We recently learned that A Brief History of Beer will be coming to the Orlando Fringe this May . In essence, the show is a one hour drink-a-long comedy where Will Glenn and Trish Parry travel through time with the audience in a Quantum Pint Machine, drinking and exploring the history of beer. Sponsored by Brown Distributing, A Brief History of Beer has received positive praise from beer lovers and enthusiasts who have seen the show performed in Florida. Here is the official press release... After touring around the world, with fantastic runs at the Edinburgh 2013 and Adelaide 2014 Fringes, Wish Experience comes to Orlando with A Brief History of Beer! A Brief History of Beer is an educational, delicious ramble through the myths and legends surrounding everyone's favorite bevvy! Equal measures theatre, lecture, and surreal drink-a-long game, in A Brief History of Beer, Will Glenn and Trish Parry ask audiences to join them in their Quantum Pint Machine, where they travel through time, from ancient Sumeria to present day, learning about the world's favorite drink. The Wish founders have combed the records, visited the ruins, and tasted an impossible number of beers to bring you this docudramedy based on the life and times of our mistress and our muse ... the humble beer. Wish has been inducted in to The British Guild of Beer Writers, and received praise in Edinburgh from many reviewers. A Brief History of Beer is “definitely one for the avid pub-frequenter” (Millie Morris, Edfringe Review), and “a fizzy flagon of edutainment” (Paul Levy, Fringereview). After fresh direction from critically acclaimed Jeffrey Mayhew, the show has received nothing but praise in the UK and Australia, receiving 4.5/5 from Rip It Up magazine, with InDaily saying “A Brief History of Beer is an opportunity to learn, to be amazed and to imbibe with them. Be warned, one drink may not be enough!”
A Brief History of Beer runs from May 16th-25th at The Venue (Virginia Drive). For all ticket information please visit http://orlandofringe.ticketleap.com/a-brief-history-of-beer/
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We wanted to pass on a couple of cool happenings that will be going on at Rogue Pub in the next couple of weeks. Cheers! Homegrown Thursdays Open Mic Night Featuring Big Storm Brewing Thursday, May 1st 8pm Join Rogue Thursday, May 1st for their first installation of Homegrown Thursdays! There will be an open mic night (originality encouraged) and featuring tasty brews from Big Storm Brewing from Odessa, Florida! North Peak Brewing Tap Takeover Saturday, May 10th 6p Join Rogue Saturday, May 10th starting at 6p for a tap takeover featuring North Peak Brewing Company! They will be tapping up their new line of tasty brews including their Diabolical IPA, Siren and more! The new Center at the Orlando Eye area of International Drive has really started to take shape in the last few weeks. Yard House is set to open there on April 24th and will bring approximately 200 new jobs to the area along with 140 draft beer selections. The new establishment will span nearly 14,000 square feet and can house as much as 5,000 gallons of beer at one time. The upscale eatery and taphouse will also feature a rotating list of seasonal and limited release beers in its "Chalkboard Series". Additionally, a continuous playlist of classic and contemporary rock will fill the restaurant, one of the concept’s trademark elements. "Orlando is a great market for Yard House,” said Craig Carlyle, president of Yard House. “We chose the Center at the Orlando Eye because of the strong appeal of the new development and its mix of retail, dining and entertainment options. We look forward to showcasing Yard House’s distinctive beer and food offerings to Orlando’s dynamic mix of residents and visitors.” The new restaurant will feature 140 beers on tap, each delivered fresh and perfectly chilled by miles of overhead steel and nylon beer lines to the central island bar. The glass enclosed keg room, which is kept at a constant 34--‐36 degrees, can house as much as 5,000 gallons of beer at one time. Guests can order their favorite draft beers as a half--‐yard, traditional pint, shorty or six--‐pack sampler. The beer list for the restaurant will feature selections from Florida breweries, including Florida Beer Company and Cigar City Brewing. The restaurant has dozens of service positions available in the front of house, including bartenders, servers, and host/hostesses, as well as “heart of house” positions, such as prep and line cooks. Interested applicants should visit at www.yardhouse.com/careers, where applicants can learn about opportunities, value and culture at Yard House. I recently spent a good part of my "spring break" reading Florida Breweries by Gerard Walen. I first met Gerard a few years back at an event where we both interviewed Widmer Brothers co founder Kurt Widmer for our respective blogs. I've had tremendous respect for him as both a beer writer and as an ambassador for promoting Florida's craft beer culture ever since.
