Hobgoblin and the World of Beer in Viera

The Goblin has officially hit the east coast of Central Florida!!!  The approach of Halloween allows us for one month to get a sighting on the elusive and clever, yet friendly English Ale - Hobgoblin.

When the Renegades began putting together these little events to highlight the delicious Goblin and offered up  some really cool mugs to go with them, we had no idea what the demand would be, or that it would be so high!  Our idea was to get some Hobgoblin mugs out to a few bars and get some Goblin into the mugs and into the hands of consumers.  Not a lofty goal, but definitely something to build on, right?


As it turns out, the demand for the Goblin and the support mugs has been more tremendous than any of us expected and we have already run short on mugs.  In fact, every event that we have done with the Goblin has resulted in the mugs lasting no longer than 90 minutes and the Goblin being poured out so fast that the bartenders have to line up to get it poured.  The bars have even had to change the rules to allow for refills at a discount.  This has worked out extraordinarily well!

Renegade Rip was at this event at the World of Beer in Viera and had a great time.  The event itself began at 4:00 and (as earlier stated) the mugs did not last until the sun was down.

Luckily, the World of Beer staff was also carrying some of the sister components of the Hobgoblin family, Scarecow Organic Ale and Wychcraft.  The Scarecrow is in limited availability on draft here in Florida (I believe only 5 kegs came to the state) and its Organic stature makes it a beer that everyone wants to try and invariably enjoys.  Wychcraft was in bottle form.  The Wychcraft is a biscuit-y blonde sporting Fuggles and Styrian Golding hops to give it that "obviously English" character.

Scarecrow, himself on draft at this time, is a citrus-y Golden made with organic barley malt and hops.  Rarely seen in the United States on draft, it is very exciting to see the Scarecrow here in the states.


Between the three of these English brews, the night seemed to belong to England and her under-appreciated malted wonders.  It's great to see these brews gaining presence and getting their names out there.  I myself, am especially hopeful that I will get to try some Scarecrow on draft before it is gone.

Looks like Renegade Rip gets all the fun and I'm left having to write about his Adventures with the Renegade Reps.  But as I sit and pour myself a pint of Monty Python's Holy Ale, I do not feel so bad after all.  Cheers!

Solar Bears Out Of Hibernation

The Renegade Reps love 'em some hockey.  Woefully, being fans of northeastern sports - none of us have had a team to pull for in the state of Florida.  That all changed when the Orlando Solar Bears announced they would return to the ice.  I myself have seen the Solar Bears live some years ago before their league folded.  I dug the vibe of the Home Team and was not at all happy when the league went under.

Well, earlier this year the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) announced they had approved the Minnesota Wild affiliate Orlando Solar Bears to "come out of hibernation."  Season tickets?  Oooooh yeah!

Game 1 finally comes around on Friday, October 20 and off to the game we go.

First of all, the Arena was sold out and the crowd was abuzz over the new team.  The food vending has improved from hot dogs and popcorn to all types of adventurous food (for a stadium) and they have installed a Gentleman Jack Lounge and lots of Jack Daniels at the bars.  This makes me personally very happy, being a lover of Jack, but they threw in an extra bonus that I did not even know - they charge the same price for Jack, Single Barrel Jack, and Gentleman Jack!  Not that a $9.00 pour makes you feel great, but at an arena, nine bucks for Gentleman Jack does not sting so much.

On that front, the arena has also brought in some craft beers from Craft Brewers Alliance (Kona, Widmer, Red Hook, etc.) and have picked up Guinness and Heineken.  Not so bad for Florida.

When the team announcements began and the crowd was fully seated, the energy was insane.  When the players came onto the ice, being introduced one-by-one it was easily apparent that this team was here to stay.  There was an immediate love between these fans and this new franchise.  The biggest cheers came for team captain Ryan Cruthers, in part due to the simple fact that he is captain, but he had also been the team's top goal scorer thus far and had led the team to an 8-2 win the previous night at the Florida Everblades out of Estero.

