As a conglomerate privately owned businesses, Renegade Reps is a vehicle for creating entrepreneurs. Through creating inter-related businesses and putting them in the hands of those who may not otherwise be able to begin a business of their own, Renegade Reps hands a profitable and reputable new concept over to people who can make the most of them. We continue our relationships with cooperative small business that help each other create that mystical "synergy" that we all talk about.
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!
The Waterfront in Anna Maria Island sits on one of the most beautiful little pieces of land in Florida. A breathtaking view and a laid-back island attitude make this little island a paradise away from the bustle surrounding it. Add a view of the tallest bridge in Florida off in the distance, and this is a place I could just sit and look at for hours (a little inside joke for Renegade Rip).
This being said, The Waterfront is no "walk up and grab a sandwich" type restaurant. The Waterfront takes their food seriously in a setting that says "step off the beach in your sandles, lap up a cloth napkin, watch the sunset, and have some big city food while chillin'." Perfect atmosphere for those who want to have great food and leave the stuffy at home. The staff is always very nice and Bill the manager is always fun to hang with. Dig the Waterfront.
Tonight we had a great tasting with Lazy Magnolia and Boulder Brewing. Very exciting because we were going to be premiering in the area, the Lazy Magnolia Southern Hopspitality IPA on draft as well as the Hoopla Dry Hopped Pale Ale in cans.
The Waterfront throws these shindigs every month where they pair a brewery with some appetizers and sell tickets beforehand. nice idea as it just kinda becomes a little party where you get to know the folks who attend and get to take advantage of a "cocktail party" type of setting. A great spot to premier a new beer since it gives an opportunity to chat with folks independently about what you've got going on in their glass.
The crowd begins to filter in and are noticeably the type of crowd we like to see. Chill, happy, and curious about something new. If you ask anyone who does the type of work that we do - these descriptors are the ones that keep our motors hummin'. What makes it better is receiving some insightful and friendly dialogue about the brands you're working with. Again, the folks at The Waterfront were awesome.
When I first blogged about The Waterfront, I mentioned how great the food was and rated their fish tacos as easiest some of the best in Florida. Their food certainly does not let down. This is definitely a place you'll want to check out if you're anywhere near the area. If you're looking for a place near the beach to stay for a few days, look at Anna Maria Island and get yourself a room. You'll love the island itself and you'll thank me endlessly for recommending The Waterfront. Cheers!
Renegade Rip set up our first firkin of Mojo IPA event at the World of Beer - UCF this past week. I'm so excited to be finally able to get our variety of casks going out to our various suppliers and being filled with delicious goodness. As fortune would have it, this cask was also flanked by draft of Sweaty Betty, Hazed & Infused, Mojo, Hoopla, Hoopla on nitro, and Planet Porter.
If you are not yet initiated into the idea of a firkin - it is basically a vessel (think of a keg) sitting around 10.5 gallons that you put a live beer into and pour it directly out of the keg. As opposed to a keg that uses CO2 or Nitrogen Mix to pushthe beer out, it is simply the act of nature that pours this one. The downside is that you have to drink it pretty much within a few days or it goes bad. The good news is that you get the freshest version of the beer that you can get with the added benefit of a fairly low carbonation level that creates a completely different experience than if you had the beer of the tap.
If you are not yet initiated into Mojo IPA from Boulder Brewing - well you are just passing up an amazing experience. The brewery describes Mojo as such:
Mo-Jo: 1: A magic spell or charm; magical power; 2. Herbaceous ale that summons hop attacks.
Pale in color but packed with flavor, MoJo reflects the perfect balance of hop bitterness and malt character. The unique Amarillo hop adds a slight citrus flavor to an ultra-crisp dry finish. Ratebeer. com rates the beer at 95 out of 100 and at 7.2%, it packs a delicious, citrusy punch. Mojo was the fourth beer in Boulder Brewing's Looking Glass Series, which was begun by the legendary Hazed & Infused Dry Hopped Ale. But the beer means so much more to me than just hops and alcohol. There is something about this beer that makes me extra proud to represent the brewery. It is uncompromising but at the same time mellow. A 7.2% single IPA is pretty heady, but this one maintains an easy drinking nature. For someone who does not like to have the enamel burned off their teeth (aka those like me), this beer is for them. So the event commenced and followed with a great crowd who, according to Renegade Rip, was completely enamored with the Sweaty Betty Heffeweizen. No shocker to me as this is a shamefully under-appreciated beer that is just waiting for its day in Florida to bust out. I'm looking forward to the day when it is huge and I can cross my arms like Lebron James and say "I told ya so."
