Chimay And Their Big Year

When I opened my first business ABBEY in 2006, it was the draw of Belgian Beer that not only begat the bulk of the inventory that we carried, but also inspired the name itself.

The first event we held was a tasting of Trappist beers; the beers we always leaned toward were Trappist and Trappist-inspired (Abbey) beers; and a little known secret, we even had Westvleteren shipped to the bar from Belgium to ensure that we had all seven of them (although La Trappe was Koeningshoven at the time).  

This in part comes from the fascination with the story of Trappiste Beer itself.  For those who are not currently advised, here is a short idea of the the Trappist brewing tradition.

To start, there are currently 7 Trappist Breweries in the world.  There are very strict rules as it applies to being within the International Trappist Association, the governing body of Trappist Breweries.  I have taken these rules from the ITA website and as you can see, they are pretty strict:

A “Trappist” has to satisfy a number of strict criteria proper to this logo before it may bear this name: 

1. The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the monks themselves or under their supervision.
2. The brewery must be of secondary importance within the monastery and it should witness to the business practices proper to a monastic way of life
3. The brewery is not intended to be a profit-making venture.  The income covers the living expenses of the monks and the maintenance of the buildings and grounds.  Whatever remains is donated to charity for social work and to help persons in need.
4. Trappist breweries are constantly monitored to assure the irreproachable quality of their beers.

The seven Trappist breweries; Achel, Chimay, La Trappe, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Westvleteren are all easily recognizable by the Authentic Trappist Logo as seen here.

Currently, six of the seven Trappist beers are all brewed in Belgium with La Trappe being produced in the Netherlands.  As of this writing, there is another new Trappist Brewery afoot and that is Mont des Cats, which will be produced in France.  

The bottom line is that Trappist beers are brewed of unquestionable quality and all seven have played their part in creating a legendary line of beers that all sit at the top of the lists of the greatest beers in the world.  

I have the pleasure of working with the largest of these breweries, and that is Chimay.

This is a special year for Chimay as this is the year of their 150th Anniversary.  Put into perspective, this Belgian Brewery has survived being in the middle of two world wars and has survived a world-wide depression.  In those 150 years, Chimay has never latched onto the next new fad, run scared to try what others find successful, or cut corners to keep costs low in bad times.  These guys have kept it real for all these years and have only three varieties of brew.  Once again I have stolen from the ITA site as they said it perfectly:

“Red Chimay”  (Chimay with the red bottle cap)

“Red Chimay,” also called “Premier” in the 75 cl. bottle, received its nickname from the fact that it’s the first beer that the Trappist monks brewed.
This beer is known for its copper color and its creamy head.  The fermentation process gives “Red Chimay” a light apricot aroma.  The flavor in one’s mouth confirms the balance which the fruity nuances of the aroma disclose.  Its taste is a silky sensation on the tongue, with a refreshing, slightly bitter tang, pleasantly puckering the palate and adding to the quality of the taste of this beer.  This beer is 7% ABV.

“White Chimay” (Chimay with the white bottle cap) or “Triple”:

“White Chimay” was developed in 1966 by Father Théodore, who isolated the yeast needed for the fermentation process in Chimay.  It’s the latest addition to the beers produced by Scourmont Abbey and, in the 75 cl. bottle, is nicknamed “The Five Hundred.”
This beer is characterized by its golden color and is quite misty in appearance, with a really fine head.  The aroma of “White Chimay” is a pleasant mixture of fresh hops and yeast.  The scent of hops influence the taste in one’s mouth, which can be characterized as a tang of nutmeg and raisins.  The aroma accentuates this bitter tang, but it’s never astringent – just a slightly bitter aftertaste that melts in the mouth.  This beer is 8% ABV.

“Blue Chimay”  (Chimay with the blue bottle cap)

“Blue Chimay” is nicknamed “Grand Reserve” in the 75 cl. bottle.  It’s also available as “Magnum” (150 cl.) and “Jeroboam” (300 cl.).  Originally it was a Christmas beer, developed by Father Théodore in 1948.  It’s success quickly led to its year-round production.
This beer is known primarily for its being a strong beer, with the aroma of fresh yeast pleasantly mingled with the light tang of the perfume of roses.  It’s rather dry taste has a spicy touch of caramel flavor to it.  This beer is 9% ABV.
Special Qualities:  “Blue Chimay” is the only beer which carries the year in which it was brewed.  Of all the Chimay beers, this one keeps the best.  When it is stored in a cool, dark place, the taste of this beer improves with the years

In addition to the beers produced at the monastery, the monks also produce the legendary Chimay Cheese, which is a bi-product of the beer itself.  As it turns out, the grain that is left from brewing is fed to the cows who produce the milk used in the cheese.  Nothing goes to waste and the beer is, even if spiritually, a part of the cheese as well.