Florida Breweries serves as an excellent resource for both locals and beer travelers alike. The book takes an in depth look at each of Florida's 66 breweries both large and small. The brewery chapters include some basic information about each brewery as well as a rundown on the current portfolio of beers they offer. Walen even takes it a step farther by making a recommendation of a "must try" brew at each of the breweries. So how in the world did he know what to recommend at each of these breweries? Walen spent about a year visiting each of the 66 while spending time with each brewery's owner and sampling their beers. I have to admit that I was green with envy when I read about this "research". Who wouldn't want to spend a year touring and sampling craft beers from some of the Sunshine State's finest. In addition to the information on the breweries, the book also delves into the history of beer in Florida and offers commentary on Florida's beer container laws, beer chains, beer in theme parks, beerfests, beer weeks, and beerwebs. Pretty much everything you ever wanted to know and then some about Florida's relationship with the world's most widely consumed alcoholic beverage. I enjoyed everything about Florida Breweries. It would make a great addition to any beer enthusiast's coffee table. After reading it, I now have a number of new craft breweries that I want to visit that I didn't know about. The one minor downside to the book is that several new breweries have opened in just the short time since the book was put into print. To compensate for this some 40 breweries in planning are listed near the back of the book. Some of those have already opened. ** In the interest of full disclosure I received a complementary copy of Florida Breweries from the book's publisher in exchange for writing a review on Orlando Beer Guide. I received no payment (or free beer) for writing the review and the opinions expressed here are entirely my own. It really is a great book! I talked to Redlight Redlight co-owner Brent Hernandez this week about his new in house brewery. He poured me a glass of a very tasty Kölsch he had recently brewed and we discussed Orlando's local craft beer scene, Redlight's new brewery, and some of the styles of beer he'll be making that patrons can look forward to enjoying in the very near future. Orlando Beer Guide: Redlight Redlight has been recognized by numerous publications as one of the finest craft beer bars in the country. Why did you decide to get into the brewing aspect of the business when things are already going so well for you? Brent Hernandez: I actually got into the bar business to brew beer. It seemed like each year I got further away from being able to do that until now. I started homebrewing about 13 years ago so like most homebrewers I was like "I want to open a brewery". So I guess it was like that cliché type thing for me. Orlando Beer Guide: Can you tell us a little bit about some of the beers you will be making here as well as how you come up with some of your ideas for them? Brent Hernandez: We're only going to have one or two of our draft lines that will be devoted to our beers. And we have all these other beers here so we don't feel like we will have to make the same thing all of the time. Whereas more traditional brewpubs have mostly house brewed beer with 1 or 2 guest lines so they have to have their consistent beers on tap all the time. So that allows us to kind of play around a little. But eventually we'd like to see it grow out of here and become something bigger. So if that happens one day will probably have to focus on some brands then. I have been doing the same Berliner Weisse recipe for like the last 7 years or so. I named it Cimarrones which is Spanish for Seminole and means wild or renegade. That beer will definitely be one that gets made a lot. I can also tell you that I have plans to brew a cream ale this week. We have Fresh 24 next door and also the East End Market and we plan to do some cool things with some of their fruit. I'm just real big on the beer first though and using the fruit as a complement so it doesn't overpower the beer. Orlando Beer Guide: What are some of the other styles you will be focusing on and what are some of the kinds of beer you prefer to make? Brent Hernandez: Even in homebrewing, I've