RSS

Category Archives: Team Hopheads

Plenty of Events to Keep Beer Lovers Busy this Week

18 Jun
Pale Ale

Pale Ale (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The beer events keep on rolling through the month of June. Here are a few events that are coming up this week.

Monday, June 18
Engine 15

On June 18, 1812 – 200 years ago – President James Madison signed a Declaration of War naming the British Empire as the enemy. The war was fought for several reasons including trade restrictions, imprisonment of U.S. merchant sailors, the British support of native tribes against national expansion, and insults to national honor. The war saw the sacking and burning of Washington D.C., but it also saw victories in New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans. The victory in Baltimore led to Francis Scott Key writing the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

So, 200 years later, the folks at Engine 15 are setting up a rematch of sorts. In order to determine if the U.S. has superiority over the Brits, a blind beer tasting will be held today, June 18. Each person who participates will be presented with a special flight, dubbed the “The Flight of 1812,” consisting of two American brews and two British brews. Participants will be asked to taste and then rate each beer on a scale of 1-10. At the end of the night, the scores will be tallied and a winner of the Flight of 1812 will be announced.

Tuesday, June 19
Brewer’s Pizza

Last Saturday, June 16, Green Room Brewing celebrated their one-year anniversary with a very special release: Secret Spot Russian Imperial Stout aged in Maker’s Mark bourbon barrels. The brew is a rich mélange of organic cocoa nibs and locally roasted coffee that weighs in at a powerful 10% ABV.

On Tuesday, June 19, Brewer’s will tap a keg of this remarkable brew for consumption in the restaurant only, meaning no growlers will be filled.

In addition, Brewer’s will pay further homage to their friends at the beach by tapping Green Room’s Double Overhead IPA, Pablo Beach Pale Ale, and The Solid White IPA.

Wednesday, June 20
Engine 15

Never ones to sit still long, the guys at Engine 15 will feature an interesting food and beer pairing on Wednesday, June 20. Look for a special pairing of Engine 15’s own Ramming Speed Black IPA with carnitas tacos.

Thursday, June 21
Cork & Keg

In a clash of two worlds, Cork & Keg is featuring a Yin & Yang wine and beer pairing event. Experts from both the wine and beer worlds will be on hand to pour and help you compare the flavors of these two favorite beverages. Look for beers from Ballast Point, Ayinger, and Dogfish Head along side wines from Palm Ridge, Santa Ema, and Four Points among others. Tasters will be treated to appetizers, and a special gift for the $25 event fee.

Saturday, June 23
Northstar Substation

The first downtown pub crawl back in April was so much fun, the folks at Northstar Substation decided they wanted to do another. This time the crawl will begin and end at Northstar with stops at the newly-opened Underbelly, Lit, 1904, and a surprise bar inbetween. Registration will begin at 5:45 p.m. and the group will depart for the first stop at 6:45 p.m. The cost of the crawl is $15 and tickets may be purchased online at either the Northstar website or the Springfield Brew Crew site, or at the event. All proceeds will benefit the Jacksonville Miracle League.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 18, 2012 in Beer, Events, Local Brewery, Team Hopheads

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Terrapin Invades Mellow Mushroom Tinseltown Today

20 Apr

In some circles the term 420 refers to anything that is connected to marijuana. So, in typical stoner style, April 20 has become 420 or “Weed” Day. But, not everyone has adopted the day as a celebration of everything ganja, some have simply taken the name and applied it to a day for being mellow, having fun, and relaxing with good friends, good music, and good beer.

Such is the case with the Mellow Mushroom at Tinseltown, this afternoon beginning at 4:00 pm and continuing until 8:00 pm, the gang from Terrapin Beer Company of Athens, GA will be taking over the bar area with multiple taps of their delicious brews and several surprises. One such surprise is that the brewery’s mellow classic, Wake n Bake Coffee Oatmeal Stout, will be served through a Randal of coffee beans to give it an extra caffeine and coffee kick.

Wake n Bake is described as “an amazingly thick and enjoyable beer with a hint of sweetness,” by one aficionado on RateBeer.com. Most drinkers will find that this thick, black as midnight brew, emanates a heady coffee aroma with notes of cocoa and vanilla. A sip of this thick brew will reveal the coffee and sweet cocoa upfront with deeply roasted malts and slight alcohol and oats notes. It’s like biting into a freshly-baked oatmeal cookie that has been soaked in coffee for a few minutes.

Terrapin Beer Company began in Atlanta, GA when two brewers met while working together at another microbrewery. Spike and John became fast friends and began to craft an idea for a new brewery that turned the brewing world on its ear while still maintaining a lifestyle befitting a brewery committed to supporting local music, the environment, and living life to the fullest. Athens seemed the perfect home to their company and the boys set up shop in 2002.