 To celebrate the 150th Anniversary, the Renegade Reps will be holding events throughout the state of Florida from September to December and Chimay was awesome enough to create a special 150th Anniversary chalice to commemorate this special occasion.

If you pay particular attention, you may also be able to attend an event where we pull out some of this remarkable Chimay Cheese or even a magnum or jeroboam of the incomparable Chimay Grand Reserve.

Here's to another 150 years of Chimay and big cheers to all of the Trappist monks and the wonderful brews they have produced for us to enjoy.  Cheers!

Wazoo Festival and Some Great Folks

If you are around something long enough, you can grow weary of it.  Even as wonderful as the beer scene is, it is difficult to get up for spending hours giving beer to people.  It sounds fun ,and believe me it is.  But there are only so many times that you can hear the statements "Gimme the lightest thing you got", gimme the strongest thing you've got", or my favorite "just pour something in my glass."

As professionals who takes this business very seriously, it is important to us that we spread some knowledge about our product and hopefully get them excited about our brand.  This is very difficult with 500 people throwing cups at you and telling you how much they love Blue Moon while you pour them a perfectly balanced and citrusy IPA just to watch them throw their tongue out and dump the sample in front of you as if you just took the jam out of their doughnut.  

What's worse than 500 of these people?  5000 of these people.

So when we get asked if we want to give our brands some "exposure" and donate beer to an event where there are 5000 meatheads in Affliction shirts wanting to show off to their girlfriends who don't like beer how much they have learned over their past 6 months of drinking $3 Shock Tops at their local bar - we're not as excited as you may think.  Personally, I'd rather work an intimate event with a fraction of that number of people who really care about the business than Mr. Affliction, but somehow these massive moneymakers get the attention; so we go, go, go with a smile.  

What we need here is some enthusiasm.  

Me and my crew arrived at this Mega-Event at 4:00 to prepare for the 7:30 start time and began to set up our tables.  Bringing lots of really nice stuff, setting it out, and pulling it off the tables because it would be tampered with or stolen is no fun - but it seems every time that decision is made in the interest of prudence.  This occurs as always and the crew left me behind to gather our volunteers and get them up to speed on product.  

As it turns out, we were going to be given three helpers per booth and that was great news.  This event gets packed and the more help the better.  As it turns out, the help we got was not just help, but lifesavers.  Some call it divine intervention, some maybe just a result of good juju, but I just look at it as a constant lesson to appreciate what you got.

What did we get?  We got 24 hands who were awesome, awesome, awesome; and they spread that excitement that I needed to get back into this business that I love so much.

When they showed up, each group selected which table they wanted to operate (we had 4) and started getting to work getting set up.  Mind you, these folks had never worked a beer festival before, but all were ready to jump doing the heavy lifting, filling up the ice, getting organized, and preparing to the onslaught.

We went from table to table, explaining the brands and the flavors of each; a little history on the brands; and some FAQs that we have found over time.  All were extremely attentive and were very interested in what we were telling them.  Now this is what I love about the business!

When the crowd finally started to filter in, there was a calmness over the crew that I wasn't feeling myself.  having been through this before, my heart was pounding preparing for the madness.  But strangely, the calm of the volunteers made me feel much better and what I saw in them made me feel completely confident in what we were about to do.

Then came the rain.  And a power outage.


This was no small mist either.  This was a downpour.  In fact, we joked a little about being at the Zoo and expecting Noah's Ark to pull up to let them in.  And as with all water - it got into everything.  Our volunteers got soaked.  They tried to move the tables under the shelter at the carousel where we were located, but they got drenched in the process.  The beer got all washed out and the ice in the tubs disappeared.  It was getting late, cold, and miserable.  Add to this there were no lights.  People were holding their phones up for lights, glow sticks, lightning bugs, whatever they could find to emit some light.  

The great folks helping us didn't relent.  Smiling, they got everyone served and never complained one bit about the rain.  This massive crowd was stuck elbows to elbows in the shelter and the rain showed no sign of slowing, but everyone was having a great time.  My smile and faith in humanity was indeed returning.

