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    Blind Pig

    Name – Blind Pig
    Country – United States
    Type – American IPA

    Appearance – Poured a mostly clear orangish, red color with a finger wide white head that left some lacing on the glass.

    Smell – Citrusy and resiny hop smell right up front.

    Taste – It’s a big hoppy beer.  Lots of citrus hops of grapefruit and orange and hints of pineapple.  There is some pine notes in there as well and it is pretty resiny and fresh tasting.  Not a lot in the ways of a malt backing.

    In a way this tasted a lot like Pliny the Elder.  The very fresh tasting citrus hops just reminded me a lot of that one.  Being that the ABV on this is much lower than Pliny I would just assume Blind Pig is the little brother.  Considering such I felt the same way about it as I did Pliny.  It’s a solid IPA.

    Overall Grade – B+

    Taking on the Big Beers of BrewDog

    After working 11 days straight I was given a four day weekend from Thursday through Sunday.  For the most part I stayed non-existent.  I cleaned the house, caught up with some friends I hadn’t seen in awhile, went grocery shopping and had a few beers.  And truly I mean that I only had a few beers, well that is until Sunday afternoon.

    To call this an epic tasting simply would do it no justice.  How about we come up with a new word for moments like this?  I’m going to go with brewtastical.  Yeah that sounds just right.  Phil and Kelly of Dos Beerigos opened there house, and parts of their refrigerator, to a group of us for this tasting.  Included were Ed Roberts from Total Wine in Ft. Lauderdale who has become mister beer news for us in South Florida with new releases.  Tony Kirkish, a new comer to South Florida but by no means a new comer to craft beer.  He hails from San Diego where there is many a great craft brewers.  Brian Torres and Vanessa Heine, collectively known as Brinessa, graced us with their presence as well.  Brian works at the Total Wine in Boca Raton while Vanessa writes an awesome blog about cooking with beer.  Lastly was Tom Barris who you might remember from such festivals as Brew at the Zoo and NewTimes Beerfest.  Okay so you now know the players involved.

    Everyone brought beers to share but unfortunately (or fortunately for our livers) we did not get to them all.  A lineup that included such big names as Dark Lord 2010, AleSmith Speedway Stout, Ballast Point Sea Monster and Bell’s HopSlam was over shadowed by two elephants in the room.  Well actually one of the elephants was a penguin.

    Tony was nice enough to bring his bottles of BrewDog’s two extreme beers, the 32% Tactical Nuclear Penguin and the 41% Sink the Bismarck.  None of us had any clue really what to expect.  We have all had Sam Adams Utopias before and reviews between are mixed on our thoughts on it.  Some of us do not even like calling it beer, myself included, but more on that later. Continue reading…

    Funky Buddha Lounge and Brewery

    I’m always the first to admit when I’m lazy and it will be no different here.  This review is a long time coming and finally it’s sees the ink to paper, virtually so to speak.  The Funky Buddha has been a staple in South Florida beer culture for quite awhile and now with their much bigger space and soon to be brew pub coming there is no doubt that people will start traveling from all over the state to give them a try.

    The new Buddha is in the same plaza it always was just further north in the plaza, almost at the very end.  The space is easily five times larger than the previous space.  There is plenty of seating at table, couches and the bar.  There is a much larger stage than there use to be as well.  The vibe is still the same with dimly lit areas and a sort of Middle Eastern feel, it is a hookah bar anyways.

    There selection is top notch.  They tend to always get one of the rare kegs that hit our areas and couple that with 15 taps all together and you have a nice choice of what to drink.  And as if that is not enough for you the Funky Buddha will soon be a full force brew pub.  State papers are still being processed and hopes are by the summer to be fully functional to where they can sell their brews.  But for now you can go in and ask your server or bartender for a sample of any of the brews they have there.  I have had the pleasure of sampling a good number of the different beers that will make up the core rotation along with some special brews.

    And if you are home brewer yourself you will have even more reason to love the Buddha.  They will also start selling some supplies as well in case you are in need of some raw materials.

    The service is great and they are really knowledgeable about beer.  So if you have any questions they can definitely help you out.  They are beer geeks like all of us and love talking beer.  Kevin and Jim who serve there are also some of the brewers of the beer that will be gracing the lines as well.  So if you are served by them and love to talk brewing then you will have some new friends there as well.

    There is a reason that the Funky Buddha has been around and expanding for as long as they have.  With a unique environment matched up with great beer and backboned by a friendly, knowledgeable staff they will be around for awhile.  So if you are in South Florida or taking a trip down here be sure to stop in and have a few.

    For more information on what’s on tap and upcoming events, checkout their website at http://www.thefunkybuddha.com/