Mike Loves Beer

So it’s Friday.  The end of a work week and almost everyone one is looking forward to the weekend.  But if you live along the Treasure Coast of Florida or in northern Palm Beach County I think you should be looking forward to Monday.  Now before you call me crazy.  Well you can call me that anyway.  But here is why you should be looking forward to Monday.

Vine & Barley in Port Saint Lucie, FL will be having a special Brooklyn kegging happening.  Now what special kegs you might ask?  Glad you asked.  Well to start things off with the newest Brewmaster’s Reserve Buzz Bomb.  It is an old style braggott.  Then there will be a keg of Black Chocolate Stout that has been aged 8 months.  Sounds awesome right?  To top it off they will have bottles of the new Sorachi Ace as well as specials on Local 1 & 2 bottles.

So if you are nearby you absolutely have to head over there and have some of that amazing stuff.  You won’t be disappointed that you did.

Posted June 25th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Brooklyn Brewery | Category: Beer Events |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Name – Left Hand 2009 Oak Aged Imperial Stout
Country – United States
Type – American Imperial Stout

Appearance – Poured jet black with a small tan head that was gone pretty quick.

Smell – It’s not in your face but I pick up chocolate, roasted malts, some oak like scents.

Taste – This is very nice.  Chocolate, a little smokiness to it with the roasted malts.  All mixing with a subtle but present oak flavor.  Backed with a nice alcohol burn.

Sometimes when you see left over bottles you think that they must not be that good.  But sometimes it just shouts out to you that you have to try it.  That is what this bottle did so I decided to take my risk on the talking bottle and buy it.  Luckily this bottle and it’s brew inside are not some possessed trinket from an evil wizard but are rather a very nicely done beer by the good folks at Left Hand.  Really flavorful and well rounded.  I implore you to get one if you have the ability to.  I know the Boynton Total Wine still has some.

Overall Grade – A

Posted June 24th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Left Hand Brewing Company | Category: Grade A, Imperial Stout, Stout |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

West Palm’s home to dinner food, indie rock, art and super cute waitresses brings you yet another beer dinner.  Howley’s brings to you a dinner with the beers of Dogfish Head tomorrow night and just take a look at the menu.

Menu:

Midas Touch
Crawfish Etouffee served in delicate puff pastry

Festina Peche
Tuna Carpaccio finished with a light wasabi drizzle

90 minute IPA
Iceberg Wedge finished with crumbled bleu cheese vinaigrette

Raison D’etre
Steamed Seafood Bucket lobster, clams and mussels accompanied by pasta

Palo Santo Marron
Cupcakes!

Convinced you want to go?  Well you better call or email Howley’s and reserve a spot as reservations are required.  Oh and they will have a vegetarian option for you if meat isn’t your thing.  Just be sure to tell them when you reserve.  Things start at 7 pm.

Howley’s
4700 S. Dixie Highway
West Palm Beach, FL 33405
561-833-5691
howleysbeerdinner@gmail.com

Posted June 23rd, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Dogfish Head | Category: Beer Events |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Name – Mokah
Country – United States
Type – American Imperial Stout

Appearance – Pours completely black with a tan head that is gone pretty quickly.

Smell – Awesome chocolate smell with a backing of roasted notes.

Taste – Bittersweet chocolate upfront followed by some roasted malts and an ever so slight coffee flavor.

Mokah is Southern Tier’s child (not bastard) of Choklat and Jah-va’s never ending relationship.  And as you may remember I am quite the fan of Choklat.  But as you probably know as well I am not a fan of coffee stouts.  Was this rough for me?  Not at all.  The coffee taste is just barely present in the back of the taste.  The chocolate comes through way more but this is definitely not as big as Choklat.  It’s more subtle and in many’s opinions easier to drink.  I can agree with that slightly but still the over all chocolate flavor of it’s father is just so delicious.  But this is an amazing beer as well.  If you like chocolate stouts that taste, well, like chocolate then definitely try this.

Overall Grade – A

Posted June 23rd, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Southern Tier Brewing | Category: Grade A, Imperial Stout, Stout |  Email This Post | Comments (3)

Name – Red Racer IPA
Country – Canada
Type – American IPA

Appearance – Poured a very clear orangish color with a nice size white head that left some lacing on the glass.

Smell – Very nice citrus hop aroma.  I get grapefruit and orange.  Some piney notes as well.

Taste – A lot of citrus taste to it with the same fruit I mentioned before.  Nice bitterness to it at the back.

This little old can was left all by it’s lonesome at the end of the night at my party on Saturday so I decided to give it a home.  I poured it into my awesome glass that you can get at your local neighborhood Funky Buddha (and by local and neighborhood I mean the Boca Raton, FL area).  I was really pleased with this one.  It’s no secret I dig grapefruit notes in IPAs so this hit the spot.