That same year, Spike and John entered their very first brew, Rye Pale Ale in the Great American Beer Festival’s American Pale Ale competition and brought home the gold medal. At only six months old Terrapin had made an indelible mark on the craft beer world and set their reputation in place as a brewery to be reckoned with.

The gang from Terrapin has visited Jacksonville before and experience promises that spending an evening with these guys is full of stories, jokes, and awesome beer. You will not regret spending some time with these guys tonight at the Mellow Mushroom Tinseltown, nor will you regret quaffing a few of their exceptional brews.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Beer, Beer Tasting, Craft Beer Brewery, Team Hopheads

 

Tags: , , ,

Pinglehead Brewing ready to distribute

18 Apr

It has been promised for some time and today it has finally happened, Pinglehead Brewing – the beer production segment of Brewer’s Pizza – has achieved what, to some, is the seemingly impossible: they are now licensed and legally able to sell the beer they make on-premises in growlers. And soon, they will be kegging and distributing their beer to area restaurants and bars, so you will be able to get a pint of the tasty Pinglehead Red at establishments other than Brewer’s Pizza.

Why did this take so long and what is the big deal about selling beer they make at Brewer’s/Pinglehead to patrons at the restaurant/brewery? In a few words; Florida law.

Due to the byzantine nature of Florida beer laws, all Florida breweries, even the smallest, mom and pop operations, must use a distributor to sell their products to retail. Brewpubs, such as Brewer’s Pizza and Engine 15, can brew their own beer and sell for on-premises consumption, but they cannot sell their own beer in growlers for off-site consumption. This law in particular rubs brewpub owners wrong since they can sell other brewery’s products in growlers, just not their own.

Most of these laws have ties to the state of the beer industry before Prohibition. Before the country went dry, breweries often owned bars and sold lots of beer for very low prices. The combination of low prices and brewery-owned establishments led to over consumption in the eyes of do-gooders. It also led to fierce competition among breweries for consumer share.

After Prohibition, laws were passed to keep the breweries in check and to prevent them from owning bars and keeping beer prices too low. The thinking was that higher beer prices would encourage moderation. The three-tier system was introduced in which brewers were required to be separated from the retail sale of beer by a middleman or distributer. This system effectively inflated the price of beer by requiring another entity to handle the product and add charges because of their handling. Essentially this meant that in order for a brewery to sell beer for off-premises consumption, they have to package the beer in a bottle, can or keg, a distributor has to pick the beer up and transport it to heir warehouse, then the distributor must take the packaged beer to a retail location for sale to the public. What this literally means is that even if a keg of beer is brewed right next door to a tavern, the tavern could not simply go next door to purchase a keg of beer; they must order it from the distributor who may be all the way on the other side of town.

To make things even more difficult, in the state of Florida, entities are only allowed to hold a license in one tier of the three-tier system. This law is what prevented Brewer’s Pizza from the retail sales of beer for off-premises consumption. Because Brewer’s Pizza already held a license for retail beer sales, they could not get one for manufacturing beer. Therefore, they had to go through the long process of separating the brewery from the restaurant, and then license the brewery as a manufacturer of beer under the Pinglehead name.

Confused? Many people are.

The bottom line is, now that Pinglehead is a licensed manufacturer, they can hire a distributer to sell their beer to other bars and restaurants. The brewery can also sell beer for off-premises consumption at its brewery location just as Intuition Ale Works, Bold City, and Green Room can. And that is cause for celebration.

In the coming weeks expect to see Piinglehead showing up in a few bars and as a featured beer at the upcoming Jacksonville Craft and Import Beer Festival, May 18.

 
2 Comments

Posted by on April 18, 2012 in Beer, Beer News, Craft Beer Brewery, Local Brewery, Restaurant, Team Hopheads

 

Tags: , , ,

Jax Beer Week Unmitigated Success

09 Apr

From the first event Monday night at Kickback’s to the grand finale Saturday at Mellow Mushroom, the first ever Jacksonville Beer Week can only be described as an unmitigated success. The fact the entire week was pulled together in less than a month speaks volumes for the organizational skills of all involved and foretells an even better event next year.

News of the week spread quickly through word of mouth and social media. As new venues were added the website for the week was updated and the list of beer-centric things to do grew rapidly. It seemed like new events were added on a daily basis until the week went from an idea to fruition. Each event built upon the previous one to build a fun-filled week that is sure to be the buzz of town until the next Jacksonville Beer Week next year.

