Kudos to World of Beer UCF for its plan to sponsor "Local Craft Spotlights" each month. According to our friend Gerard Walen from www.beerinflorida.com , there are currently 67 breweries in the state of Florida.  Many of those craft breweries are making some really good beer too!  As a huge fan of Florida's breweries it's really nice to see WOB UCF highlighting some the Sunshine State's finest craft brews. 

    The first of these "Local Craft Spotlights" will take place on August 3rd.   We snagged the following off WOB UCF's most recent newsletter.  Cheers to Florida Beers!

    
"Starting this month we will be having a Local Craft Spotlight once a month, featuring a
few Local Florida Craft Brews.  Join us on August 3rd at 3PM for our first Local  Spotlight and show your support for local craft beer!

On tap:
-7Venth Sun FYA: A 5.9% ABV Pale Ale from Dunedin, FL
-Pinglehead Black Hops: A 7.7% ABV Dark IPA from Orange Park, FL
-Mile Marker 1513 Pecan de Leon Nut Brown Ale: A 6.8% ABV Brown Ale from St. Augustine, FL"

    Some more information about the new Dead Lizard Brewing that plans to open in Orlando in early 2014.   We received the following the other day from one of the brewery's owners Richard "Hops" Dine....

    "With any luck we will be serving delicious hand crafted beers to Orlando pallets by the first part of 2014.   As for the kind of beers we will craft… my nickname is “Hops,” I suppose you can figure out how I got that. So there will be a few styles for the hopheads including what I call  “Humulus Lupulus IPA”, an in your face West Coast, Imperial IPA, wow is it a hoppy delight. 

    That does not mean I don’t like a selection outside the “Hop-Zone,” and I understand that not all craft beer connoisseurs are hopheads, so we will offer a variety pallet pleasing styles. There will be a “Gila-Monster Stout”. This is the real deal, need night vision goggles, black hole of a stout, piled high with coffee, chocolate, and oatmeal with a hint of vanilla.

    Mmmm beer; hang on, I gotta go grab a beer… Ok since it’s a sunny, muggy, Orlando afternoon I just poured off a taste of the test batches of  “Summerlin Cream Ale” a new take on Cream Ale. This beer is like nothing you have had before. Light in body with just enough hops to be a pale ale but with an out of this world mouth feel!  Since it is lower in alcohol it makes for
a great session-able beer perfect for a blistering hot Orlando day!  In addition there are others working their way through the testing cycles. Whew… it’s a tough job coming up with and testing all these beers.

    Dead Lizard will have enough capacity to serve the Orlando crowds and enough
versatility to respond to what the local craft beer drinkers demand. More to come…"

    The long awaited arrival of New Belgium Brewing and its nationally recognized Fat Tire Amber Ale is finally upon us.  We have received word that a couple of Orlando beer bars will be the first to have New Belgium beers available on Monday July 29th.   The Fort Collins based brewery's beers will be widely distributed throughout Orlando immediately following that initial release. 

    The initial lineup of locally available New Belgium beers will consist  of Fat Tire Amber Ale, Trippel, Ranger IPA, Sunshine Wheat, and Shift Pale Lager  with more to come in the near future.   Redlight Redlight and World of Beer Dr. Phillips are two (and maybe the only two) local beer bars that will be the first to serve New Belgium beers on July 29th.
    

    There will be 2 celebratory evenings this week in Orlando to honor the release of the new collaboration beers between Cigar City and Widmer Brothers Brewing.   The "Gentleman's Club " release parties will take place Tuesday night at Frank N' Steins from 6:30-8:30 pm  and at The Woods from 9-11pm.

    "Gentleman's Club" was inspired by an Old Fashioned cocktail recipe and the Gentleman's Clubs in which these cocktails were served over 100 years ago.  This unique collaboration beer was brewed with cherries and oranges, Alchemy, Sorachi Ace and Pacifica hops.  Then, three unique versions of the beer were created using bourbon barrels, rye whiskey barrels and new oak spirals.

