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    Shipyard Emporium to Open in Florida

    January 13, 2011
    / Beer News /
    2 Comments

    As first reported by Road Trips for Beer in December, Shipyard Brewing Company out of Portland, ME is opening a brew pub named Shipyard Emporium in Winter Park, FL.  The date of the grand opening is January 28th and it is rapidly approaching.

    This will add a nice spot for craft beer lovers in Central Florida to go to.  Also travelers will have another reason to go to the Orlando area as well.  I also hear there is this place with a mouse running the show and a bar that is considered like one of the best in the world.

    No details are listed on the site as to the menu or draft list but they will probably be out shortly.  For more details as they come you can check out http://www.shipyardemporium.com/

    The Shipyard Emporium
    200 West Fairbanks Ave.
    Winter Park, Florida
    Phone: 321-274-4045

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    Infinium

    January 12, 2011
    / Beer Review /
    3 Comments

    Name – Infinium
    Country – United States
    Type – Biere de Champagne

    As you can tell by the title of this article this review is about Infinium.  And you probably know the story regarding this beer already but I will try to give some background on it anyway.

    Infinium is the creation of a collaboration between Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams) and the legendary German brewery Weihenstephan.  The beer is an attempt to push the boundaries of brewing while still only using the four key ingredients in beer making; water, malts, hops, yeast.  But for this particular beer the use of Champagne yeast is a big difference.

    Apparently it took the two breweries many years of brainstorming to decide on the recipe for Infinium.  Will it pay off?  Will it break down walls?  I don’t know but I can at least attest to my opinion.

    I found the cork on this bottle to be much more difficult than other corked beers and even most Champagnes I have had.  Once I finally was able to remove the cork I poured the beer into my pilsner glass as I don’t have any flutes.  It arrived in the glass a clear orangish color with a big bubbly white head.  I was surprised by how quickly the head subsided.

    The nose was very fruity.  Banana is the overpowering scent I pick up but I can also get some hints of pear and passion fruit in there.  Other than the fruit I don’t really get anything else.

    The banana is again very present in the taste.  Again a little bit of pear in there with some buttery notes.  I am also getting a fair amount of alcohol in the taste.

    The body and mouth feel of the beer is not as bubbly as I would have thought with the Champagne yeast in use.  A matter of fact the mouth feel felt a bit flat despite the bubbly head when poured.

    So is it changing brewing?  I’m still not sure.  It is definitely different from any other beer I have had but I can’t really say I like it.  I’m glad I got to try it but the banana taste is way too strong and the body and mouth feel just don’t seem right for what they seemed to be going for.

    I had a sampling of DeuS last year and remember that being more like a Champagne than this particular beer.  It was bubbly all the way through.

    Sorry Sam and Weihenstephan, this one just wasn’t up my alley.

    Grade – D+

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    Bell’s Expedition Stout

    January 11, 2011
    / Beer Review /
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    Name – Bell’s Expedition Stout
    Country – United States
    Type – Russian Imperial Stout

    Wow I haven’t posted anything in 5 days. I’m very sorry about that folks.  I promise this won’t happen for at least another month or two.  We cool?  Nice.

    So last night I decided to go home and relax instead of my typical Monday at the Coffee District for Social Beer Night.  I was exhausted and laying on my couch seemed like a good idea.  So I cooked myself up some homemade chicken teriyaki and veggies and plopped down for the evening.

    The beer of choice for the night was a beer that I can’t believe it took me this long to have and review.  It is one of the big boys of Bell’s stout line up, Expedition.

    Well I can blame the fact that the local distributor for Bell’s down here pretty much didn’t care about them for past year or so and we didn’t get much from them.  Hell if it weren’t for our community down here bitching we wouldn’t have gotten HopSlam last year for the second year in a row.

    But someone there must have seen the potential and brought back the entire line of Bell’s beers to us.  Including in those batches was Expedition so I picked up a sixer.  Yup I had so much faith in this that I bought a six pack.

    So I poured the brew into my pint glass and it came out a very inky black color.  A brown head sat atop the brew and actually left a really good amount of lacing on the glass.

    The nose is packed with mocha scents and a lot of roasted malts.  Hints of chocolate and coffee come out as well.  And you get a little bit of the alcohol in the nose.

    The taste is a lot more of the same that was present in the nose (man I hate having to say that) but there is a nice lactose taste there as well.  It also has a very creamy consistency and mouth feel to it.

    To all my friends that have raved to me about how great Expedition is I can just simply say, I’m with you.

    I know I said a bit back that Southern Tier were the kings of the stout.  Corey from BX Beer Depot threw in Bell’s to that fight and I can now completely understand with Expedition being the Arthur of the Bell’s stouts royal family.  Am I changing my mind?  Not necessarily but those two breweries are close and making awesome dark brews.

    Grade – A

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