Some of the highlights of the week included the above mentioned local beer day at Kickback’s on Monday. This was followed by a slew of events on Tuesday including a special beer and food pairing meal at Pele’s Wood Fire, a tapping of a special collaborative beer brewed at Intuition Ale Works by the crew from Mellow Mushroom, a ladies only beer tasting at the Cork & Keg in Fruit Cove, and a special Stone Brewing tasting at Brewer’s Pizza in Orange park. Wednesday brought a showing of the fantastic craft beer vs. mega brewers movie “Beer Wars,” which was followed by a lively discussion panel afterwards. On Thursday the guys at Mile Marker Brewing in St. Augustine transformed their brewery into a movie theater and screened two of the greatest all-time beer movies out there: “Beerfest” and “Stanger Brew,” Engine 15 tapped a special beer brewed by the Florida Times-Union’s Roger Bull and Ed Stansel, writers of Amber Waves beer blog. In addition Grassroots in Riverside hosted a tasting of brews from Intuition, Bold City, Brewer’s Pizza, and Michael Payne owner of the soon-to-be-open Aardwolf Brewery in San Marco. Friday night saw the first annual Springfield Brew Crew Downtown Pub Crawl, a tap takeover of Florida beers at Green Room Brewing that included of 40 local and Florida beers, and Engine 15 hosted a tap takeover that boasted 10 local taps and a special firkin made just for Beer Week. The week closed with the Grand Tasting at Mellow Mushroom at Tinseltown. The final event included beer tastings from most of the local breweries, music from Grandpa’s Cough Medicine, food from Mellow Mushroom, and a brewer’s panel discussion.

With the great success of this year’s event it is safe to assume that there will be another next year with even better events and a greater selection of local and Florida beers. The most difficult part will be waiting for it to begin again.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 9, 2012 in Beer, Events, Food, Intuition Ale Works, Jacksonville Beer Week, Pubs, Restaurant, Team Hopheads

 

Tags: ,

Cans Offer Excellent Beer Drinking Experience

30 Mar

Beer in cans is not new to the world in general, but canned beer in the craft beer world is a growing phenomenon. Craft beer brewers have had to re-educate their consumers to the virtues of canning beer as opposed to bottling ever since Oskar Blues Brewing started the trend in the early 2000’s.

Because canned beer was most closely identified with the low quality, mass-produced brews of the mega producers, craft brewers have been wary of switching from bottles to cans. But, over the past few years, more and more brews have decided to take the plunge and invest in a canning set-up. Most notably among these new pioneers is Sierra Nevada, which is canning both its Pale Ale and Torpedo IPA.

So, what are the advantages of cans vs. bottles? Other than the comfort factor consumers have in glass bottles, cans really have many more pluses than bottles. When you consider the fact that bottles are fragile, heavy, and do not provide a complete light barrier, you begin to see the wisdom in using aluminum. Broken bottles are costly, their weight causes higher shipping charges, and light, well you know the havoc it can cause with beer. On the other hand, aluminum cans are durable, light weight, and provide a completely impenetrable light barrier. And, to head off any talk of metallic taste, modern beer cans are coated so that the beer never touches the metal.

The result of using cans over bottles is a win/win situation. Brewers win because cans are light-weight, easy to fill, and cost less than bottles. Consumers win because their beer is fresher, completely protected from air intrusion, and equally protected from becoming light-struck.

It is estimated that the number of craft brewers canning their beer is approaching 100. Other sources maintain the number is more like 80. Either way, there are more and more breweries jumping on the canning band wagon. According to Team Hopheads, there are at least eight breweries with canned craft beer available in the Jacksonville market. Breweries such as the already mentioned Sierra Nevada and Oskar Blues are joined by Abita, Magic Hat, Shiner, Brooklyn, and Crispin Hard Cider.

Newly added to the list of breweries that offer canned brews is Jacksonville’s Intuition Ale Works. Intuition has the additional distinction of being the first brewery in Florida to can their brews. And if the sales they have been seeing from the canned beers are any indication, the beer-loving public of Jacksonville has no problem whatsoever purchasing canned craft brews. Sales at the Tap Room of canned Intuition beer have been brisk for some time now. It is not unusual to see several cases leave the building in just a few minutes on a Friday or Saturday afternoon. But, the response that the cans received when released to retailers was simply amazing. On the first two days the beer was available in cans, Total Wine at the St. John’s Town Center had sold over 50 cases.

Currently Intuition is canning three varieties of beers; Jon Boat, People’s Pale Ale, and I-10 IPA. These three brews are by far the brewery’s best sellers and should become even more popular now that they are readily available away from a beer tap or growler.

Cans have come a long way from the old cone-tops and pull tabs; they have become true works of modern engineering worthy of our praise and awe. Without the can, its portability and safety where would we be as a society? No one can truly answer that question, but it is safe to bet, without cans beer would be a little more cumbersome to carry and you would not get to hear that satisfy “Pfffst!” sound as you popped one open.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 30, 2012 in Beer, Beer Education, Craft Beer Brewery, Intuition Ale Works, Local Brewery, Team Hopheads

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older posts