(If you don’t care about beer, feel free to just scroll down to the picture of Jess and me. LOL)
I’m pretty particular about what beer I will drink (I’m sure you’d never guess that.) Florida is not really known for its beer, so I was not expecting to drink a lot of beer while down there. Luckily, I like girly drinks (margaritas, pina coladas, etc) and can tolerate most red wines, so I knew I’d be able to have a nightly drink or two without a problem.
The Good:
The first night in Florida we arrived late and hungry, so we hit the sports bar at our hotel. I was able to get a Guinness. Score! (This was the last dark beer I was able to get my hands on until we returned to the Fort Lauderdale area).
At one restaurant, I was able to get a Key Lime Margarita (YUM!). During the rest of the week, I drank a LOT of Key West Sunset Ales (acceptable), some pina coladas made by my brother (very good!), and one Dirty Monkey (basically a chocolate banana shake made with alcohol. OMG YUM!).
The best beer, however, had to wait until we returned to the mainland and went to the Big Bear Brewery. I had their awesome Kodiac Belgian Dubbel. It wouldn’t compete with my personal favorite, Kasteel, but it was quite good. Even better, we met up with Jess and Jerry. Jerry and Beer Geek both had the samplers and they both seemed quite pleased. Jess is just as nice as she seems on her blog and is quite a cute preggo. Gotta love good beer AND good company!
(No, I’m not a giant – I’m only 5’4″)
The bad:
As one might expect, we had to go to Kelly’s Carribbean Bar, Grill, and Brewpub. Beer Geek got a sampler of their three beers. None of them were particularly good, but one in particular had undertones of blue cheese. Not exactly a flavor you want in a beer. Thankfully, this was also the bar where I was able to get the awesome Key Lime Margarita and they had really good bar food (especially their wings).
The undrinkable:
We went to one particularly famous bar and had a drink with my brother and sister in law. Bro and SIL had a rum runner that tasted nothing like a rum runner. Beer Geek had some sort of drink (can’t remember what) that was only drinkable because it included chunks of fresh coconut. I had a drink called a “hog snort”. It contained Blue Curacao, coconut rum, pineapple juice, and sour mix. I’m a big fan of Blue Hawaiians, which are very similar, but this drink tasted like a pina colada gone bad. I’m not one to leave a drink undrunk, but this one got thrown away half full.
Surprisingly, the night before the 5K, I only had ice tea. Just think how fast I would have been if I’d been fueled by beer!
(Enough details for you, Glaven?)
Holy crap, Jess is tiny. I’m an inch and a bit taller than you so I’d end up looking like an ogre in that line-up. You both however look quite adorable. 🙂
Yeah, I’m small.Great to meet you guys! Glad you enjoyed your vacation, but FL is definitely a location known for mojitos and other rum-based mixed drinks. We have to import the beer in.
Awwwhhhh you guys are cute!! I’m so glad that you got to hook up! Wow Jess IS a tiny one! I love it! I also want to know where she got that shirt . . . .
Cute photo! Glad you had some fun.
Jess is pocket-sized! You both look so smiley. Guess an evening full of beer will do that to you. :o)
I opened the Big bear brewery and worked there for 2 years, great beer and food (chicken marinated in beer). Definetely the best choice for beer in SF. Great run down in the heat and all, tough for me to get used to the heat and humidity now having not run there in a while. Looks like an awesome vacation, hit all the good stuff.
Meeting other bloggers is so fun!
Great post! Beer that tastes like blue cheese, ick. And I love Dirty Monkey’s, so sinfully delicious.
ZOMG, sister, you got Jess pregnant? What kinda magic-elixir p*nis-braü were you drinking that night?I was gonna say that the best beer I had in Fla (which ain’t saying much) was a beer they had on tap in the No Name Pub on Big Poop Key (actually, Big Pine Key, but when Teh ‘Bride and I stayed there, it was right after a Hurricane had devastated the place and the whole key smelled like poop … or a public library).I was going to the No Name Pub web site to get the neme of the brew, but the stupid site crashed my browser, so SCREW THEM! I’m not shilling for ’em!This was a good beer post but too much talk about fruity girl drinks – that’s my only complaint, sister.