The most experienced craft brewer in America has brought his 40 years of expertise to Florida for the first time. And not just for any beer – he brewed the inaugural batch of Alcatraz 2X IPA in Lakeland, which is now being introduced in central Florida.
Imagine pulling up to a white line in your car. You come to a full stop, put it into neutral, and ease your foot off the brake. Suddenly, your car – gasp – starts rolling backwards up the hill, which logic dictates is not possible. The car should only be able to roll down a hill. What sorcery is this? How could it be?!?!
You’re on what is referred to as a Gravity Hill. And a Gravity Hill is, in essence, an optical illusion. It basically rolls you downhill when it looks like you’re going uphill. The city of Lake Wales has a relatively famous one, Spook Hill, that is kind of a rite of passage if you grew up in Central Florida.
A special bottle release and tapping of The John Reeves Incident Double IPA commemorates a local legend on Memorial Day Weekend.
Yes, you read that correctly.
And if you really think that this beverage cannot possibly be happening, just read the title again.
I think I’ve made it absolutely no secret that I’m a particular fan of 3 Daughters in St. Petersburg. They have a wonderful, inventive brewery without having the annoying penchant for ultra rare whales and excessive beer snobbery. They’re just the neighborhood brewery that makes a good product and has a relatively strong statewide presence.
But they also recently started making cider, which made me very happy and made my wife much happier (she being the big cider fan in the family). So yes, my wife was in St. Pete, told me about how awesome the Iced Coffee Cider (Cider, 5.5% ABV) cider was, and so I very quietly requested that she and 3 Daughters bring me back a crowler.
Grayton Beer Company announces the addition of two new cans to its lineup of keg and bottled beers. Over the next four weeks consumers in Grayton Beer Company’s six state footprint will begin to see cans of the flagship 30A Beach Blonde Ale and newly released 30A Rosé Gose in their favorite restaurants and retail stores.
Let’s talk for a moment about Ale Trails.
I’m sure you’ve seen them, it’s when a region or group of breweries in one geographic area team up to create some sort of a passport, in the expectation of getting you to visit all of the locations that have partnered to get a pint glass or something.
I’m actually a big fan of them. I think that it’s a great way to get the word out, and to promote tourism, the exceptionally awesome side effect of opening breweries.
I am embarrassed to say it, but I have not gotten too many stamps on my Treasure Coast Wine & Ale Trail passport yet. For those of you that don’t know, the Treasure Coast is on the Atlantic side of Florida, south of Cape Canaveral, but north of West Palm Beach. It was named for the relative tendency for ships to shipwreck off the shore, leaving their treasure all over the bottom of the Atlantic.
Several of the breweries, along with County tourism boards, have banded together to create the Treasure Coast Wine & Ale Trail in an effort to boost tourism. All you have to do is go to any of the breweries involved, grab one of the large, pirate-themed maps, and start stamping.
Of all of them, the Elder Statesman has to be Sailfish Brewing in Fort Pierce. Here’s the funny thing about Sailfish, I have been there before, when they were in their old digs. Those old digs, when I first reviewed them, were located in two canary yellow houses, not too far removed from downtown Fort Pierce.
It was absolutely adorable, they had the largest back patio area I’ve ever seen, and it was a great time. They have since moved, and to a warehouse sized space very close to the water and several restaurants that my family and I particularly enjoy in Fort Pierce. If you know P.P. Cobb, they’re pretty much across the street.
Herein lies the rub, and I will readily admit that I was a little disappointed in not having access to that massive backyard area anymore. What they lack for in playspace, they make up for in brewing capacity, which is why you’re starting to see cans show up from time to time on store shelves in the South and Central Florida areas.
You’re also seeing a much bigger selection of beers available during a visit, which we shall start with Moore’s Creek Milk Stout (Milk Stout, 5.1% ABV, 36 IBU), a beer named for an almost 100-year old concrete arch bridge very close to the brewery. The beer is a nice, medium-bodied, slightly sweet Stout that goes down just a touch too easily.
From there, as is my modus operandi, here is the flight that I got while completely ignoring the fact that I should have gotten my map stamped. From left to right:
Drescher Dunkel Lager (Dunkel, 5.25% ABV, 21 IBU) – I’m a big fan of Dunkels, even though they tend to knock me out just a little bit. This one has a big, heady flavor with a slightly boozy undercurrent.
Mondfisch Marzen (Marzen, 5.64% ABV, 22 IBU) – As an Oktoberfest/Marzen, this one wasn’t necessarily as sweet as some of the traditional ones are. Sure, it’s got a nice caramel feel from the Bavarian malts, but it’s nowhere near as syrupy sweet.
Don’t Poke The Bees (Blonde Ale, 8% ABV, 20 IBU) – This was beyond fantastic. But I will have to explain the name just a little bit. This starts off as their Don’t Poke the Bear Imperial Blonde Ale, but with fresh blackberries and locally sourced bee pollen that comes from their own local apiary. I can’t emphasize enough how amazingly fruity this is. Yes, there is honey to it, and if you know honey sweetness vs. sugar sweetness, you’ll understand when I say that it wasn’t necessarily candy bar like, but still there was a meaty feel to it.
First Light Amber (Red Ale, 5.4% ABV) – This is their Tag & Release Amber with the addition of Trader Jim’s coffee and cacao nibs. It was an interesting thing to take an Amber ale and darken it up with some very creative adjuncts that I necessarily don’t see in Amber ales as much as I do in porters and stouts. But what they ended up with was a deep, very nuanced, very flavorful beer.
As much as I hated to see the old facility go, it is exciting to see Sailfish growing into new digs. This is exactly what they needed to grow their footprint here in Central and South Florida. Don’t worry, the old digs are still around, and I’ll tell you about it in a later post.
In the meantime, I have to go get my map stamped.
Drink Florida Craft,
Dave
@floridabeerblog
floridabeerblog@gmail.com
This is a brewery visit blog post. This is also a love song to a pepper.
If you’re from St Augustine, this should make sense.
St. Augustine has found itself in the middle of a brewing Renaissance. Yes, you have the debacle of Mile Marker Brewing, and you also have the recent demise of longtime establishment A1A Ale Works (I know they’re still open, but they are not brewing anymore, therefore I am not really that interested in them).
In that time, four breweries have flourished and are open for business. The one farthest removed from the tourist area is probably Bog Brewing (not counting Ancient City Brewing’s actual brewing facility out by I-95).
If you are not inherently familiar with the downtown Orlando, describing the location of Orlando Brewing basically involves taking rudimentary knowledge of downtown as a whole and heading west a little bit.
If you grew up there, like I did, all you need to do is say three words: Merita bread factory.
To some it was an eyesore, to those of us who didn’t have to live near it, driving by and smelling it when it was in full operation was a little slice of heaven (no pun intended). But it’s in that general area that you will find Orlando Brewing.