Keep your eyes peeled for more firkins popping up from Boulder Brewing, Lazy Magnolia, and the such. We have got them getting out and about and they are an instant hit. Cheers!
The tunes of Steve Vai on the television, a painting of Stevie Ray Vaughn on the wall, fish tacos, and Boulder Beer. Doesn't sound like Ocala, Florida? I didn't think so either. At least, not until I found Mojo Grill and found many of my favorite things at a place other than my house.
Mojo Grill seems unassuming enough on the outside. Part of a strip mall that does not scream "HEY YOU, YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A BLAST IN HERE!!!," you could easily drive by Mojo Grill and never know you missed such a great place. Do yourself a favor and do not miss this place.
Back to the tunes of Steve Vai. Figuring that a place called Mojo Grill may do well with Boulder Brewing's Mojo IPA, I stopped on in around lunchtime and figured I could find something at a place with this type of name. When I walked in, my first thought was "Man, I wish this was Friday night!" On the televisions was the concert video of the Crossroads Guitar Festival featuring Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh, Mr. Steve Vai, and much more. Add to that, the festive atmosphere brought on by the staff and customers and I felt like I was at a bar on a weekend, not lunch on Monday.
To the menu. Just knowing they had to have fish tacos on the menu, I searched them out and yep, there they were. Also, I looked towards the kitchen and saw a sign saying "Try Our New Mojo IPA."
LUVIN' IT!
The fish tacos were great. Described as "Mojo Fish Tacos - 2 blackened fish tacos topped with cilantro and chipolte slaw, served with rice and beans." Nice tacos. Served on a soft shell with grilled fish and very fresh slaw, I found this duo to be very refreshing. I'm quickly finding that I can create a 2X2 Matrix (Thank you Cornell University) that can describe fish tacos on an axis of refreshing/savory and food truck/gourmet. By this matrix, you can easily show someone what the spirit of the tacos is all about. I think I will create this matrix and see where it goes.
I spoke to Rondo and Angel, the folks in charge and discussed some great hings we can do to help get these two great brands together (and give me an excuse to be here more often). As it turns out, we are gonna set up some events on Friday and Saturday, August 17 and 18 to support these guys. They have Live Music on the weekends and i can just imagine how great Mojo Grill is with live music going on.
Mojo Grill has immediately become one of my favorite places to go and i am looking forward to spending a lot of time here. Cheers!!
My drooling usually stops once I reach Dunedin Brewery. Not only do I love their beer but (as well documented), I crave their fish tacos like a rat craves cheese. This being the case, when the opportunity came to represent Boulder Beer's Mojo IPA and Mojo Risin' Double IPA at their IPA Festival, I jumped at the chance.
A shipping snafu kept us from having a brew that I was very excited to have at this festival: a one-off Cranberry Apricot Mojo IPA that Mr. Jeff Brown had offered as a special brew specifically for this event. As it turns out, as a consumer, this may not have been a bad thing because Dunedin Brewery had set up a list of IPAs the likes of which I had never seen. Additionally, the mess-up will allow them to place the one-off at a later date when I can enjoy a pint without having to chose between 50 other IPAs that I will probably never see again. Life is tough.
So as I have bragged and bragged about the amazing and irresistible fish tacos at Dunedin Brewery, the crew was getting hungrier and hungrier as the seconds ticked down. Add to this, I had not eaten because I knew we would eventually sitting on four legs and a pad with corn, cabbage, and swimmers in front of us.
Orlando and Tampa traffic took care of that and knocked us an hour off of our anticipated arrival. Kitchen closed. NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Heartbreak.
However, we DID get early entrance into the event. This was a good thing, as the event ended up being packed and the lines were unwavering. And why not? In addition to several variations of IPAs that Dunedin Brewery themselves whipped up, many other breweries offered up special one-offs for the event and the homebrewers association attended with many of their own.
