When Irish Eyes Are Brewing...

My wife and I took a road trip this past weekend with some of the in-laws down to the Florida Panhandle. This area is not my favorite area in the world to visit, and the early-March weather as predicted was not very conducive to hanging out at the albeit-lovely beaches there, but we made the best of it.

One of the biggest surprises was actually the beer I found being brewed at an Irish pub of all places? McGuire's Irish Pub has nothing on tap (not even Guinness!) except for a half a dozen of their own microbrews. I wasn't expecting much more than a few "gimmick" beers when I researched the area for microbrews and only found this place, but was surprised at the quality and the selection available. While the ladies went shopping one afternoon, my brother-in-law, Andy, who I have finally converted to "real beer" and I sought out this place for lunch. It's located on the far west end of the town of Destin.

I started, of course, with their IPA which was the seasonal brew on the menu and what they referred to as an "Irish Pale Ale." The name is not only clever but also fairly appropriate because it was far from an "India Pale Ale" in that it wasn't very hoppy in taste or aroma, or cloudy in appearance. It was a rather clear, golden-colored pale ale with a decent body and taste.

I moved on to their Irish Stout next which was excellent and definitely my favorite. These guys definitely know how to do dark beer. Andy had their Porter which I got a sip of and thought it was well-made also. I finished my lunch visit with their Irish Red Ale which I thought was OK reminding me a lot of the mass-produced Killian's.


Besides brewing their own beer, McGuire's is a unique Irish pub and a unique place overall for a couple of other reasons. First, they have over 900,000 dollar bills hanging from the ceilings and over the bar (photo above) with messages from visitors from all over the world. Man, talk about a great retirement fund! Second, besides the standard Irish fare, they are also a world-class steak house. Our whole group came back for dinner the next night to try the steaks out (which were fantastic, by the way) and besides another stout I was also able to try their Wild Irish Raspberry Wheat during dinner. It was pretty good despite this style of beer not being my favorite. The only beer of theirs I didn't try was their light Old Fashioned Ale which looked way too much like Miller Lite to me and was probably made for just such a palette.

The final great thing about McGuire's are the prices. The draught house beers are only $3.50 a pint and the huge steaks (I had a 14 oz. New York Strip) they offer are extremely reasonable in price (all under $30 including the filet minon) considering that you also get warm, fresh soda bread, a large salad and a huge side (my baked potato was bigger than my hand!). But the best value by far is their bowls of delicious Senate bean soup for 18 cents...yep, 18 cents! Same price since 1977. By the way, the price of Senate bean soup in the actual Senate cafeteria is now $2.97.

ODDS & ENDS:

Here's a few other new-to-me beers I had while on this trip...

Dog Bite High Gravity Lager from Genessee Brewing out of Rochester, NY, in a pint can while driving through LA (lower Alabama). Just for clarity, my wife was driving. It was actually very good and very potent! It is considered a "malt liquor" which adds to hilarity of the whole situation.

Banks Caribbean Lager - I had a bottle of this yuck at a little pizza place where we ate dinner at the first night in Florida. It was pretty much gross, but the pizza was good at least. I moved on to a Sweetwater 420 from there to get back in the good graces of my taste buds.

As I mentioned before, this area of the Emerald Coast is not particularly chock full of microbreweries. In my research I found three different places that were around for some time but did not survive and are now closed...hence the name, "Redneck Riviera"....good craft beer is definitely not sought out here by the regular vacationing crowd. It also took some hunting to find a decent beer store in the area which we finally did at a place called "Wine World" [insert shrug of shoulders here]. OK? Whatever....

Here's what I got in a variety six-pack there:

Sweet Water Happy Ending - - a seasonal, silver-medal winning imperial stout from one of my favorite brewers in Atlanta that I have been wanting to try for a long time. It was extremely good. I got two of these and gave one to Andy in trade for a Terrapin India Brown Ale that he bought.

Long John Ale - Red Brick Brewing in Atlanta - not real good in my opinion but as I have said many times, I just don't jive with many Belgian-style brews.

Pine Belt Pale Ale - Southern Star Brewing - Conroe, Texas (near Houston) - Pint can - I have heard about these can-only guys out of the Lone Star state and been wanting to try their wares. This was the first of three of their brews that I got. It had a rather odd taste, not a bad taste, just oddly different with an aggressive mix of malt and hops. The IBU is 45 which ranks it rather bitter.

Buried Hatchet Stout - Southern Star Brewing - 12 oz. can - Really nice flavor and body. Better than Oskar Blues Ten Fidy canned stout in my opinion. Quite enjoyable. I actually split half of this with Andy in exchange for some of of his pint bottle of Choc Beer's Signature Series Smoked Porter from Kreb's Brewing out of Oklahoma. This beer exploded with taste and vigor and was extremely strong. Definitely a brew you want to sip on for a while. This brewery has a rich history according to their website and definitely needs to be investigated further.

Bombshell Blonde Ale - Southern Star Brewing - 12 oz. can - A really good blonde ale which is not one of my favorite styles of beer. An easy start and finish taste. A few of these would be great on a hot, sunny day.