Kissimmee resort goes Rogue

Photo courtesy Gaylord Palms

A cheese selection at Old Hickory Steakhouse in the Gaylord Palms Resort.

One of my favorite resorts in Central Florida is the Gaylord Palms. I’ve had the pleasure of staying there, but with its massive indoor atriums, restaurants, shops and bars, it’s a lot of fun just to spend a few hours walking around the grounds.

However, the beer selection there leans toward the standard macrobrews and mass-produced imports, leaving this craft beer fan feeling a bit left out.

An event scheduled for next week at the Kissimmee resort’s Old Hickory Steakhouse has me hopeful that it is a harbinger of better beer offerings.

Rogue Ales and Rogue Creamery, both out of Oregon, are partnering for a “Cheese and Beer Dinner Extravaganza” on Friday, April 8, beginning at 6 p.m.

There will be a lot more than a few slices of cheese and a pint or two of Rogue’s beer. It’s a fantastic looking seven-course dinner prepared by Old Hickory Steakhouse Chef Paul Player. The menu reflects the restaurant’s embrace of the sustainable food movement and shows that a lot of thought went into the beer, cheese and food combinations.

Attending will be John David Gremmels, chairman and founder of the National Cheese Society and owner of Rogue River Creamery and Brett Joyce, president of Rogue Ales.

The cost for the feast is $80 per person, plus tax and a 22 percent service charge. The Gaylord Palms also is offering attendees a discounted room rate for the night.

For more information, go to the Gaylord Palms website. To make reservations, call 407-586-0708.

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Beer Bites: Medal winners, festivals, bicycles and food

image courtesy of Florida Brewers GuildLots of news and events this week for the Florida craft beer scene, so let’s get right to it.

Award winners

The Florida Brewers Guild released its lists of the winners in the recent Best Florida Beer Championships. Swamp Head Brewery in Gainesville took gold and silver medals in the Best of Show for Blackwater Floridian Dark Ale and Smoke Signal, respectively. Pensacola Bay Brewery won the bronze for its Banyon Brown. Here’s the complete list.

In the homebrewers competition, Thomas Crawford won gold for his St. Alfonzos Pecan, Richard Etshman took silver for his Pumpkin Spice Dessert Ale, and the bronze went to Eric Koenig’s Hop Grenade. Here’s that list.

More C-R-E-D for F-L-A

Beer Advocate release its lists of top 100 beers for various regions, and the Sunshine State dominated  its list, with 36 of the beers from Florida, 34 of those from Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing. See the list here.

Get on your bikes and ride!

Speaking of Cigar City, the award-winning craft brewer is the main sponsor for Saturday’s  third annual Cigar City Brewing Twilight Criterium and Festival. “Criterium” means “bicycle racing.” Read all about it at the Creative Loafing website.

Bon Beer-age

Beer Advocate announced this week that it has entered into a partnership with Bon Beer Voyage, a beer touring company run by a Boynton Beach couple. The outfit has several upcoming tours this year, including Ireland, Belgium and St. Augustine.

Festivals this weekend

  • The Destin Beer Festival: Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. at Destin Wine World. $25 in advance, $30 at the door.
  • The 15th annual Greater Gator Beer Festival: Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. Magnolia Park in Gainesville. $20 in advance, $30 online, $35 at the gate.

Other events

Craft Beer Bar Discovery of the Week

Spooky’s Black Cat Café and Milk District Marketplace in Orlando advertises on its website that it serves more than 100 beers, and the food is pretty awesome, too, according to my friend Sean Nordquist, who ordinarily knows what he’s talking about when it comes to such things.

Reminder: Please use our free interactive calendar to promote your upcoming craft beer events. The link’s on top of the Beer in Florida home page.

That’s it for Beer Bites this week. Feel free to email trips4beer@gmail.com with any ideas or story tips.

Until next time, Florida, remember: We are here! We are Beer!

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Orlando craft beer venue announces opening date

image courtesy of Draft Global Beer Lounge & Grill.A new upscale, craft beer-focused restaurant and lounge announced earlier this month that it would be opening in downtown Orlando. Today, the Draft Global Beer Lounge & Grill confirmed its opening date. Here’s the release:

An all-new restaurant-bar-lounge concept that takes craft beer to a new, more sophisticated level is set to open Thursday, March 31, on West Church Street. Draft Global Beer Lounge & Grill, located directly across from the new Amway Center, will feature 40 drafts on tap and more than 100 bottled brands amidst contemporary custom-lit furnishings, private sofa seating and a gleaming acrylic bar.