Overall Grade – A-

Posted June 22nd, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Central City Brewing | Category: Grade A, IPA |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Name – Wild Devil
Country – United States
Type – Belgian IPA

Appearance – Pours a very cloudy copper color with a big white head that leaves some lacing on the glass.

Smell – Definite brett smell that is funky.  Some earthy notes to it as well.

Taste – Brett presence throughout.  Some citrus fruit tastes to it as well but most is just funky.  Very dry finish.

I’ve had this one a few times and felt I finally needed to give it a proper write up.  Don’t really go into it thinking it’s Hop Devil with brett because it really is much of a completely different beer.  The brett and funk are the main point here and if you aren’t down with the funk yet then maybe you should wait a bit.  I think this isn’t a bad funky beer though.

Overall Grade – B-

Posted June 21st, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Victory Brewing | Category: Belgian IPA, Grade B |  Email This Post | Comments (2)

It is the morning after and last night was an absolute success.  I’m still in shock over how many people actually showed up to show some love to craft beer and my little ol’ beer blog.  It really showed that the community is getting bigger.

I know I gave a little drunken speech last night but just want to throw some more thanks out there for my 2 years of doing this thing.

• My parents who are the best parents a person can have.  I started this whole thing while still living with them.  I took up space in their refrigerator with a large amount of beers and they didn’t complain.
• The rest of my family (brother, aunts, uncles, cousins) for understanding that I don’t drink be just to get drunk but that I really enjoy the work put into them.
• Fresh Beer for bringing awesome beer to South Florida and for just being amazing beer people in general.
• The great beer bars down here that do what they do so well like Coffee District, Funky Buddha, the Lodge, Brother Tuckers, Abraxas, Fat Cats, etc.
• All my fellow bloggers that make this community strong.
• All my friends that supported me through this whole thing.
• And most importantly any and all of you that stop by and read this.  I only ever thought that this would be something for me to record what I drink and maybe have friends and family look at it.  I never thought I would be getting over 1000 unique hits a month on this.

But I hope everyone had a good time last night.  I saw so many old faces and new ones.  I was given many a bottles of beer and I thank you for those.  Thanks to Chung from the Coffee District for allowing me to put this on.  I know neither of us expected that kind of turn out.

Well again thanks all and hope you aren’t feeling to bad today (Phil) and go have a beer with your dads.  Or have one for them if you aren’t able to.  Cheers!

Posted June 20th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Fresh Beer Inc, mikelovesbeer.com, The Coffee District | Category: Announcement |  Email This Post | Comments (7)

So we are a little more than 24 hours away from the MikeLovesBeer.com 2nd Anniversary Party at the Coffee District tomorrow.  So get yourself ready for a great night tomorrow.  Just a run down of some of the happenings.

• The shindig starts at 6 pm EST (Just in case).  I know that may be early to start but we wanted to get a couple hours in before the open mic night starts.  We will continue going through the whole thing and pretty much stop when everyone just can’t go any longer.
• There is a free raffle to where I will be drawing winners for one of five free tickets to Total Wine in Boynton Beach’s next beer class on Thursday June 24th.  Tickets will be available and just ask your bartender for one.  We will announce the winners around 9 pm EST (Again).
• Two awesome Dogfish Head brews will be thrown on tap on Saturday night.  First being the summer seasonal Festina Peche and the second is the always amazing 90 Minute IPA.
• Chung is allowing us to bring in outside bottles of brews that are not available in this area to share with the group and he is not charging any corking fees so please if you are bringing bottles make sure you tip the awesome staff there amazingly.  Melinda and AJ are great folks and they deserve your respect.  Take care of them and they will take care of you (professionally of course).

I look forward to the night and it should be loads of fun.  I already have over 20 people confirming with me that they are coming so it will be a blast.  I’m also working on a little speech to give during the open mic night.  Maybe I’ll be McKenna’d by then and you will all get a laugh at my expense.

Posted June 18th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Dogfish Head, Mike Loves Beer, mikelovesbeer.com, The Coffee District, Total Wine | Category: Announcement, Beer Events |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Name – Festina Pêche
Country – United States
Type – Berliner Weisse

Appearance – Poured a cloudy pale yellow color with a white head that was gone pretty quickly.

Smell – Light lemony smell and an ever so slight smell of peaches.

Taste – Tart, sour lemon right up front.  Good carbonation.  Light in body and easy to drink.  No peach presence in the taste that I get.

Let me say that I love this style and wish there were more that I could readily get my hands on.  Not beats this 90+ degree heat and 5000% humidity in South Florida much like a nice Berliner Weisse.  I had been waiting for this to come out for awhile and have gone through 2 four packs since I have been back in Florida (about 5 days) and plan on many more.  Plus it will be on tap this Saturday for the MikeLovesBeer.com 2nd Anniversary Party at the Coffee District.

Overall Grade – A

Posted June 18th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Dogfish Head | Category: Berliner Weisse, Grade A |  Email This Post | Comments (2)