To start off, I lost my cellphone on arrival in Orlando. Not only did this make
me feel cut off from my family, but it was also pretty embarrassing. Thank
goodness for facetime on my IPad. Chito and I got a rental car and drove to our
first destination, the Shipyard Beer Emporium. I had enjoyed visiting on a
previous trip, and it was warm enough to have patrons enjoying their meals
outside. They had all the Shipyard products, and a beer that was brewed here
called Felipe's Magic Ale, a dark ale brewed with chocolate and mint (Jenn
would have loved this beer). Chito got a flatbread and I got a Cubano sandwich
that was awesome. It was nice to enjoy the warmer weather (I heard it was
sleeting in NY), but I was anxious to go off to my second stop, Red Light, Red
Light.
Red Light, Red Light made Draft magazine's top 100 Beer Bar list again this
year, and I was anxious to stop by and see what they had to offer.
Unfortunately, the place was boarded up (did I say that I was embarrassed?) and
I didn't realize until after we checked in to the hotel that it had moved
around the corner. It was too early to turn in (remember, my plan had been
ruined), so I headed over to the World of Beer (http://wobusa.com/) to grab a nightcap.
I got a Boulder Brewing A Honey of a Saison, a big beer at 11.5% ABV, and a
bottle of Cigar City Double Black Ale, part of their Humidor series to enjoy
back in the hotel room with a little facetime with the family.
The next day was my conference, which ends up being a lot of sitting and
listening. We met up with another friend, Eric, and went out to lunch to Nona's
Tap Room (http://nonataproom.com/, recommended by Beer
Advocate). I got the blackened Mahi Mahi to go with my Terrapin Reunion Ale '12
on draft, a brown ale collaboration between Terrapin and Schmaltz that truly
hit the spot. I tried to get a bottle of
Liquid Bliss (great name!), but was disappointed to find out you could not take
beer to go. Oh well, back to the conference.
That conference stuff is thirsty work, so in the evening we went to dinner at a
Vietnamese restaurant (never tried it before and Chito was a fan) based on a
recommendation from a friend of mine. Delicious! I got bowl of Pho, a
traditional Vietnamese soup with rice noodles that you load up with as much hot
sauce as you like (look out, it builds up on you). I got the Lac Viet Pho that
came with 6 types of beef (I would not recommend the Bible tripe or the soft
tendons) with a bottle of Saigon Export.
I now knew the address of Red Light Red Light, so we made our way over and hung
out for a while. Chito got the Abita Naughty Crumpet English Mild on cask,
while I enjoyed sampling a couple of brews from Cigar City. Cigar City is one
of my favorite breweries, and I was pleased to find their Roaring Lion American
Pale Ale and their Brengles (part of the Torcedores series) on tap. The waitresses were unusual in that they
really knew the history of each of the beers.
They also had a great bottle selection, and I picked up a bottle of
Brewdog Paradox, Isle of Arran, their 16th batch of aging their Imperial
Stout in whiskey casks. I also got a
collaboration brew between Terrapin and Swiss brewer BFM called Barley Ryne, a
rye Barleywine that was aged in American bourbon casks.
So
after a couple of false starts, I was able to find my groove and make it to a
couple of top notch beer stops. And with
my trip halfway over, I had a few more days to do some exploring. - 6279/13454
“I decided to stop drinking with creeps. I decided to drink only with friends. I’ve lost 30 pounds.” – Ernest Hemingway
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