The Best of the Sunshine State: Craft Beer

I haven’t written many posts about beer yet, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing my due diligence in trying new suds.

It was just Oberon Week in Kalamazoo, a day that should be treated as a community-wide holiday. Lots of people trash Oberon, mainly because it’s done so well commercially it’s not “cool” anymore and it doesn’t taste like many craft beers do where you’re chewing on hops. Oberon is the true sign that summer is coming and it couldn’t be coming soon enough. Michigan has had a roller coaster winter for weather, and Oberon means that golf season is upon us. If you toss an orange in my beer, you should have just spit in my pretentious craft beer-loving face. Fruiting beer is awful, but to each their own. As Larry Bell said in an interview posted on Bell’s Facebook page, “if that makes their life happy, I'm not going to keep them from it.” Still, not for me.

One of my favorite parts of my job is the capacity to travel a little. I’m not on the road much at all, as the majority of my job could be done in a bomb shelter in front of a computer screen. Some statisticians would actually prefer this setup. Not this guy… I need to spread my extroverted wings periodically. This week I’m taking in a conference in Orlando, Florida. It’s called the SAS Global Forum, the statistical software platform that I use every day to turn out those summary & analysis datapacks. The conference is dry - it’s a bunch of nerds in a room talking “nerdery”. I love it though. They always pick cool spots for the conference (Las Vegas last year and Dallas the year before), and they know what they’re doing in the conference-hosting space. SAS was named the top company to work for in the USA a couple years ago, and you can tell their employees love their jobs.

I always go out of my way to try the local craft beer scene when I travel, and Florida wasn’t any different. The first day when I landed, I hopped in the rental and drove to nearby Tampa. Tampa is home to to a quiet craft beer scene as far as it goes, but Coppertail Brewing Company was a spot I was told I need to make. This place is impossible to find, it seemed, but that's probably because Google Maps wanted me to turn left on a road that wasn't accessible from that direction. I got a flight of their standard go-tos, and sat at a round table watching the post-game interviews of the Rays who stomped on my Yanks earlier in the day. First beer was Free Dive, an American IPA and part of their 4 staple beers. Not a lot happening with this one as far as the flavor profile goes but it had a little pine tree with an overdone malt note. Next up was Hyperbolic, their DIPA. This was real tasty, with the hops riding through the whole time and the 7.5% ABV not overdone. Third beer in the flight was Allusion, an American pale ale that's unfiltered and has a couple different hops in it. It has Vic Secret hops, which I don't believe I had ever tried before. Last beer in the flight was Unholy Trippel, a tasty Belgian Tripel.

Next stop on the trip in Tampa was a place called Cigar City Brewing, a brewery so popular I had heard about them on the completely opposite side of the country and they don’t distribute that far north of the Mason-Dixon. I was able to try a couple of their canned beer at a wedding in Hilton Head in 2015, but nothing ever compares to drinking at the source. Their Jai Alai IPA is iconic, and the White Oak Jai Alai IPA is a spin on the classic. The Sassy Wambler is their session IPA, following the typical session formula of light, clean, and crisp. My favorite was a tap room special - Cestero, an imperial IPA with strong earthy and floral notes. Cigar City is a must for anyone visiting in the Tampa area.

I made my way back to Orlando with some recommendations from my brewer buddy Dan (Russian River's best employee). First brewery I went to was Red Cypress Brewing. It's in a strip mall and a bit out of the way, but it's worth the excursion from the beaten path. Place was dead at 6pm, so I got first class service from the bartender. I tried 6 of their beers, all tasty small batch brews. I started with Deep Roots, their award-winning amber - solid start, solid finish and I can see how the judges enjoyed it. Next was Devil's Chair IPA, which was too light for my taste. That was followed by Spook Hill Pale Ale, a fruity yet satisfying pale. The Percolator was an imperial stout, surprisingly tasty and full of flavor for a brewery in Florida where it's "Michigan summer" the whole year. The bartender then hit me with his first free beer by handing me the Imperial Mocha Death Roll, a sweet imperial stout that he said was new and I couldn't leave without trying. Solipsism was my last beer in the flight, another new one that was a super hoppy American pale ale (right up my alley). As I'm grabbing my phone and heading out the door, the bartender stops me and hands me a crowler of Unseasonably Warm, a golden ale. It's too light for me and I didn't love it, but it was one of the most generous gestures I've encountered at a brewery.

The next brewery I checked out in Orlando was Crooked Can Brewing Company. It's located in a quaint little town, with a huge market featuring many restaurants and little shops to enjoy while you're at the brewery. Cloud Chaser was the first in the flight, a hefeweizen with strong banana notes. Workaholic American Pale Ale was next, again a beer too light for my tastes. High Stepper was an American IPA, a 7% IPA that is up there with any standard IPA I've had. McStagger's IPA was the last of the flight, an imperial IPA that at 9% will remind you it's high gravity. 

The last night of my trip was spent hopping from craft beer bar to craft beer bar. Tap & Grind featured Cigar City's Marshal Zhukov's Penultimate Push, an imperial stout that was incredibly tasty but clashed with the surfer decor of the venue. Redlight Redlight had Playalinda Brewing's Pleasure Chest, a juicy IPA reminiscent of the N.E. style. Next at RR was Central 28's Up River, a tame American pale, and my last at this stop was Funky Buddha's Floridian Hefeweizen that again was banana-forward. The Ravenous Pig is an amazing restaurant that features Cask & Larder Brewing as it was C&L's former location. Salad Daze is another N.E. IPA that is incredibly delicious, and the Red Drum Ale is an American red that paired well with my ice cream. The Thirsty Topher had to be in the mix, a small bar next to a great bottle shop in GB's Bottle Shop & Tasting Bar. At TT I got Harris Meadery's Key Lime Pie which was unique but way too sweet for more than a couple ounces, and then finished this stop with Cycle Brewing's Trust imperial IPA which is a collaboration beer with The Answer Brew Pub out of Richmond, VA. I grabbed Funky Buddha's Maple Bacon Coffee Porter from GB's and went back to my hotel to eat the chocolate cake I had picked up along the way at the sweet shop contained within 4 Rivers Smokehouse which served up a tasty brisket. 

Florida isn’t the Mecca for craft breweries like the 131 corridor I live in or San Diego County, but it has some highlights. On top of that, it’s 91 degrees here right now and I’m wearing my Birkenstocks, shorts and a golf polo. Next time I’m bringing my sticks and staying at Arnie’s place so I can get worked over for 17/18 holes yet have that one hole that I light it up. It's always that one hole, that one shot... It'll bring you back.