never been one to try and brew a lot of hoppy beers. There are just so many out there that are awesome so I don't bother because I know I can't do any better than that. I can tell you that we are planning to do some collaborations but they will typically be with non brewers. Most of these will be with other local businesses. We're planning our first collaboration with Wild Ocean Seafood in early April. We are going to brew an Oak Hill Oyster Stout together and we'll be using fresh Atlantic oysters from New Smyrna Beach for the beer. I really want the 'brininess" to come through so you will be able to taste the oysters in the beer. I've only ever had a couple that you can taste that "brininess" in so that will be the goal of the one we are going to do. I will also say that we will not be doing any "big" beers. Nothing over 7% probably. There's a couple of reasons for that. First, personally I like the session beers. If its 12% alcohol I'm having one, two maybe and then I'm going to be done for the night. The other reason is that our smaller system really can't handle too much grain. So I wouldn't be able to get super high gravity because of our smaller system anyway. In addition to a Berliner Weisse, Kölsch, Cream Ale, and Porter Brent also led me to believe that he will be making some sour beers in the future as well. Locals will be able to start enjoying these beers very soon. Redlight will be having a Brewery Launch Party on Monday April 7th at 5:00 pm to celebrate its new brewery and beers. There will be four house brewed beers on tap that night with some more on deck.
The Orlando Beer Guide and Roanoke Beer Guide are celebrating March Madness by presenting our Sweet 16 of craft brewing. We have chosen a craft beer representative for each team remaining in the Sweet 16. As the self-appointed selection committee, we considered the proximity to campus, strength of beer line up, and beer ratings. Thus, we may skip over the closest brewery to campus if they had weak beer ratings. One difference in our selection process from the NCAA is that we almost always pick a mid-major of craft beer over big beer. And in case you’re wondering, why the Sweet 16 and not all 68 teams that started the tournament? Well, let us just say picking multiple breweries from certain locations that haven’t caught up to the popularity of craft beer is a near impossible task. Looking at you Oklahoma. The OBG and RBG are pitted head-to-head as we divided up the teams in each of the Sweet 16 parings. Our goal is to see how many we each have left standing in the Final Four and when the eventual champion is crowned. While we did our best to select the craft representatives for each team, we know some bubbles were burst leaving beer fans feeling that their favorite brewery was snubbed. Will a tried and true brewery come through in the end or will the Cinderella of craft beer rise to occasion? Do you agree with our selections? Match Up 1: 4 UCLA (RBG) vs. 1 Florida (OBG) Eagle Rock Brewery (Los Angeles) - One might think that there would be more breweries closer to the campus of UCLA given the number of craft beer serving establishments and size of the city. But, we had to go almost 20 miles to find Eagle Rock Brewery. We can get on board with their mantra, "beer for the people”, and aptly named Solidarity, a black mild ale, as the Bruins will have to be a cohesive unit to bring home the championship trophy. Hopefully, UCLA's championship dreams don't go sour like the 2012 LA Beer Week offering from Eagle Rock, a Berliner Rye brewed with prickly pear. Though that sounds delicious. Swamp Head Brewery (Gainesville) - There are a handful of Florida breweries that have been garnering up almost as much positive praise as Florida's number one seeded Gator basketball team. One of these is Gainesville's Swamp Head Brewery which offers a year round lineup that’s highlighted by Stumpknocker Pale Ale, Midnight Oil Oatmeal Coffee Stout, and Big Nose IPA. They also offer some "Real" Florida themed seasonals like the Smoke Signal Smoked Porter and the Swamp Head Darkwater Floridan Dark Ale if you’re looking for some of the best of Sunshine State liquid culture. Match Up 2: 10 Stanford (OBG) vs. 11 Dayton (RBG) Russian River Brewing (Santa Rosa) - We know that Russian River is one of the “big boys” of