While I don;t always enjoy larger festivals, this episode of the Wazoo Festival was great and I ma thankful for the volunteers who stepped up and showed some amazing spirit given terrible conditions.  These are the people who end up making me feel proud to be in this business and man was I glad to have them there that night.  Cheers!

       

Monty Python and an Improv Puppet Show

Sometimes things don't work out as you plan.  Sometimes you do everything right:  You set up the event, you  market yourself well, you sell the tickets, you collect all of the tools you need, you get everyone together, and  the smallest piece of equipment lets you down and ruins your night.  Once the night is ruined, you do your best to apologize and do damage control, dealing with people who can't see past their own inconvenience and "will never do business with you again."

After three days in Tallahassee (a town that I happen to like a lot), we were ready for the coolest event that I have seen in my days of being a beer rep.  The guys and gals at Fermentation Lounge had set up not only a promotion for the Monty Python Holy Grail Ale, but took it 100 steps further.

On a property a few addresses down from Fermentation Lounge rests an old Coca Cola building with a field behind it that the folks at F.L. have turned into an area that they refer to as The Hop Yard.  In The Hop Yard they have installed keg coolers, lighting, and seating with the option of stretching a screen to show video.

On this particular day, they had arranged a very special treat with tickets going on sale prior to the event.  Below is the advert for the event from the Fermentation Lounge blog:

 http://thefermentationlounge.com/blog/

Everything is officially set for Holy Grail night.  Here are the details:

• It is Thursday, July 19, at 8:00 at the All Saints Hop Yard.
• Tickets are $25 and will go on sale as soon as we get them printed.  We will make an announcement the moment tickets get in.  There is no pre-ticket list to get on.
• You get a dinner of Killer Rabbit (actually chicken, potatoes, and corn).  You can specify a vegetarian alternative.
• You get one of those super cool Holy Grail chalices that you may have seen in the Lounge recently.
• You get to fill that chalice up twice with Holy Grail Ale.
• At 9:00 the screening of Holy Grail commences.

As you can plainly see (and please read their blog), they take their entertainment seriously.  They recently did a Casablanca Night that I'd have loved to have gone to.

So, after all was set up and the tickets were sold and the beer was flowing and the crowd was primed - 5 minutes into the movie, the projector breaks.  Without warning, without an apology, it just goes.  

Now, as a veteran in the bar and restaurant business, I could only glimpse the people in the crowd, moaning, groaning, yelling, wanting their money back, etc.  Not this crowd.  After cracking a few jokes, these kind folks just kept drinking, being merry, and enjoying their time.  Luckily, we still had audio so we could still hear the film and play out the scenes in our heads.

Then the funniest thing occurred.  

On the screen appeared some shadow figures.  We laughed a tad as a figure of a knight appeared, then another, then a castle, then a rabbit, and suddenly I realized that someone had figured out how to put on the whole movie as a shadow puppet show on the screen.  While two people were showing puppets in front of the projector light, two others were cutting out figures and preparing for subsequent scenes.  In a totally impromptu move, they made a delicious lemonade out of lemons and were now giving us a better and more unique show than we would have gotten if all had gone as planned.  They played out the entire rest of the movie this way and everyone who was at the event thoroughly enjoyed their efforts.  They even got a standing ovation when it was over.  

What's best - these folks didn't even know each other before the event.    

When I think of the things that got me into the hospitality business, it is perfect situations like this that come to mind.  There are so many things that could have gone in the wrong direction.  Despite the failings of technology, it was the humans that took us to Serendip.  We could have had to re-schedule, offer refunds, etc., but instead experienced something great.  This is a testimony not only to the folks who patronize Fermentation Lounge, but also to the people who attract such folks.  I am once again feeling fortunate to be where I am and lucky to know the people I know.  Cheers!

  

Fish Tacos - The Top 10

Well, after visiting what approached 50 different fish taco suppliers and stressing over how I could whittle down so many delicious tacos down to my 10 favorite; I have sat down with a glass of vodka, and will jot down my Top 10.  I have developed a 2X2 grid (thank you once again, Cornell University) to help you make your decision out of my Top 10 which would appeal to you best.