The visiting team jumped out to a 1-0 lead and that was quite a buzz kill.  However, when the Solar Bear Mathew Siska netted the next goal, the place went total bat-shit.  It was incredible.  The sirens, the lights, the cheers and whistles of the crowd - unreal.

This Solar Bears team is very soft on the boards, but is certainly not afraid to throw off the gloves and get down.  They are also not afraid to use their bodies to block shots.  Patiently aggressive, watching this team is gonna rock.

The game continued on with the teams swapping goals and tying 3-3 going into overtime.  After a 5 minute overtime, it was shootout time.  The first 5 scorers did not hit the back of the net, so it became and goal-for-goal situation with the Everblades shooting last.  Scary to watch.  The Bears finally took a lead when the 6'5" Kyle Medvec skated toward the net and just let loose a massive slapshot over the goalie's stick side.  That score was met, unfortunately by the next Everblades skater and the shootout continued until Sean Lorenz hit the back of the net, leaving goalie John Curry to save the day.

When the Everblades skater tried to put the puck to the blocker side, he was stuffed and the crowd once again blew the roof off the arena.  An unbelievable way to bring a team back to their home crowd.

This game had it all - tons of fights, awesome goal scoring, and a shootout victory to ice the cake.  This year is gonna be great.  Cheers!

Boulder Beer Cold Hop at ABBEY

I finally, finally, finally got some Cold Hop local to me!  Drinking one as I write this and I couldn't be happier with the outcome.

For those who are not initiated - Cold Hop is Boulder Beer's release as a British Style Pale Ale, the brewery's description as such:

"With a nod to our founders' roots as homebrewers, we tapped into the expertise of an old chum, Charley Papazian, author of "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing".  Expanding on one of his favorite recipes by giving it our own twist, our brewers crafted Cold Hop - a cult favorite here at Boulder Beer Company.  Rich golden malts from Great Britain combined with rare, aromatic and flavorful Czech and New Zealand hops make up the backbone of Cold Hop, our modern take on British-style ale."

At 6.3% ABV and 46 IBUs, this brew is made with Willamette, Czech, Saaz, Hallertau, Hercules, and what is apparently a massive amount of Nelson Sauvin hops.  Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaah!  A grapefruit lover's sticky and resinous wet dream.  

We ran into this great brew on draft for the first time this year in South Florida and have been dying to get some draft in our local market.  Well, ABBEY hooked it up last night.  My Sunday is spent drinking on the Cold Hop.

Get down to ABBEY quick and ask for some of this unbelievable brew.  But don't ask for too much 'cause I need my fair share.  Cheers!

Bourbon Barrel Aged "Bad Moon Risin" at Davinci

Boulder Brewing made one of those serendipitous mistakes that turned into gold when they produced the "Bad Moon Risin'.  I place it in parenthesis because apparently the brewery was issued a Cease and Desist by a Maryland brewery who owned the name and summarily changed it to "Black IPA".  There was so little of it, who cares.  The point is that the original "Bad Moon Risin' was an unbelievably delicious and boozy 10% black IPA that occurred when a brewer accidentally placed some black malt on top of the Mojo Risin IPA and created this dark, roasty, hoppy brew.

No matter anyway, since we only got two 5 gallon kegs of it in Florida with no promise of it going much further than that.  If you remember, we reviewed this a bit ago when a select two bars got the early edition of Bad Moon Risin' and we drowned our happiness in its' deliciousness.

So I got word a bit ago that they had held some back and aged it in Bourbon Barrels.  Whaaaaaaaaat?

We distributed these two kegs to two of our favorite Florida locations - The Ale and the Witch in St. Petersburg and Cafe Davinci in DeLand.  Renegade Vinnie was lucky enough to work The Ale and the Witch event which actually occurred during the New Moon.  The second keg, the one at Davinci is laying in wait.  Keep your eyes peeled and "yaw eah to the groindstone" and we'll announce the tapping at Davinci.  Cheers!