craft beer but its beers are just too good to not be Stanford’s representative. According to Ratebeer, Russian River currently brews 5 of the top 20 beers that are available in California. Both Plinys (The Elder and The Younger) sit at the top of that list. We've heard of both beer geeks and newbies alike going to great lengths to secure themselves a taste of Pliny. Not that it’s a good thing but at last October's Great American Beer Festival in Denver the Russian River line was the longest at the entire festival. Toxic Brew Company (Dayton) - Toxic Brew Company was an easy pick for the Sweet 16 given that the Dayton Flyers and Scoochie Smith (best name in the tournament) have proven to be poisonous to in-state rival Ohio State and Syracuse. Toxic Brew brings a balanced line up of players to the beer flight staring Belgian style beers supported by equally important role players like Porn or Pawn Ale, named for the game the locals played in trying to guess whether pedestrians were headed to one of the adjacent businesses mentioned in the name of the beer. Match Up 3: 1 Virginia (RBG) vs. 4 Michigan State (OBG) South Street Brewery (Charlottesville) - Champion Brewing Company was tempting but maybe a little presumptuous for a team that is perhaps a dark horse for a #1 seed. Hence, we are going with South Street Brewery and their flagship beer, Satan’s Pony Amber Ale. Hopefully for the Hoos, this steed is ready to ride all the way to the Final Four. In keeping with our hooved theme, South Street also edged out Three Notch’d Brewing Company and their Oats McGoats Oatmeal Stout. Darkhorse Brewing (Marshall) - We chose Darkhorse to represent Michigan State even though the name doesn’t come close to describing the Spartans chances of going all the way this spring. The brewery describes its beers as “some of the best fuckin’ beers made in the great state of Michigan. Period”! It’s a bold statement but heavy hitters like Double Crooked Tree IPA and Plead the 5th imperial stout make it hard to disagree! Darkhorse also provides its mug club members with some really beautiful handmade mugs that Coach Izzo himself would surely be proud to sip from! Match Up 4: 3 Iowa State (OBG) vs. 7 Connecticut (RBG) Toppling Goliath Brewing Company (Decorah) - Toppling Goliath is a small brewery in Decorah that makes some “Big” beers that have been attracting national attention. Some of us lucky Floridians got to enjoy a few offerings from Toppling Goliath a few weeks back the 2014 Hunahpu release party at Cigar City in Tampa. TG has a lot point scorers in its lineup but Kentucky Brunch is its most valuable player. This barrel aged imperial stout is in the same league with Cigar City's Hunahpu and Three Floyd's Dark Lord. The upstart Iowa State team will need to topple a few Goliaths to win it all. Willimantic Brewing Company (Willimantic) - While it doesn’t appear that there is a craft brewery in Storrs, CT, one doesn’t have to travel far to find tasty libations. Willimantic includes postal themed beers in their line up with some that are equally appropriate to describe the action on the hardwood. Opponents facing UConn’s stout defense might find their shots marked Return to Sender (Amber Ale). And if the game gets physical in the paint, they might leave with Double Black EYE (IPA) for their efforts. Naysayers might say UConn doesn’t stand a chance but Husky fans are asking YNaught (Wheat). Match Up 5: 1 Arizona (OBG) vs. 4 San Diego State (RBG) Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company (Gilbert) - Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company believes that beer is much more than “the yellow fizzy stuff dad used to drink while wearing his dirty flannel shirts.” A solid lineup of starters accompanied by unique creations like American Presidential smoked jalapeño stout aged on cocoa nibs and Pappy Van Winkle barrel aged barleywine make Arizona Wilderness our choice for the University of Arizona. Pizza Port Brewing Company (Four locations in San Diego area) - This is a case where the selection committee went with a potential Cinderella instead of craft giant, Stone, or other better known and distributed breweries like Mission, Coronado Brewing, AleSmith and Lost Abbey. If the team can play above the rim just like Pizza Port boasts big Hops on Rye