Alligator Drool Beer - Florida

Today's beer is rather unique because it's a special beer brewed under contract for a local Orlando hotel chain. I really wanted to like this beer because it's brewed for the Rosen chain of hotels, and I have a lot of respect for Mr. Rosen, a very successful entrepreneur and an all-around good guy. Unfortunately, his beer has left me underwhelmed. I know he had nothing to do with the brewing of it, but I'm sure he must have approved it. It poured a nice amber color, with a small white head. So far, so good. The nose had a sour, almost vinegar-like character. That sour character followed through to the flavor as well. I almost think the beer was exposed to some conditions that spoiled it. I can taste some hops, but the sourness is very distracting. Unfortunately, I paid a lot of money for a six-pack of this, so I guess I'll be working my way through it. Maybe the next bottle will be better - but I'm not holding my breath.

Open house at Lagniappe Brewing Co.

A new brewery has opened up in Minneola, FL, and last weekend I spent some time sampling their brews. The brewery is named Lagniappe Brewing and I enjoyed my afternoon there. Lagniappe is pronounced lan-yap and the general meaning is to "giva a little something extra". Since the open house offered free beer, they are certainly living up to their name already. My wife and I had an opportunity to speak with Brad, the owner and brewmeister - a very personable fellow who deserves a lot of credit for jumping into a new business at a time like this. I wish him all the success in the world.

We were able to sample 3 different beers - Minnehaha Golden Ale, Afterglow IPA, and Locomotive Breath Porter. Minnehaha Golden Ale (named for a local lake) is a very mild, very smooth and easy to drink ale. It would be a great thirst-quencher during the warmer months, which lasts most of the year here in Florida. Afterglow IPA uses a Polish hop variety similar to the Czech Saaz. It's not an over-the-top IPA, and was very enjoyable. The Locomotive Breath Porter was my favorite - chocolaty and roasty.

The brewery is in a good location, not far off the main drag in Minneola, and the owners have done a great job making it attractive and welcoming. The fact that it's only about 3 miles from my home doesn't hurt either. I took some pictures with a cell-phone while inside, but my blue-tooth adaptor doesn't like me, so...

Check out their web-site at www.lagniappebrewing.com. Good luck to Lagniappe Brewing! I'm looking forward to trying out some of their future beers!

Olde Pelican English Style Pale Ale

A couple of months ago, I wrote about my visit to Orlando Brewing. Today, I grabbed one of their beers from the fridge - Olde Pelican English Style Pale Ale. The ale poured a deep amber with a small white head. The aroma of malt was very prominent, with a little bit of hops and some butterscotch. The malt and butterscotch followed through in the flavor as well, along with some sweet toffee. This beer was maltier than I expected, and it was a pleasant surprise. Hop presence was quite low, but just right. It had a medium body, with pretty low carbonation. I really liked this ale! Orlando Brewing is a Certified Organic Brewery, and I didn't think that it meant much, but maybe I was mistaken. I'll definitely be on the lookout for some of their other varieties.

Lukaya Beers Two Tail Pale Ale

I saw this beer in the local wine and ale shop and was immediately drawn to the picture. Not many beers have photos of dogs on the label, so it caught my attention. I had also never heard of Lukaya Beers before. The name is drawn from the names of the two dogs, Lucy and Kaya. What's interesting is that the bottle says that the beer is "Bottled for the Hmieliewski family by Florida Beer Company, Melbourne, FL". Is this a family of homebrewers that designed this beer? I don't know, but I think it's a pretty good beer. It poured an amber-orange color with a good-sized cream-colored head. It had a piney-citrusy smell from the hops. It's a pretty hoppy American Pale Ale. It had a medium body with a little bit of caramel and malt sweetness. All in all, a very enjoyable beer. According to their web-site - lukayabeers.com, they are bringing out some additional seasonal beers soon.

Orlando Brewing Partners brewery visit

After our lunch at the Irish pub, my wife, my sister, my brother-in-law, and I decided to check out the only microbrewery in the Orlando area - Orlando Brewing Partners. This microbrewery was started by some homebrewers, and is an all organic brewery that follows the German Purity law of 1516, also known as the Reinheitsgebot. The brewery is located in a scary industrial section of town and we were a little hesitant about going inside. We walked into the taproom, and soon learned that brewery tours were scheduled to run at 6 pm, and it was only 2:15. Since we made the trip, we sat down and ordered their beer sampler - 12 four ounce beers - 1 of each variety they currently had on tap. We all chuckled when we tried the first one, which was infused with vitamins - a "healthy" beer. Maybe I need to get a six-pack to take to the gym while I work out. It was ok, but the remaining 11 were much better. I realy enjoyed their "Miami Weisse" a Bavarian style wheat beer. Their Blackwater Dry Porter, which I have reviewed in an earlier post, was also excellent, as was their double IPA. This was a worthwhile trip. I even added a new pint glass to my collection. I'm just glad I wasn't driving!

