had bought an actual gold medal winning ESB from England earlier this week from our new Wilson County real beer store, Cheers. It's called Fuller's ESB and I have enjoyed the pricey six-pack of it I bought so far. It's actually a bit more actually "bitter" to me than Lakefront was, but you get what you overpay for I guess. As you can tell, I am a little peeved over the price of the Fullers (it wasn't marked and I will ask next time), but I am trying to move on beyond that because one of my mottos is that life is too short to drink cheap beer...but it is long enough to not overpay for it either. My other purchase at Cheers earlier this week was a bargain pint of an excellent Octoberfest hefewiezen actually from Germany called Georg Schnieder's Wiesen Edel-Weisse (boy, the Europeans aren't into the "cutesy" names for their beers are they - Fuller's ESB and Schnieder's "Noble White"). This product is proclaimed "organic' as well by the USDA (you won't find that moniker on the processed crap of Bud, Miller or Coors, folks).

One other great find this week was a bottle (and then another one) of Abita Jockamo IPA I had at the WOW Wingery in Mt. Juliet. The WOW Wingery is a great little place for good pub food before or after a movie in the new Providence Marketplace. They have a decent selection of beer in bottles and on tap. Since they deem themselves a New Orleans-style eatery (never thought of New Orleans for chicken wings?) they have everything carried by Abita Brewing out of Abita Springs, Louisiana. Jockamo is an excellent IPA with good hoppiness and a nice finish. The Abita folks are pioneers in microbrewing and their Purple Haze and Turbo Dog are hugely popular. Should have known that they would do a great IPA as well.

Three Cheers for Cheers (Beer and Cigar Store)

The long, hard wait is over. A real beer store has finally come to Wilson -we love our Coors Light - County. It's called "Cheers Beer and Cigar Store" and they have an excellent selection of microbrews and imports to choose from in their small satellite store attached to the already established "Cheers Wine and Liquor Store", a mere six miles from my house. Saints be praised!!

One of my first selections from Cheers included a six-pack of Single-Wide IPA from Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City. I knew this IPA existed after doing a little research on Boulevard after trying their excellent Lunar Ale a while back, and was happy to find it here at a reasonable price. It's a good, solid IPA, but cannot unsurplant my leading favorite bottled IPA - Sweetwater from Atlanta, GA. Their logo is hilarious and I love the little "squatty" bottles it comes in as well. Fits so nice in your hand on a hot summer afternoon.

The Cheers Beer Store also had a number of single pint import selections for varying prices and I decided to grab two of these as well for different reasons. I bought Lindemans Pomme Lambic because of my recent experience with the excellent Lindemans Framboise Lambic raspberry concoction out in Vegas, and because I love the taste of apple. Out it Vegas we orderd Lindeman's on tap, well, here's the kicker with Lindemans in a bottle: not only does it have a regular bottle cap under the foil covering the head of the bottle, but it also has a cork! I guees I should have known since it's the product of a natural double fermentation process. This was unfortunately discovered AFTER I had snuck it into the drive-in movie in Watertown the other night...sans corkscrew. So much for good beer while watching a movie out under the stars. Back home a couple days later (with a corkscrew), I was finally able to sample the Pomme. It was worth the wait. Excellent green apple flavor and aroma. Once again I give Lindemans credit for restoring my faith in Belgium beer brewing. Another great beer for a hot summer day.

I also bought a pint of high alcohol Russian lager labeled EpIIInctoe (translated "Yershistoe") from the Krasny Vostok Brewery in Kazan because it was cheap and, hey, it's from Russia. While I am not a big fan of lagers per se, this one wasn't bad at all. It has a little hint of hops without being totally bowled over by the maltiness you find in most lagers. Good finish after a bit of a bitter start. Probably wouldn't get it again, but glad I tried it.

I am so happy to finally have a real beer store so close to home. I am going to do my best to keep them in business as long as my wallet (and liver) can afford to do it.

BonnaBREW '09

My wife and I attended our second annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in nearby Manchester, TN, this past weekend. It's a world-class 4-day festival with upwards of 100,000 people in attendance. We stayed in our pop-up camper during the festival, and one of the rules is that no glass containers can be brought in to the area. So that limits your selection of decent beer to take. I opted to go with a couple different "draught-style" pint can options for the cooler. The first was Tetley's English Ale (I thought they only made tea!!). The second was Belhaven Scottish Ale which I had recently in a sample size at an Irish Festival. Belhaven is not quite as smooth as the Tetley, but not too bad. Definitely smooth enough to start your day with at Bonnaroo (photo below - note the time on the cell phone..yep, that A.M.).

One of the centerpieces of the Bonnaroo festival grounds is the "Broo'ers Tent", a circus-size tent chock full of microbrewers from all over the country hocking their wares at individual tasting booths (photo below). There weren't too many that I hadn't tried already, but I did find a few new ones to add to the collection. The first was a brown ale sample from Pisgah Brewing which produces certified organic beer in Black Mountain, NC. Very smooth with a nice body and finish. My wife liked it enough to buy a full glass. I chose to move on before making any full-pour decisions. Next I ordered a sample of Rogue Brewing's Shakespeare Stout which was uber-smokey in taste. Rogue's out of Oregon and is famous for its top-notch Dead Guy Ale. This stout was a little too robust for my taste, but it did leave quite an impression on your taste buds and showed me once agian that the folks at Rogue take their brewing very seriously. The only one left I hadn't tried was the American Pale Ale from Good People Brewing in Birmingham, Alabama. Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!! This is the hoppiest, tastiest APA I have ever had. I quickly ordered up a full pint after my sample and enjoyed its smooth freshness as I waded back out into the June heat and humidity for some more great live music.