Barleywine and Junk ’n da Trunkle Dunk-le (dunkelweiss) in their game, they should make a deep run in the tournament. But if they are not careful, they could end up doing a Faceplant (Belgian tripel) destroying any hopes for a championship. Match Up 6: 6 Baylor (OBG) vs. 2 Wisconsin (RBG) Jester King Brewery (Austin) - No offense to the good people of Waco, but we went about 100 miles south of the home of the Bears to Austin to find our representative for Baylor. According to our friends at Austin Beer Guide, Austin is a robust city that is bursting at the seams with beer. Jester King is an authentic farmhouse brewery that is located in the Texas hill country just outside Austin. They have a lot of beers that score a lot of points but the Blackmetal farmhouse imperial stout and Noble King hoppy farmhouse ale are the leading scorers for the Jester. Karben4 (Madison) - While fans of Bucky have plenty of craft options, Karben4 emphasizes “English-style malt bombs” among their offerings. As the team seeks to drop a few bombs of their own from 3-point range, beer lovers in Madison will be downing a few pint-sized bombs at Karben4. Rounding out the team, Karben4 brings into the mix an Irish Red, Lady Luck. And with Lady Luck on their side, Bucky & Co. hope that this is the year they will be holding a Block Party (Amber Ale) celebration on the streets of the capital city of Wisconsin. Match Up 7: 8 Kentucky (RBG) vs. 4 Louisville (OBG) Country Boy Brewing (Lexington) - Kentucky proud might be one way to describe Country Boy Brewing. Just as Ashley Judd is UK basketball, the trio that runs Country Boy is to craft beer. Country Boy is within walking distance to Rupp Arena and offers a wide range of beers including a Gose. And while they have fun with the name of the brewery and beers, the ratings suggest they are not a gimmick but a serious contender. Their line up includes Cougar Bait (American Blonde), Brown Chicken, and Shotgun Wedding (Dark Brown Ale). First, they will have to square off against in-state rival, Louisville. Against the Grain Brewery (Louisville) - Against the Grain proudly sits at the southeast corner of Louisville Slugger field in Louisville about a 15 minute walk from KFC Yum Center. They produce an innovative portfolio of ales and lagers as well as a line of house made sodas that are second to none in Louisville. Long known for its bourbon and basketball the Bluegrass State is quickly becoming recognized for its barrel aged ales, too. A number of Against the Grain’s beers are barrel aged including the 70K which weighs in at 13.1 % ABV and is listed as being double roasty, double chocolaty, double creamy, and double delicious. Guess that’s a quadruple-double! Match Up 8: 11 Tennessee (OBG) vs. 2 Michigan (RBG) Yazoo Brewing Company (Nashville) - We looked to Nashville and Yazoo Brewing Company
for some of the finest craft brews in the state of Tennessee. Top performers for Yazoo include their Hop Project IPA, which uses a different blend of hops for each batch never using the same blend twice. For “Big” beer enthusiasts, the Yazoo Sue was Tennessee's first legal high gravity ale that was introduced a few years back. Yazoo lists Sue as a smoky malt bomb of a beer influenced by barley malts that are smoked with cherry wood. Wolverine State Brewing (Ann Arbor) - Arbor Brewing, Grizzly Peak, and Jolly Pumpkin Café may be slightly closer to campus, the name Wolverine and their lager leaning offerings were a slam dunk for the selection committee. While most craft brewers tend toward ales, Wolverine offers cooler fermented favorites like an imperial dark lager aged in bourbon barrels, which is named Massacre. If opponents starting with Tennessee don’t watch out, they just might get massacred facing a formidable line up beers or the basketball team. Orlando Brewing is set to release The Senator imperial stout tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 pm in its taproom! "The Senator" is special for a couple of reasons. First, it is the first time (to our knowledge) that Orlando Brewing has included an imperial stout in its portfolio of beers. Second, this special release is dedicated to the memory of a 3500 year old Cypress tree that was burned to the ground by a careless smoker in 2012. The official press release from Orlando Brewing is listed below... Orlando,FL – March 22nd 2014 –