Margaritaville Brewing Co.'s Landshark Lager

Tacos were on the menu tonight, so I looked thru my beer fridge to see what I had that was Mexican. I came up blank, except for a bottle of Margaritaville Brewing's Landshark Lager. I know it's not Mexican, but it was the closest thing to it. I don't know how much input Jimmy Buffett actually had in the production of this beer, but I do know that it's brewed by Anheuser-Busch. It's bottled in a nice sharkfin-embossed bottle with a painted label, and it poured a light golden color with a 1-1/2 inch tall white head. If Jimmy was going after a Corona clone, I think he nailed it - based on my memory of Corona. This was a refreshing light beer, and went perfectly with my tacos. I'm sure that a lime would feel at home in the neck of the bottle, if you're into that sort of thing.

A Visit to Dunedin Brewery

Dunedin is a small town on the West coast of Florida, with a beautiful state park and beach, a Scottish heritage, and a great little brewery. My wife wanted to go to the beach, so we decided to include a brewery tour as part of the day. I guess I can't really call it a tour, because when we walked in the front door, I think we were able to see the entire brewery from the entrance. I had heard of the Dunedin Brewery because I had seen some of their beers at the local Whole Foods Market, packaged in 16 oz bottles, in 4 packs. I tried a couple of their beers, and decided I should pay them a visit. The brewery was really quiet, and we got there at lunch time, so we sat down at the bar and started a conversation with the bartender. The brewery is owned by a couple of guys who started it as a hobby, and it's not their full time job. We had some lunch, and tried their world-famous fish tacos. We tried a couple of their beers, which were excellent. One in particular stands out - their Apricot Wheat, which became the inspiration for my wife and I to brew our own Apricot brews. I also tried their Beach Tale Brown Ale, which was a lightly sweet malty beer, that was also very enjoyable. I was a little disappointed, because the brewery is not currently bottling beer for distribution, they only sell it at the brewery bar. So any hopes of bringing back some beer were dashed. Oh well, it was a great place to stop for lunch, and the beach was relaxing too.

Orlando Brewing Blackwater Dry Porter

Tonight, I tried another brew from Orlando Brewing Partners - their Blackwater Dry Porter. This beer is almost black, with a small tan colored head. The first thing I noticed about this beer was the rich creamy mouthfeel. This is a dry Porter, just as it's described. It has a lot of coffee flavor from the roasted malts. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Orlando Brewing follows the German Reinheitsgebot, so this beer is made from malt, water, hops and yeast only. I'm impressed with this Porter, much more so than the Pale Ale I tried a while back. Some day, I need to get downtown to the brewery, to see what it's all about. In the mean time, I may just need to sample this beer again.

Orlando Brewing Pale Ale

Orlando Brewing Partners is a relatively new microbrewery here in Orlando, and their bottled beer is starting to show up at some local stores. I got this one at Whole Foods. The brewery is dedicated to making organic brews, and they're proud of their adherence to the Reinheitsgebot - the German Purity law of 1487. This law required beer to be made from 3 basic ingredients - water, malt and hops. Yeast was not understood at the time, so it was not included in the law. This is a beautifully clear amber ale, and is very mild in flavor. It has very little hop presence. I think the brewers were more concerned about it being organic and pure, than they were about making it interesting. This is not a "bad" beer at all, and would make a good session beer - but it's not an interesting beer. One thing I liked about it was its nice full head, and subsequent lacing on the glass. I have several other beers from this company, including a stout, so I hope their other offerings are more exciting.

Florida Brewing's Hurricane Reef Raspberry Wheat Ale

Forida Brewing is one of the few microbrewers in this beer wasteland of Florida. I've tried a number of their beers, and they have been ok - nothing to brag about, but quite drinkable. This Raspberry Wheat Ale follows in that tradition. It poured a kinda orange-amber, with no head at all. What's up with that? A wheat beer should have lots of head. As a homebrewer, I know that some brewers add some wheat to their brews, simply for that reason. This was a very fruity wheat with lots of raspberry flavor. The raspberry was more pronounced than in Abita's Purple Haze, but I think the Purple Haze tasted a little more authentic. This was good, with a nice hop finish.