“We’re very excited to introduce Orlando to Draft,” said owner and long-time restaurateur Willie Fisher. “We’re taking advantage of a huge interest in craft beers, but we’re doing so in a more urban, upscale environment. It’s really unlike anything else Orlando has to offer.”

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer pointed to Draft as an example of the continued revitalization of downtown Orlando and the fulfillment of the original vision of the Amway Center as an economic engine for neighborhoods west of Interstate 4.

“Dining, retail and entertainment options for our residents and visitors has increased tremendously in Downtown Orlando with more than 150 new businesses opened since the beginning of 2010,” said Dyer. “We’ve seen impressive momentum on West Church Street with the opening of the Amway Center in October of last year and we expect great things from Draft and the many other establishments in that area. I would like to congratulate Willie and his team and thank them for their investment in our community.”

Draft will serve lunch and dinner Monday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. from a menu created by Executive Chef Bryce Balluff. Balluff, whose influence can be seen in local favorites like Luma On Park and Funky Monkey Wine Company, also brings experience from the kitchens of Asia de Cuba and Per Se in New York. His Draft menu is an eclectic mix of American fare as well as many specialties: Spring Rolls, Fried Mac and Cheese, Pina Colada Salad and Pork Shank.

“We expect to attract a diverse clientele, simply because of our location,” said Fisher. “We think our menu and ambience will attract the business crowd during lunch; we’ll become a pre-and post-game hang-out for Magic games and other events at the Center; and we’ll also attract late-night patrons looking for a hip, new spot to socialize. We’re ready for them all.”

For more information on Draft Global Beer Lounge & Grill, visit DraftOrlando.com. To book a reservation, call 407.826.1872.

I’ll try to get down there as soon as I can, but if anyone else makes it there before I do, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Bell’s Beer Circus promises good fun, great beer, Hopslam giveaway

Beer in Florida photo by Gerard WalenWant to join the circus?

The Mr. Beery’s Bell’s Circus that is, taking place Saturday at the craft beer bar in Sarasota’s Gulf Gate neighborhood. And it also marks the beginning of a chance to win a keg of one of the most sought-after beers in the country, but more on that later.

First, the beer. Twenty-one taps pouring twenty-one different brews from Bell’s Brewery, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Some of them have never before been served in Florida:

“I don’t think they’ve seen the light of day outside the state of Michigan,” said Mr. Beery’s owner and craft beer evangelist Mark Tuchman.

Then there’s the circus. Tuchman partnered with the website Dateinreallife.com for the event, which will feature a ladies-only mechanical shark riding competition with local celebrities as judges, a clown, a magician, cotton candy, a dunk tank with the “BMC Guy” and sno-cones that, yes, you can get infused with one of the Bell’s beers.

Mr. Beery’s held a similar “Total Tap Takeover” in January with Cigar City beers, but this time Tuchman wanted to do more, and the website came along with the circus idea.

“We wanted to do something big,” he said. “We didn’t just want beer nerds to come in, sit down quietly and drink good beer.”

Though there will be plenty of opportunity for that. If all goes well, Tuchman hopes to debut the pub’s new cask beer engine, imported from the United Kingdom. And in the engine will be a cask-conditioned firkin of Hopslam, Bell’s hard-to-find double IPA. And on another tap will be a keg of Hopslam.

And a contest starts Saturday in which one lucky customer will win a keg of Hopslam.

Each time a customer buys a Bell’s beer at Mr. Beery’s from Saturday through Friday, May 20, he or she will receive an entry into a raffle for the keg. The drawing will be May 20, and if the winner owns a kegerator, the keg can go out the door. If not, Tuchman said, the winner can hold a party at Mr. Beery’s, along with his or her many new friends, to down the keg. And Tuchman promises there will be plenty of Bell’s on tap during the raffle period, so you can enter as often as your liver – or wallet – can take it.

Here’s the beer list for Saturday:

  • Firkin of Cask-Conditioned Hopslam
  • Hopslam
  • Third Coast Old Ale
  • Porter
  • Pale Ale
  • Kalamazoo Stout
  • Hell Hath No Fury
  • Harry Magill’s Stout
  • Best Brown
  • Batch 9,000
  • Batch 10,000
  • Deb’s Red Ale
  • Winter White
  • Oarsman
  • Expedition Stout
  • Amber Ale
  • Oberon Ale
  • Two Hearted Ale
  • Java Stout
  • Cherry Stout
  • Consecrator

The circus will run from 2 to 6 p.m. The Bell’s beer will flow from 2 p.m. until the pub closes.

Coming up on May 14: Dogfish Head Total Tap Takeover.

Mr. Beery’s

2645 Mall Drive, Gulfgate

(941)343-2854

www.mrbeeryssrq.com

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