Whiskey Tango

Hey all,

So this blog is a continuation of my birthday last weekend.  The night before my birthday we were at Geronimo's Bar and Grill.  We did a 5K bacon run on the morning of my birthday and we had sushi at night.  After dinner, I had about 40-50 people meet me up at "Whiskey Tango" in downtown Hollywood, FL.  This is a cool spot located near some other places I have previously blogged about(The Tipsy Boar, The Greek Joint, Mickey Byrne's) and I knew I could have a lot of people fit here due to the size of the location.

Whiskey Tango Logo

We all met up around 10:00 PM at Whiskey Tango and that's when all the drinks and shots started.  If I told you how many drinks and shots I had, I would not be telling the truth.  They do have a separate cooler in the back that reads "craft bottled beer".  I do remember ordering a "Breckenridge Vanilla Porter" from the craft bottled selection.  I have had vanilla porters before but not by this maker.  I really enjoyed this beer as it was a darker beer with a hint of a vanilla aftertaste.  This might have been the only drink I remember the taste.  It went downhill after that. 

Live band playing at Whiskey Tango

They had a live band, and they usually do on the weekends and some weekdays.  I did see their menu, and I know Whiskey Tango has really great food options, however we came there right after dinner.  I have heard that their burgers are out of this world and their appetizer choices are really unique.  The only thing that I did not like was the prices for the craft bottled beer.  It was $8 for the one 12oz. bottled beer that I got.  That is pricey compared to other bars in the area that I had been to.  They did have domestic bottled beer specials in a bucket, however I am spoiled and prefer crafts nowadays.  

I loved the experience while I was there and I know I will be back when I'm in downtown Hollywood, FL.  I just might have to watch the amount of drinks I have there due to the high prices.

Geronimo's Bar & Grill

Hey all,

So this past weekend was a very special weekend for me, my birthday!  I went out to dinner the night before my birthday with my family and then after I went out with some friends to "Geronimo's Bar & Grill".  It is a local favorite in Davie, FL.  I have been there before but mostly late at night.  We went there to grab a drink or 2 and our group quickly grew to about 10 of us. 

Geronimo's Logo

Since my last time there, I heard they have increased their number of craft beers on tap.  That rumor is what brought me back there and I wanted to see what they had to offer.  The prices are average at Geronimo's, but they are really good during happy hour.  The craft beers on tap range from $6 to $9, but they had a wide range.  They didn't really have much stout beers on tap, which are my favorite.  (See introduction)  I ended up going with Miami Brewing Co's Big Rod Coconut Ale.  I had it before and it is a top choice of mine.  It's very smooth and it does have a nice coconut after taste.  Also, after midnight, when it became my birthday, a few of us had my favorite shot, baby guiness.  

Main center bar at Geronimo's

The atmosphere was also pretty cool.  It wasn't too dark and the music was at a decent volume.  They have a couple pool tables in the back and darts games towards the front of the place.  The location of Geronimo's is at an ideal location being near a few colleges.  It's near Nova, Florida Atlantic University Davie Campus, and Broward College Central Campus.  There was a bunch of college students we saw, but there were also a lot of regulars it seemed like.  Since I had dinner before, I did not order food but I heard they have really good wings, burgers, and steaks.

Mickey Byrne's

Hello all,

Mickey Byrne's Logo

Last week I was feeling a little "Irish" after St. Patty's week and we decided to go to "Mickey Byrne's" in downtown Hollywood, FL.  It's an Irish Pub located near Young Circle and it is a popular choice among the locals.  It's right by two other bars that I reviewed, The Greek Joint and The Tipsy Boar.  They are known for their drinks, food, and having watch parties, especially with soccer games.

We met a few friends up there and immediately ordered our favorite shots, aka Fireball Whiskey Shots.  We were served right away by their bartender and the environment around us was very genuine.  The decor had a real Irish feel to it and the music was loud but not overly loud to where you can't hear yourself.

Store front of Mickey Byrne's Irish Pub

They feature 18 beers on tap, some being imported from Europe and some locals.  They had the typical Irish Pub beers on tap such as Guiness, Harp's, and Smithwick's.  All are very refreshing in my opinion and Guiness, being the original stout, is my fall back beer.  They also have many craft bottled beers behind the bar.  Their food is amazing from the times I have been there, although we did not order food this time.

I started off by ordering a craft bottled beer, as they had Shipyard Pumpkin Ale in stock.  This is a seasonal beer usually only lasting tip the holidays, so finding it in March is a rarity.  I love all pumpkin beers and Shipyard Pumpkin Ale is a nice and crisp beer to find.  The pricing was reasonable, especially being in the downtown Hollywood, FL area at $4-$7 a beer.  We have been here plenty of times and it is definitely a local favorite of ours.  This is the go-to Irish Pub!

Tap42

Hey all,

So I went to meet a bunch of friends for a birthday celebration at "Tap42" in Fort Lauderdale, FL.  From reading up on this place, I noticed they specialize in beer, bourbon, and burgers.  3 of my top choices so I knew I had to try this place.  We went there on Friday and got there 5 minutes before their happy hour ended.  Wanting some good craft beer, I knew I wanted to try a few so getting a good price was key.  Their happy hour special was 2 for 1 beers.