When asked abut my love for Fish Tacos, the best thing that I can come up with as to why I have this crazy fascination is that they are "deceptively simple."  A great fish taco is a few ingredients that produce a massive "Wow Moment."  The list is endless on how you can pull it off; but as with pizza, no two are exactly the same. I have had a very simple fish taco that provided massive WOW and I have had fish tacos with many ingredients that just ended up flabby like a dull red wine.  And of course, the opposite has been true.  The one thread that runs common with all is that the fish must be fresh and there should always be a lime nearby (and Chalula, but that's a matter of personal preference and not a judgement on the tacos themselves).

One disclaimer - this list does not include any stops in the Miami area.  This being the case, I'm sure the list may change a step or two once I dive deeper into the South Florida Fish Taco Scene.

It has been an absorbing phenomena and I'm very excited to come up with the first of what I know is going to be an organic list of my Top 10 Fish Tacos in the State of Florida.


10.  This is one I'm gonna pour out for my homies.  As in any Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier, #10 will be left non-declared as a monument to the Fish Tacos who did not come in last, but all tied for 10th.

9.  Midtown Filling Station (Tallahassee)- One thing that I have definitely learned is that if there is a garnish on the side that can go IN the taco, throw that bad-boy in there.  Midtown's tacos definitely hit that description.  The slaw on the side is awesome and the fish is wonderfully fresh.  A great taco indeed!

8.   El Taco Amigo (DeLand) - This obviously is a hometown favorite.  While they use fried fish in this particular dish and the fish itself is somewhat small, the price ($2.25 each) and the red sauce they offer is absolutely phenom!  Get started on these and you will go up and order some more.

7.  Sea Dog Cantina (Tampa) - This is the taco that got me over my fear of avocado.  Not that I love it, but it comes on the taco and it is unfair to ask a chef to alter his recipe.  The avocado was great on this taco and the flavors come together well on this one.  Add a side of Chimay Red and you are set!

6.  Surf Shack (Tampa) - Now this place offers a few different types of fish tacos.  I ordered the Longboard Tacos because I do not get a lot of fried fish tacos and wanted to experience these for the sake of parity.  The key word on these beauties is 'balance."  I dug the slaw and the sauce on these tacos and they definitely left me wondering when I can get back in for the others.

5.  Z Grille (St. Pete) - Another winner and I had to go back a second time to verify.  Add some WTF Fries to your order and you won't be disappointed.

4.  Twisted Cuban Food Truck (Central Florida) - Amazing fish tacos off a food truck?  YES!  As a bonus, the owner (after an in-depth conversation about beer) gave us a bottle of Great Lakes Christmas Ale, one of my favorite beers!

3.  Golden Lion (Flagler Beach) - Another locale that offers a variety of fish tacos.  This is one of the tacos that lend itself to "simple is better."  The standard tacos were OK.  Where we got the POW was in the Thai Fish Tacos.  Described simply as seasoned and grilled white fillet, thai chili purple slaw, wasabi aioli, and steamed yellow rice, the Thai Fish Tacos were and exercise in spicy ambrosia.  Add sitting across from the beach and this is heaven on earth.

2.  The Waterfront (Anna Maria Island) - Definitely the most beautiful setting I have seen to eat fish tacos, the restaurant itself sits on a peninsula and looks out onto the Sunshine Skyway.  I was suggested this place and made a long journey to get there. WORTH IT!  They use fresh blackened grouper and lots of it.  Do not miss out on these.

AND # 1?


This should come as no shock to anyone who knows me well enough.  It's Dunedin Brewery's Fish Tacos.  I do not know what they do to these things but I have taken in the range of 10 different people there to munch on these things and the consensus remains, these are the BEST!

It is going to take a lot of searching to find a taco that will knock Dunedin off the top spot, but I am always on the lookout for the one that will.  I still have a ton more to visit so the updates will not stop.

As promised, I am creating a 2X2 grid of my faves to show you where they sit on the easiest matrix and most appropriate list I could muster.  This grid is in production and will be coming soon.  Cheers!




  

Fish Tacos - The Waterfront

Well, the gauntlet was thrown down by my new friend Fiona at Gecko's in Sarasota.  What she said basically was that the best fish tacos in Florida, I haven't had yet.  She said that, in fact, the best fish tacos in Florida are at The Waterfront Restaurant in Anna Maria Island.

Her level of confidence forced me to try them out.  Nevermind the fact that they have local-legend worthy fish tacos, but they also have a huge beer menu and a view straight from a postcard.  I'm there.

So the Waterfront is at 111 South Bay Blvd in Anna Maria Island and the trek there is no short task.  To look at this place on a map, it is sitting at the tip of a peninsula and not too easy to get to.   But boy, is it worth it.  


