I met my friends Brad and Rachael last night at World of Beer to catch up on things. It also gave me the chance to try a holiday ale that I was curious about. Bell’s Christmas Ale (Bell’s Brewery; Kalamazoo, MI; Scottish Ale; ABV: 5.8) is an interesting, somewhat unconventional Scottish ale. Dark brown in [...]
Anne and I had a blast at Wazoo 2010 this past Saturday night at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. In addition to having more than 250 beers and beverages from around the world, the event featured cuisine from restaurants as well as live music from area based artists Velvet Jones, Impulse, and The Paper [...]
The Internet is truly a wonderful thing. The world is literally at your fingertips, and there are lots of interesting things to see…and buy. Like beer, especially when they’re hard to find or not distributed in your area. I decided to take advantage of this option when I ordered a bottle of Samuel Adams Utopias [...]
Made the rounds this past Tuesday in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Plenty of corn beef & cabbage, “green” beer, etc. While the “wearing of the green” is the theme for this day, 2 beers with a black label stood out for me. The first was Sprecher’s Black Bavarian, an excellent, very drinkable schwarzbier. A [...]
Marzens tend to be traditional Fall beers, but I had the chance to try a different take on this beer style at Crum’s Bar and Grill recently. Cigar City Marzen Spring Lager (Cigar City Brewing; Tampa, FL; Marzen; ABV: 5.5) is also known as Cigar City Oktoberfest Marzen when it’s released during the autumn months. [...]
You can add Crum’s Bar and Grill to a growing list of exceptional brewpubs in the Tampa Bay area. Located in downtown St. Petersburg, and owned by Chris Crum and Lanette Miller, Crum’s Bar and Grill offers craft beer, food, and live music in a hip casual setting. Speaking of which, there’s 52 selections of [...]
The last time I was at the Cigar City Brewing Tasting Room in Tampa, I learned something new. Did you know that bats pollinate blue agave plants, which provide the ingredient found in tequila? So it’s fitting that I tried a double cream ale, named for the bat, that’s aged in tequila barrels. Cigar City [...]