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.