What I found most exciting about this location is that it gives you a beautiful distant view of my old nemesis, the Sunshine Skyway (the tallest bridge in Florida that makes me "wet ma draws" every time I have to drive over it.  The spot that the restaurant sits on looks right out onto this view and sitting here I feel like I've found the greatest hidden gem in all of Florida.  This place is cool.


When we arrived, we were greeted by a nice fella who we thought was a customer.  He told us about the place and as the conversation continued I finally came to realize he was in charge.  Turns out this down to earth human is the famous "Bill" who I was told to meet up with by Fiona when she suggested the place.  Furthermore, she told him we were coming!  How awesome is that?

I let him Bill know that we worked for Chimay and he let me know that they have had it on tap for six years running.  Love to see that type of devotion and since we had just picked up 60 cases of Chimay glasses in my car, I gave him an extra case to celebrate Belgian Independence Day on July 21st.  As it turns out, we set up an event with them at a later date, but I'll get into that after the tacos.  


To give a nod to Fiona, she was right - these fish tacos are amazing.  They are described by The Waterfront as:  Grouper Tacos - Seasoned seared fresh premium Gulf black grouper in grilled soft flour tortillas with fresh chopped pico de gallo, shredded cheddar jack, and jicama tartar slaw.  


To start, these tacos had more fish than any other fish tacos I have ever had - by far.  I swear there is a good 10 ounces of fish in these things.  And it is deliciously fresh.  This served with a side of couscous salad, they definitely know how to do it up.

On the scale of my crazy favorites, these tacos are right near the top.  They were incredibly refreshing and light, and left me perfectly full.  When I build my eventual list, you can bet The Waterfront is in single digits.  The tacos were great and the staff was rock-solid.

On another note, we planned an event for Boulder / Lazy Magnolia for Thursday, September 6 that is going to be AWESOME!  If anyone wants to attend, i would recommend staying on Anna Maria Island for the a few nights and make a weekend of it.  Cheers!



  

St. Peters Ale Night at World of Beer in Carrollwood

First, I'd like to thank Mr. Tyler Sankey for hosting us for our first St. Peters Event.  I love this brand and feel it is very under-appreciated in this ever-crowded beer market we are seeing in the state of Florida.  The brew itself is great, the packaging is awesome, and it is a very rounded brand.  I'm very excited to get the chance to help them grow in Florida.

A little about the brewery.  As always, I feel it can be best described by the folks themselves, so here is a little blurb from their website describing who they are:


"The St. Peter’s Brewery company is based at St. Peter, South Elmham, near Bungay in Suffolk. The brewery itself was built in 1996 is housed in an attractive range of traditional former agricultural buildings adjacent to St. Peter’s Hall.



Siting the brewery at St. Peter’s was ideal because of the excellent water quality from our own deep bore-hole. Locally malted barley is used, together with Kentish hops to produce a range of classical English cask-conditioned ales. In addition the company produces a range of superb bottled beers.


We brew 'traditional' beers - bitters, mild etc. - as well as some more unusual beers such as honey porter and fruit beer. (We are replicating what was common practice up to the Nineteenth Century to add fruits and honey to beers to create special seasonal brews.)

Thus blackcurrant and gooseberry beers would be brewed when soft fruits were readily available while at Christmas-time dried fruits, spices and orange peel would be added to ceate a special Christmas Ale.



At St. Peter’s we aim to carry on traditional brewing practices but hope always to have something new and exciting for you to try."




As you can see, this is the type of brewery that you like to imagine in your head when you're pouring a delicious glass of brew and enjoying with friends and family.  

So despite the fact that St. Peters is not the "next new thing," Mr. Tyler asked us to set up something a little different and we got this great event going.

The staff embraced the brand right away and I am very thankful to the folks at World of Beer for carrying the Golden Ale, the IPA, the Old Style Porter, and the Cream Stout.  Tyler also snagged a keg for the event,  and I was able to have St. Peters on draft for the first time!  Additionally, they had traditional English pints to serve the draft in.  This was great!  I was even able to meet one of their most loyal customers who dedicated himself to having the entire line of St. Peters while he was there and I got a great shot of him sitting in front of the empties of these interesting little medicine bottles.  Diggit!