Daytona Beer Festival and a Firkin

We were able to do a fundraiser for the Animal Rescue Konsortium coupled with a beer festival in Daytona, and got a firkin to boot.  I was really looking forward to this one!

Woefully, I met up with Josher at Davinci the night before for ONE since I wanted to meet up with Mr. Dan Reed to talk about an event we had coming up.  Given that Josher won't let you walk away from a bar without offering to buy you enough drinks to put an Irish dockworker under the table, I had a terrible headache that morning and really did not feel like drinking.  This sucked because I knew there would be a ton of great beer at this one and a lot of other reps to drink with.  Add to this, we had a second firkin from Lazy Magnolia and given how I felt about the first one, I really didn't want to miss out on this one.

So Renegade Rip came to pick me up at the house to carry out to Beach street for set-up around noon.  The event didn't start till 2:00, so I figured maybe I could heal a bit before the event started and get on some brew once we started pouring.

We got set up at the booth being accompanied by the staff at Davinci, whcih made me really happy.  Good folks and fun, and I figured I could sneak away and be part of the firkin getting tapped in the pumpkin patch that was being set up for the pumpkin beers.  By the way, that is an awesome idea setting up a pumpkin patch like that this time of year, an idea that should be stolen......

Once we got all set up, Mr. Rob Nelson came over because I told him we'd split off a Westvleteren since he wasn't feeling 100% the previous night for the Trappist Dinner and missed out on the Westies we were pouring.  May as well get some hair of the dog.  What a spoiled life we live to have some Westvleteren as hair of the dog - in plastic cups no less.


Either way, it cured my pounding head and I was now ready to slurp and burp.  It worked out well also because I was sharing a booth with Terrapin and Bell's and really wanted some Moo-Hoo and Hopslam.  So the first thing I did was pop open a bottle of Moo-Hoo.  Maybe not the best beer for the hot weather, but I haven't had one in a bit and I love this beer.  Of course, the Hopslam was to follow.  Aaaand then of coourse I split a Sweaty Betty and an Indian Summer with Rip afterward.  Feelin' pretty good at this point.

We get rolling and Vinnie calls me over to pop the firkin.  This firkin as described by the brewery, by the way was:

Southern Gold with pumpkin, brown sugar, nutmeg, and aged rum-infused vanilla bean.

CUMINAYAY-HAAAAAAH!

I get over to the pumpkin patch and we get the firkin all set up.  Without a rubber mallet, we had to use a hammer and wrap some towels around it.  Not too sure about it, but oh well.  I grabbed the hammer and hit the bung a few times, which was not budging.  After gathering some balls after getting heckled by the guys, I finally got a good whack on it and the faucet was in.  Of course, there was beer spraying everywhere, but collateral damage as far as I'm concerned.  Once the cask got aerated a little bit, we were finally ready to pour some out.  I look up and there appears to be an endless sea of cups stretched out at me for a taste.  

Holy Cow was this beer good. Everything that was in it shone through in perfect balance.  I really thought I had hit the mother lode with the fresh peach firkin we got from Lazy Magnolia last week, but man was this one close if not better.  Add to that, I had a ride home.

I was able to get a pitcher poured and walk it over to the booths to let the volunteers have some.  Twice I had to go back for refills before I even got to the booths because people stopped me for some.  Quite a compliment.  Once I did get to the booths, it didn't last long.  Back and forth, back and forth - and lovin' it.  This brew was definitely the hit of the event.  I myself found I couldn't get enough and was drinking it like water.  In fact, at one point I lost my pitcher and filled up a Diet Coke can with some of that goodness.  Unreal.

Top off all this good beer with an appearance from Daneaux of Mermaid Juice fame tapping some Dave-O IPA that he had made.  Long story on this brew and I will post about it later.

All-in-all a great day and a massive THANK YOU to Renegade Rip for being the driver.  Safety first and my day would have been a lot different if I had to rely on my own wheels to get me home.  Cheers!