Cigar City wins big.
Beer Bites is back, and thanks to my genius neighbor, so is my laptop. Went through a few hairy days there wondering if I would have to buy yet another computer, but he managed to get it back from the dead. I would give him public props, but he told me that he doesn’t really like that type of work, and does it only for friends and clients. I owe him a case of beer, though, and it will be a good one.
I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend, enjoyed some American-made craft beer and survived the fireworks with all fingers intact.
On to this week’s Beer Bites.
Awards and Snubs
Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing came in second overall in the recent 2011 United States Open Beer Championships in Atlanta.
“This competition is significant because it accepts entries from breweries around the world and allows national winning homebrews to compete,” said Dow Scoggins, director of the U.S. Open Beer Championships. “This year, we had over 20 international breweries entered the competition. Breweries from Canada, Belgium, Germany, Mexico, and England medaled. And this year, the U.S. Open had its first brewery outside the United States to be in the Top 10. Neustadt Brewing from Ontario, Canada finished 8th by winning 2 golds and 2 silvers.”
Kudos also go out to 2010 National Homebrew Competition gold medalists Matt and Jake Tucker from Oviedo won a silver medal for their English Pale.
Florida Beer Company brought home silvers for Swamp Ape IPA (Imperial IPA) and Florida Lager (American Premium Lager).
And Yet …
Another national list of Best Beer Something-Or-Others snubbed Florida. MSN.com’s “Best Microbreweries in America” feature lists 20 craft breweries, none from The Sunshine State. This comes shortly after the American Homebrewers Association’s 2011 Zymurgy Best Beers in America list, which included no Florida craft brews, and more shunning in Travel + Leisure’s “America’s Best Beer Cities,” which had some very puzzling inclusions and exclusions. I guess we can’t stop shouting to the world that “We are here! We are beer!”
English Maybe, English for Sure
The English Tap & Beer Garden will be opening in a week at the Shops of Boca Center in the space formerly occupied by Todd English’s Wild Olives restaurant. It’s uncertain if the celebrity chef will be involved with the new venture in Boca Raton, but according to a press release, Wild Olives executive chef Ken Stevens will be running the kitchen. The release did say that there will be “25 beers on tap and over 60 bottled beers from around the world,” so it might be worth a look for beer geeks.
Free Beer!
Bon Beer Voyage, a Boyton Beach-based beer travel company, will hold “A Taste of Liquid Sunshine” on Saturday, July 23, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Coconut Creek World of Beer. There will be a free tasting of five Florida-brewed beers, half off select beers, a free WoB Loyalty Card ($15 value), a drawing for a beer gift basket and lots of other stuff. Ruth and Mike from Bon Beer Voyage will talk about the “brewnique beer tours” offered by the company, including the upcoming Florida Beer Safari in St. Augustine. Registration is required and is limited to the first 35 people to register.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Lost Pub
I’m not sure what’s going on here, to be honest, but the Pensacola News Journal announced that an “Archaeology Pub” scheduled for July 18 has been postponed. I could find few details other than there would be lectures and that Pensacola Bay Brewery would be involved. Makes sense, since beer has been around since at least 8,000 B.C. If I hear more about the rescheduling, it will be posted here. (Hint: If someone involved had used the Beer in Florida event calendar, it might not be such a mystery).
That’s it for this week’s Beer Bites. With all that’s going on, I’m sure I’ve missed something. Let us know in the comments or use our interactive events calendar – the link’s at the top of the page.
Let’s hope for good weather for the final launch today of the Space Shuttle program. Raise a pint to the brave astronauts aboard the Atlantis as well as those who have gone before, especially the ones who did not return. Godspeed!
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Until next time, Florida, remember: We are Here! We are Beer!
