Cheapest Craft Beer In Miami

It's Wednesday night and you're thinking you want to go grab a drink but want to keep it low key without spending very much.  I have the solution for you.  Head on over to Key Biscayne to the UM RSMAS campus and check out their bar, The Wet Lab.  The good folks over there have been stocking up on some great craft beers and keeping them dirt cheap.  Everything is under $3.  $3 Magic Hat #9 and Vinyl. $2.50 pints of Blue Point Rastafarye and Long Island Ice Teas(for those not indulging in beer this evening).  Sit on the water and enjoy some nice beers.

Imperial Stout Weekend At Abraxas

Abraxas will be hosting another of it's popular beer style weekends.  This weekend they will be focusing on Imperial Stouts.  Not only will they have an array of great imperial stouts in bottles but they will have some of the rarest and best imperial stouts on draft.  Check out the list below and hope to see you at the bar.


Draft:
Terrapin Wake 'n Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imp. Stout (8.1% abv)
Dogfish Head World Wide Stout (18% abv)
Oskar Blues Ten Fidy (10.5% abv)

Drafts: 10 oz pours
Wake n Bake $6 (* $7)
Ten Fidy $7 (* $9)
World Wide Stout $8 (* $10)

Drafts: 4 oz pours
Wake n Bake $3
Ten Fidy $3.50
World Wide Stout $4

Bottles:
Avery The Czar 22 oz $13 (* $15)
Bell's Java 12 oz $7 (* $8)
Brooklyn Black Chocolate 12 oz $7 (* $8)
Brooklyn Black Ops 24.9 oz $32 (* $35)
Cigar City Marshall Zukhov 750 ml $22 (* $25)
Dogfish Head World Wide Stout 12 oz $12 (* $16)
Mikkeller Black Hole 375 ml $14 (* $16)
Nogne O Highland Edition 500 ml $16 (* $18) (this beer is EXTREMELY RARE)
North Coast Old Rasputin 12 oz $7 (* $8)
Southern Tier Choklat 22 oz $14 (* $16)
Southern Tier Oat 22 oz $13 (* $15)
Stone Russian 22 oz $13 (* $15)
Terrapin Side Proj #13 Big Daddy Vladdy 22 oz $14 (* $16)
Wayerbacher Fifteen 12 oz $8 (* $9)

* - regular price

February 11th-13th
Abraxas
407 Meridian Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139
(305) 534-9005

Jupiter Craft Brewers Fest Recap

If you were unable to make it out to Jupiter Craft Brewers Festival you missed one of the best beers fests in the country.  The fest gave local brewers a chance to step out into the spotlight and show what they are made of.  While there were some great beers from the bigger craft brewers I'm going to have to say that the beers that really stood out to me came from the local breweries. Here are some of the highlights from the fest:

Shipyard Brewing's Double Old Thumper- This is the suped up version of Old Thumper.  It made me think of a slightly hoppier version of Shipyard's Prelude.  The 11.2% ABV was hidden by the nice malt bomb that this beer has.  It's a nice change for a high alcohol beer to not be super extreme in one way or another, and be very drinkable.

Inlet Brewing's Monk IPA-  The good folks that brought you Monk In The Trunk have brought their Belgian style IPA to the world.  If you are a fan of Flying Dog's Raging Bitch you will want to try this at your earliest opportunity.  They will be releasing a limited run of it on draft around South Florida so keep an eye out for it. 

Cigar City Brewing's Hunahpu 2011- I will have to admit that as much as some people love this beer I have never been that big of a fan of it in the past.  This year's batch of Hunapu has finally reached what I always hoped the beer would be -  stronger chocolate flavors, a creamier texture, and for chili flavors to not be the main focus  - in comparison to what it was in past batches.  If you were lucky enough to have this quite rare beer before and thought it was lacking something, give it another try. It is great this year.

Bold City Brewery's Rosemary IPA- I heard some mixed reviews on this beer as some aren't fans of rosemary but I thought the infusion of rosemary was very nice.  I've had some other rosemary-infused beers before that were quite overwhelming but this one had the rosemary aroma with only a slight rosemary taste. It didn't totally overpower the hops.  This would be amazing paired with a nice roast.  It was the only beer I got to try from Bold City but I can't wait to try more.

The Funky Buddha- The Funky Buddha was the most talked about brewery of the fest.  They had listed the times they were tapping their specialty kegs and had quite a line every time.  The Maple Bacon Coffee Porter was the first beer from the Buddha that I got to try.  I had been waiting a while to try this beer and wasn't disappointed.  The maple sweetness is the first thing to hit you with the roasted coffee taste right behind it.  Not overly coffee-flavored though.  I didn't pick up too much of the bacon but overall I wish I had more than just this little taste.  I headed back over again for the Coconut Rum Oaked Red Ale - the pina colada of beers.  Don't be scared though, it's not overly sweet.  It's almost like you have a nice layer of coconut at the front with a nice oak and nuttyness on the finish.


The fest, overall, was a whirlwind of great beers.  I highly recommend you make the journey to Jupiter next year for this fest.  And make sure to get your tickets early as this event sells out every year.  See you there.