Lost Wages - Gained Calories PART II

Well, it's been one month since my last visit, and I found myself in Las Vegas once again. No need to call Gambler's Anonymous or anything like that. This was a planned "family" vacation with my wife and her in-laws (seven of us in total). We had a great time and in between the shows, the great food and the scenery, I was able to squeeze in a few more new beers while in Sin City (and just outside of it).

Boulder Dam Brewing Company (BDBC) - I learned about this place while doing some "beer research" before my last visit, but since it's located in Boulder City (about a half-hour south of Vegas) and since I didn't have a rental car at that time, I had to wait for this trip to check it out. It worked out great because my brother- and sister-in-law wanted to visit Hoover Dam located right outside Boulder City and I agreed to chauffeur them if they would agree to have lunch at the BDBC brew pub. The historic downtown of Boulder City where BDBC's brew pub is located is a quaint little village with an obvious southwestern adobe-style building theme. Therefore, the brewpub looked pretty much like the rest of the little town from the outside. Inside wasn't anything to get excited about although their big brewing vat's sat right behind the bar which was kind of interesting and different. I started with their Highscaler IPA and wasn't overly impressed. It was decent, but the hoppy taste and aroma that I dearly love was fairly weak. My brother-in-law, Andy, tried their 6-sampler of beers and gave me a taste of their Black Canyon Stout which again I found to be OK, but nothing unique or memorable. He offered more of their products to me - a pilsner, a hefeweizen and a seasonal cerveza - but I passed on them because I knew what I would encounter. Probably the most interesting one they had was a mix of of their Lake Mead Light and lemonade...but I wouldn't call that beer...more like something a guy named "Mike" likes to make and bottle on a national scale. These guys seems to be quite infantile in their development as brewers and as a brewpub, and hopefully they will mature with their establishment as well as their beer, but for now, I have to say it's not worth a trip out from Vegas just for the beer and their theme, "A Bolder Damn Beer" is clever, but a bit of an overstatement. Luckily, Boulder City and nearby Hoover Dam and Lake Mead make this area a very cool area to visit no matter what's going on at BDBC.

Clinking bottles and dancing draughts (a few more beers I had at various locations during my visit to Las Vegas):

Squatter's IPA - I picked up a six-pack of this bottled gem of a product at a nice beer store with a great selection in Vegas on the way back from Boulder City. Excellent bottled IPA. Made in Salt Lake City. Way to go, Mormons! Pictured below are the Squatters in their makeshift sink cooler (so totally Vegas) along with a six-pack of In-Heat Hefewizen from Flying Dog Brewing out of Maryland that Andy had bought. I had a bottle of this before on our New Year's cruise and wasn't overly impressed, plus I am not a huge fan of "heffies" anyway.


Big Sky IPA - I got this on tap at a bar in the New York, New York Casino called Pour 24 (get it, two dozen craft beers on tap). It's from Mizzoula, Montana, and was pretty good, but I was expecting bigger results in terms of hops from a draught.

Gordon Biersch Marzen - I got this overpriced ho-hum amber Octoberfest-style lager at a Gordon Biersch restaurant/bar in the Las Vegas Airport waiting on our flight home. It was as plain as day and the nearly $9 price tag for a tall draught was ridiculous. GB is a regional franchise brewer from California specializing in lagers. Fairly popular among the masses, but nothing special to me.

Lindemans Framboise - Finally!! The Belgians have produced something that I like. Who knew it would be the best fruit-infused beer I have had to this point. The name sounds weird, maybe even a little girly, and it is a "fruity beer" but this stuff simply kicks ass. Incredible raspberry taste during consumption and lingering in the aftertaste. Full body with an interesting slight effervescence as well. A really amazing beer. My wife actually ordered it per a recommendation from our waitress at Yard House - the 100-beer-on-tap restaurant I discovered in Las Vegas during my last trip. After a few sips I was sold. I finished my Double Daddy IPA that I also had the last time I was at Yard House (excellent again), and decided I would go for the ultimate blend called the Youngberry Chocolate - that's Lindemans Framboise and Youngs Double Chocolate Stout (my current favorite stout). No need to bring the dessert menu, miss. I am already there!! Wow!! What a flavor rush. I enjoyed every last sip and I am noted for not having much of a sweet tooth. They also have a float with Lindemans and a scoop of ice cream....next time for sure. According to a little research I have done, fruit and even vegetables were used to season beer before hops became common. Lindemans has been in the beer biz for a long time and continue that pre-hop tradition with other fruit flavored beers such as peach (worth a try) and apple (definitely gotta try that one).

Another excellent visit to Vegas. Can't wait to go back again for more discoveries.