A basic list included the following:
Dunedin Brewery - IPA Chronicle 5: American Classic Dunedin Brewery - The Rock Double IPA Dunedin Brewery / Fort George Brewery - Vortex on the Bay Dunedin Brewery - Black Cherry Double IPA Dunedin Brewery - The Rock Down Under Dunedin Brewery - HopNOM Dunedin Brewery - Cask: The Rock Dunedin Brewery - Cask: Nelson Sauvin IPA Fort George Brewery - Vortex IPA Stone - India Pale Ale Stone -Ruination IPA Stone - Double Dry-Hopped Sublimely Self-Rightous Ale (Simcoe) Terrapin - Hopsecutioner IPA Terrapin - Easy Rider Terrapin - Side Project 16: Phlux Capacitor Cigar City - Jai Alai IPA Cigar City - Humidor IPA Cigar City - Peach IPA Swamphead - Big Nose IPA Swamphead - Darkwater Swamphead - 10-10-10 Imperial IPA Seventh Sun - Oak-Aged Spring Overhead Seventh Sun - Tangled up in Galaxy Boulder Beer Company - Mojo IPA Boulder Beer Company - Cranberry-Apricot Mojo IPA Boulder Beer Company - Mojo Risin' DIPA Bells - Two-Hearted Green Room - Head High IPA Tampa Bay Brewing Company - Old Elephant Foot IPA
A major winner here was the addition of the Vortex IPA, which was a collaboration between Fort George Brewery and the guys as Dunedin Brewery. To make the idea even more spectacular, they not only had the beer from Fort George Brewing themselves, but they had the guys from Fort George come to brewery and brew the same recipe on site. This way, you get to experience the subtle differences between the two. Great idea and the brew was pretty awesome. This was just the tip of the iceberg of the IPAs offered and I am extremely grateful that they allowed me to take part in it.
I attend dozens and dozens of festivals every year, and this one is one of my favorite. Dunedin Brewery does it right. Next year cannot come soon enough. Cheers!
Full disclosure - when I plan a trip to the Tampa area, my first stop is always at Dunedin Brewery. I dig the beers, the staff is always friendly, the ownership is great............ Notice I haven't even mentioned the fish tacos. It is worth going to Dunedin Brewery without the tacos. It is worth going to Dunedin Brewery if you are allergic to fish tacos, if you hate fish tacos, if you are morally opposed to off-shore fishing; it is still worth it to go to Dunedin Brewery. Add these fish tacos, and you've moved from terra firma to Valhalla.
This being said, I am beginning my Tampa-area leg of American Craft Beer Week at Dunedin Brewery enjoying some beers and eating the first of many trays of these particular pesce-ian delights.
A little about the brewery. It is located (surprisingly) in Dunedin and fills a spot on 937 Douglas Avenue and are Florida's oldest microbrewery. They make a variety of American Styles but also lend toward a lot of European styles, which is an aspect of this brewery that continues to make me happy. On a previous stop, they had taken one of their beers and dry-hopped each one with Nelson Sauvin hops and offered them both ways. A great way to get to know the flavor profile of a particular hop variety and what it adds to a brew, and I appreciate them for doing these types of things.
The beers I am working on at this stop are a Nitro-Maibock and an IPA called American Classic. The Maibock is also available on CO2 and on cask, so if you want to try a full realm of options it is open to you. Delicious on Nitro, I can tell you that.
Behind that was the American Classic IPA. This thing was an enamel ripper! GENEROUSLY hopped with Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook, this is a brew that you could give to a newbie as an example of what Americans do with hops. Woman - WoooooooooooMAN (So I Married an Axe Murderer Reference). The freshness of this brew is evident in the glass and I can think of a strong ten people who I'd live to have sitting beside me who would appreciate this beer.
On to the tacos. Deceptively simple (like golf). The menu description of this brew is: West Coast Fish - 3 hard shells with Mahi-Mahi, Shredded Cabbage, Diced Tomato, Creamy Lime Sauce.
Simple, huh? Add to this the price of $8.50 and I don't understand how I can resist being here every day.
To start, the shell on these are a hard corn shell as opposed to the soft flour shell. The slaw is fresh cabbage so right off the muscle you've got two fairly crunchy numerators you're dealing with. The denominator is a fresh grilled slice of mahi, a wonderful creamy lime sauce, and fresh diced tomato. As it turns out, the sauce and the juices from the mahi help to soften the crunch and create a perfect, and I mean perfect, balance of textures. Add to that, they offer my favorite sauce, Chalula, and you are winning Sheen style. That's the secret to these little buggers. The complementing of flavors is so perfect that you just cruise through them and do not realize you are. Before you know it, you are finished and wanting more.
You really can't lose at Duneding Brewery and I'm thrilled that I get to do business with these folks. Don't pass up a chance to try their wares and on that note: THEY ARE HOSTING AN IPA FESTIVAL ON SATURDAY, JUNE 2! TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW ON THEIR WEBSITE. Cheers!
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.