As we were hanging, we also had some of our new brews, Rince Cochon (Cheers Big Ears!) and 3 Monts to sample out and get the folks at WOB to try out.  Rip and I got to hang with Tyler and his brother, enjoy some St. Peters and share around the two that we are also very happy to get out in the market.  This was a great night.  Cheers!

Mojo Grill, Fish Tacos, and Mojo IPA

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!!

  http://www.mojogrillandcatering.com/

Rip and Mellow Mushroom

So my boy Rip has been getting out and about a lot more than I have lately.  He's been all over Florida tasting out beer and getting to know folks who I'll never get a chance too.  Lucky man selling great beer to lucky people.  I was very excited when he set this little shindig up, as I have been wanting to do more business with the legendary Mellow Mushroom and I am dedicated to getting some Hazed & Infused going throughout this can of delicious pizza purveyors.

As it turns out, the night Rip set up this event was perfect, as we had some Hazed flowing and a great crowd to slurp up its dry-hopped deliciousness.  As we all know by now, I have an uncommon affinity for Hazed & Infused and just love it when we get an opportunity to educate new folks on how deceptively complex this brew is and how much flavor you can pack into a 4.85% abv beer.  Uncommon indeed.


So on this Thursday night of nights, we had organized a great pint night with some raffle items that are really exciting.  One of the great things that I love about working with Boulder Brewing is that they have some of the best wearables in the business.  Two things that really get folks going are the great "Get Hazed" license plates that work as decor, but look unbelievable on the front of a beautiful vehicle (such as a red 1970 Ford Galaxie Convertible, pictured below :-))

The other little piece of foresight that the brewery had is making wearables for the girlies.  As it turns out, the beer industry tends to look after the male consumers a little more than the ladies and very few make clothing for the ladies.  The girls go crazy over the girly tees that Boulder offers and it always gets them charged up when they win one in a raffle.  Not only that, but I have yet to see a lady who does not look absolutely HOT in a Boulder short - or hat for that matter.

The Renegade Mobile

This night was no different as you can see.  We poured a ton of Boulder Beer and got those not initiated into the Boulder world.  We love our beer, we love our fans, and we love making people happy.  Here's to the folks at Mellow Mushroom for allowing us to make that happen on this night.  Cheers!

Fish Tacos - Sea Dog Cantina

I'm waiting for the guys to get in at the Pour House so that I can discuss some new brews that we have available and I am hungry for lunch.  Within the plaza that contains the Pour House, I find Sea Dog Cantina, and I find Fish Tacos on their menu.  Perfect time, perfect place, perfect menu item.  I'm gonna come in and have some.  

To tell you a little about this cool little restaurant, it is located in an area that I am quickly falling in love with, Channelside in Tampa.  As Wikipedia would describe it - Channelside is a residential and entertainment district just east of Downtown Tampa, Florida, USA. It is bordered by Ybor Channel on the east and Garrison Channel on the south.  


The great thing about this area is that it is sitting next to the port where you can watch the bustle of oil tankers and cruise ships come and go on one side while staring the Tampa Bay Times Forum on the other.  This area is really great and I envy those who live in the many condominiums and lofts surrounding this area.  


The tacos themselves are described on the menu as:  Two soft flour tortillas filled with blackened tilapia, cabbage, avocado, cilantro, aioli, side of black bean mango salsa.  All this for $10 - not bad for fish tacos, especially with fish that is this generous and fresh.  


Full disclosure - I HATE avocado and have not had it or any of its' derivatives since I was 15 years old.  I'm taking a big chance eating these tacos, but you can;t fairly judge anyone's dish if you ask them to alter it in any way.  You do that and you mess with the soul of the food, and I ain't doin' that.  


I find the key to any good fish taco is always one ingredient that makes or breaks it.  It is the one thing that the dish simply wouldn't be the same without.  Sometimes it is the sauce, sometimes the shell, sometimes the slaw, and of course, sometimes the fish.  In the case of this dish, it is the mango salsa that makes it shine.  The salsa adds not only excellent flavor, but also a refreshing chill on top of the warm fish that creates a nice confluence of temperatures in your mouth - kinda like pouring hot sweet tea over fresh ice.  I love that.


I cannot tell a lie - my first foray back into avocado was a successful one.  The fish tacos were great, my friendly bartender was awesome, kept my Diet Coke filled, and answered  my stupid questions.  Definitely a successful stop and one I would recommend.  Cheers!


NOTE:  As a bonus - you can also order a Chimay Red while you're eating as they keep it in stock.  YESSSSSS!