The Key West 6 and a Double D

My wife and I went to Key West for a long weekend where we rented a house with my brother and sister-in-law. The great thing about this house besides its privacy and roominess is that it has a huge fridge where I could keep some great beer during our visit in and around the pool and hot-tub (photo below). Since I am cutting back on calories as much as possible, I decided to limit myself to a six-pack, or basically two beers a day...granted a couple of them were full pints....so sue me. I found a great little liquor store with a very nice high-gravity selection of beers on the "new" side of the island. Here's the line-up:

Ringwood Brewing's Old Thmper Ale (pint) brewed by permission by Shipyard Brewing, Maine - excellent body and taste. I was a bit skeptical since English-style ales aren't always my favorite, but this one was great.

Victory Golden Monkey Tripel Ale - not bad for a Belgium Style ale, but Victory Brewing out of Pennsylvania always strives to create good beer.

Full Sail Pale Ale - a nice pale ale. I have never heard of Full Sail but they are out of Oregon, one of my top 5 favorite craft beer states. Those states, by the way, in order of my favorites are CA, CO, NC, OR and PA.

Full Sail IPA - a decent IPA although not as hoppy as I prefer.

Rogue Yellow Snow IPA (pint) - Rogue Brewing is the real reason Oregon makes my Top 5 States list. Awesome brewers. Awesome IPA, and what a great name.

Two Hearted Ale - Bells Brewing - This Michigan-based brewer has put out some pleasing beer that I have been discovering over the last year or so as their distribution moves into our area. This one's right up there with a smooth finish and good hoppy aroma.

Besides "The Key West 6" I also had a great beer-drinking experience during our dinner the first night on the island. We went to a dessert-only restaurant called "Better Than Sex." How could you not go check out a place called that? Their menu included cocktails that were also dessert-inspired including the "Double D" - a pint of Rogue Chocolate Stout served in a tall glass that's rim was dipped heavily in milk chocolate. All their drinks are served this way and they call them...are you ready?...."rim jobs" of course. Yep, it was real damn good. But better than sex? Well, no comment.