Orlando Brewing to release The Senator – an Imperial Stout – at 1pm, Saturday March 22nd at the Orlando Brewing Taproom. 3500 years ago a Pond Cypress sapling first broke ground in Central Florida, now known as Big Tree Park, Longwood, FL. The result of a careless action in 2012, was the loss the landmark that acted to guide The Seminole Indians and other Native Americans for hundreds of years. To memorialize the oldest Cypress tree on the planet, Orlando Brewing presents The Senator Imperial Stout. Generous amounts of chocolate & roasted malts along with oats - toasted in house - will deliver a dark, robust, creamy delight. The first beer will be poured at 1pm, art crafted from the wood of the Senator will be on display, and local artists will be wood working on site. Fire management and nature conservation speakers will be presenting throughout the day. This event is dog and family friendly, free live music performances by will begin at 9pm. Reports have flooded social media this morning about the shortcomings of this year's Hunahpu's release party at Cigar City Brewing. Specifically, that a large number of people were not able to purchase bottles of the highly touted Cigar City Hunahpu's Imperial Stout despite paying $50 for a ticket to the event. Also, that there appeared to be thousands more people in attendance than the 3,500 that was originally stated by the brewery. Things got interesting when people were told there was no more Hunahpu to be sold..... Cigar City Brewing issued the following statement via their Facebook page in response to yesterday's course of events at 10:15 am on Sunday morning....
Regarding Hunahpu's Day: If you purchased a ticket to Hunahpu's Day directly through Eventbrite.com, you will automatically be refunded your money. We will begin these refunds starting tomorrow. If you paid for your ticket with cash or credit card in person, please email refund@cigarcitybrewing.com and we will directly communicate with you to determine the best way to get your money back. * You can check out our Facebook Page for more! Cheers to the folks at Disney's Wide World of Sports for putting together a respectable beer selection for this year's Atlanta Braves spring training games! Every game will feature Sweetwater 420 and Tomahawk Ale for Braves fans. Each game will also feature a "visiting" beer from the opposing teams city. Bell's Oberon, Brooklyn Brewery Pennant Lager, Harpoon IPA, Orlando Brewery I-4 IPA, Victory Golden Monkey, Funky Buddha Floridian, Cigar City Florida Cracker, Budweiser Black Crown, Shiner Bock, will make up this year's lineup of beers. The prices are really good too (considering its Disney) if you take advantage of the refillable mug program. Your first draft is $8 (Budlight or Miller Lite) or $10 (all crafts or ciders). Hang on to your cup and get refills for either $4 or $5 depending on whether your getting light or craft brew. This is the second year craft brews have been featured at these games. Last year, we were really happy to see that the majority of the people in line were ordering the "good" beers. The beer trailers make really good meeting spots or landmarks when meeting some friends at the game "meet me at the beer trailers on the 1st and 3rd base sides". There are a total of 96 taps pouring beer at all Braves games this spring! There are two noteworthy events happening this week at Oblivion Taproom that we wanted to let you know about... Wednesday Night will feature four Cask & Larder beers paired with four bites from Oblivion's Chef Bill in the latest addition of "Beer and Bites". The beers will include.... • Tomoka Almond Stout • Lineage Ethiopian Gold Ale • Dubbel Trubbel • Red Drum Ale And if that's not enough, Oblivion was also lucky enough to get the privilege of hosting one of only three events in Florida by The Bruery! Beers on tap for Thursday nights very special tap takeover will include..... • Grey Monday (19.2% Imperial Stout)...
• Bottleworks XII (8% Imperial Witbier) • Bourbon Barrel Aged 5 Golden Rings (16.2% Belgian Strong) • Shegöat (8.7% Weizenbock) • Mischief (8.5% Belgian Strong) • Sour In The Rye (7.8% Wild Ale) • Humulus Lager (7.2% India Pale Lager) • Oude Tart (7.5% Flanders Red Ale) |
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