    Just received word that a new Brewpub opened its doors this weekend just north of Daytona in Ormond Beach.  The new Tomoka Brewery describes itself as " A Brew Pub featuring unique Microbrews and a menu inspired by traditional Southern Cuisine and the bounty of Florida ingredients".  

    Tomoka Brewery lists its available beers as Orange Blossom Special Hefeweizen,  Whale Pale Ale, Give a Hoot IPA, Sidecar Stout, and Elvis Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich Brown ale.  We plan to make a trip over sometime soon and will be sure to bring you the details!  Cheers!

    Several Florida Breweries continued to make names for themselves recently at the
2013 US Open Beer Championships held in Atlanta.  Over 2500 beers competed in 68 categories in this year's competition.  

    Orlando Brewing  had an impressive showing in the competition by taking home
a Bronze Medal in the Organic Best of Show Category with its Doble Imperial IPA.  Tampa's Cigar City won Gold for its Hunahpu's Imperial Stout and a Bronze Medal for Marshall  Zhukov's Imperial Stout .  Melbourne's Florida Beer Co won Gold for its Florida Lager and a Silver Medal for its Hurricane Reef Caribbean Pilsner which finished ahead of Oscar Blues Mama's Little Yellow Pils in the Bohemian Pilsner Category.  

    Results of the Florida winners are listed below.  You can also go to the United States
Open Beer Championship's official website for a complete rundown on the competition and for a full list of the winners.  Cheers!

    
Imperial Stout
GOLD - Nectar Ales Black Xantus - Firestone Walker Brewing -     California
SILVER -  Giant Slayer - Tri City Brewing - Michigan
BRONZE -  Zhukov's Imperial Stout - Cigar City Brewing – Florida

American Premium Lager
GOLD -  Florida Lager - Florida Beer Co. - Florida
SILVER -  Lager - Neustadt Brewing - Canada
BRONZE - Kraftig Lager - William K Busch Brewing - Missouri

Bohemian Pilsner
GOLD - LTD Bohemian Pilsner - Full Sail Brewing - Oregon
SILVER - Hurricane Reef Caribbean Pilsner - Florida Beer - Florida
BRONZE - Mama's Little Yella Pils - Oskar Blues Brewing – Colorado
BRONZE - Golden Pilsner - Morgan Brewing - Missouri

Fruit / Vegetable beer
GOLD -  Maui CoCoNut PorTeR - Maui Brewing Company - Hawaii
SILVER - Passion Fruit Saison - Brewzzi Brewing – Florida
BRONZE - Son of a Peach - RJ Rockers Brewing Company - South Carolina
BRONZE - Maracuy - Cerveceria Brumar – Columbia

Chocolate / Cocoa Beer
GOLD - Hunahpu's Impertial Stout - Cigar City Brewing - Florida
SILVER - Chocolate Porter Rabbits Reserve Series - Red Hare Brewing - Georgia  
BRONZE - Sex Panther Double Chocolate Porter - SanTan Brewing - Arizona

Out of Bounds Pale Ale
GOLD -  Our Dark Secret - Moylans Brewing – California
SILVER -  Macho - Proof Brewing Company – Florida
BRONZE -  Hazed and Infused Pale Ale - Boulder Beer Company –     Colorado

Best of Show Organic    
GOLD - Organic Strawberry - Samuel Smith's Brewing - England      
SILVER -  Bare Scott - Pagosa Brewing – Colorado
BRONZE - Doble Imperial IPA - Orlando Brewing  - Florida

    World of Beer and Sam Adams have teamed up to give away the ultimate beer vacation!  To win, WOB Loyalty Club members must log 8 Sam Adams beers on a special "Beer-Cation"  card during the month of July.  Once all 8 are recorded on your card you are automatically entered for the Grand Prize.

    

    The Grand Prize includes two roundtrip airline tickets to Denver, 2 nights hotel stay in downtown Denver, 1 private Boston Beer company reception on Friday evening with Jim Koch in attendance, 2 tickets for Saturday evening to the Great American Beer Festival.  Cheers!