Reviews of beers from around Florida.
I love that in this age of COVID-19, the hot new merchandise item are face masks.
Whether they are fitted and loop around the ears or a neck gaiter, whether they are $5 or $15 or given away for free, whether they have political statements or cartoon characters or my daughter’s school, I have seen so many of them come out and I think that it is absolutely amazing.
It looks like the Irish Red is making some sort of a comeback. I guess it’s never truly gone away, but I have noticed a lot of breweries have decided to load up on them right now, a fact I am not exactly complaining about. This slightly dry companion to the Amber ale is always a hit with me, as it tends to walk the line perfectly between a caramel malt and earthy hop.
In the time this blog and its accompanying social media outlets have been in existence, I’ve been relatively free of trolls and other issues. As a point of operation, however, I very rarely post anything that would antagonize any one group. I write about beer, beer tends to be pretty loved on all sides.
When getting ready for my recent interview with 26 Degree Brewing in Pompano Beach and Clonakilty Distillery from Ireland, I posted a picture of the 26 Degree beer that I was drinking getting ready for the episode, BLM Lager (Lager, 5.2% ABV). Oddly enough, I got some hateful comments about the beer. They have been deleted, but part of me is still a little surprised that it happened.
One thing I have started to do on the Sunshine State Happy Hour is live beer tastings. It’s really neat to be able to taste beers for the first time, but also be able to talk about them with the brewers to learn a little bit about the background and the concept behind the beer.
I also get to find out about interesting products, so I was excited when Ivanhoe Park surprised me with information about their Boxcar variety pack. This contains three cans each of the three core beers that they originally opened with, and three cans of their Park Hopp’r Golden Pilsner (Pilsner, 5% ABV).
From the small tap room on Immokalee Rd. to growing distribution reaching the other side of Alligator Alley, It’s been quite the ride to watch the expansion of Bone Hook Brewing. They’re starting to release cans too, preferring the 16 oz. tall boys taking the brewing industry by storm.
There are craft beer bars that annoy me, considering themselves to be amazing with 400 taps of the same macro beers I could get at the grocery store, all horribly out of date and uninteresting.
And then there are the craft beer bars with tap lineups that shouldn’t exist in this universe. They have to have some sort a portal to another dimension where they are able to get anything and everything they want. Fat Tap Beer Bar in Oakland Park is the latter.
Of all the discussion of adjuncts put in beer, whether they be locally grown fruit or ice cream toppings, one of the lesser celebrated entrants that has been gaining steam as of late are chai spice.
Correctly referred to as Masala Chai, this is a drink that originated in India that combines black tea with a mixture of cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and more. It is warming, inviting, and very rich in flavor without any off-putting heat or excessive spiciness. Continue reading
A recent op-ed article from Laurence Reisman in defense of opening Florida’s great craft breweries seemed to hit home to a lot of breweries and owners in the state.
A good deal of those reaction posts are centered around reaching out to local legislators to see if they understand what craft beer brings to the state of Florida, and what they can do to help.
The Florida Brewer’s Guild released an excellent video a few days ago, curated by the amazing Jillian Lynch at Leaven Brewing, but the one thing it didn’t seem to have was a sample letter people can send to legislators.