Front of Tap42

We checked out the beers on tap and they had over 42 on tap which was impressive, thus the name, "Tap42".  Only about 4-5 dark beers but they still had a really good lineup of beer.  My girlfriend and I got one happy hour special in due to the time we were there.  I first ordered Breckenridge Vanilla Porter.  I have had this before and I loved the taste.  Very smooth and sweet for a porter and you could definitely taste the vanilla.  I then had Cigar City Brewing's Maduro Oatmeal brown ale, which I also have tried in the past.  Both beers were cold, served right away, and very tasty.  

We also put an order in for an appetizer.  They do have healthy options as we saw they have brussel sprouts, asparagus, and sweet potato fries.  We ordered the sweet potato fries and it came with this creamy cinnamon dip.  It was extremely good.  The dip was even better.  My only criticism wee the prices.  The average beer was $7 to $10 and the order of fries was $7.  

Tap42's bar on a busy day

It was extremely busy there but we had good service.  They were very proficient with seating the big group of people we had and getting us all of our food and drinks.  The outdoor/indoor seating were spacious and this place can definitely hold a lot of people.  This place reminded me a little of "The Tipsy Boar" but a lot bigger.  We will definitely come back when we are in Fort Lauderdale, FL, but we have to make sure it is during happy hour because it could get pricey!

Cadejo Brewing Company

Hey all,

So over Spring break, my girlfriend and I went to El Salvador and had an amazing experience.  Normally I write these blogs about locations in Florida, but this one will be an international brewery. We went on our first day there to the country's main craft beer brewing company, "Cadejo Brewing Company".  It was in a densely populated area in El Salvador and has been there since early 2010.

Cadejo Brewing Company logo

We sat down at an outdoor table there and ordered our beers.  They only had three beers that they were brewing at the time.  They had a red ale, a wheat american pale ale, and a black ale.  As my readers know, I chose the black ale (See introduction) and my girlfriend went with the red ale.  After trying both, I ended up liking the red ale better.  The black ale was too "hoppy" for my taste and seemed like an IPA (India Pale Ale).  The prices were apparently above average for the country but very inexpensive for what I am used to.  The beers were $3-$5 depending on size.

Outside table showing a beer and the taps

The other thing we noticed was how popular this brewing company was.  We noticed tons of advertisement all over the country.  Also, we went to a few different bars in the area and they featured Cadejo beers on tap.  I guess they are marketing themselves well, because other people we spoke to said they love the beer and most people do as well.  We loved our trip to El Salvador and did so many things there and we plan on going back.  Cadejo offers seasonal beers as well so when we go back we will definitely have to go back there.

595 Tap and Tavern

Hey all,

595 Tap and Tavern's "Cowboy Burger"

So last Friday, the guys and I decided to stick with the burger theme but we wanted our craft beers.  We heard of this place in Davie, FL called "595 Tap and Tavern".  It is located in a busy plaza and it is actually a new restaurant that took over a previous restaurant, "Lefty's".  Parking was plaza style and we got parking right away.  We walked in and sat at the high tops near the bar.  They had a different atmosphere, to say the least.  Inside was a fully stocked bar with over 30 draught craft beers, high tops around the bar, regular tabling around the rest of the restaurant, a separate party room, and a DJ booth.
The night we went, they had their DJ playing "top 40" music and it wasn't that loud.  They also had a sports memorabilia auction going on in the separate room.  They have 2 menus; one for drinks and one for food.  It was apparently happy hour when we walked in, well at least that's what the hostess said.  We looked at the menu and it said happy hour was Monday through Thursday.  With it being a Friday, I questioned the waitress to reaffirm that we would get discounted drinks.  She confirmed and we ordered some beers to start.

I ordered their "Founders Breakfast Stout" which is a dark craft beer made in Michigan.  I love stouts as you all know and I had to try this.  By far, this became an instant classic once I took a sip.  It reminded me of the "Russian Stout" from "Hollywood Organic Brewery"  Very rich and it had a big coffee taste.   I enjoyed it and ordered a second with the craft draught beers being $2 off during happy hour.  We then placed our food order and I ordered their "cowboy burger" which is one of their specialties.  It has bacon, cheddar cheese, fried onion rings, and BBQ pork as the meat.  The food came out within 15 minutes and it was good.  Nothing amazing, but overall a good taste to it.  It had their logo branded on the top of the bun to show off their name.  They had at least 20 HDTV's and a couple large screen projectors around the restaurant showing sports games and the atmosphere seemed pretty "chill".

Founders Breakfast Stout from Michigan.

The overall experience was great until we got the check.  It had the regular price for the craft draught beers which was not a high price at $5 for a pint, but still no discount of $2.  My friends had the same issue on their check.  We told the waitress and she got the manager to come over.  The manager explained that there is no happy hour on Friday's.  We politely told her that we had 2 employees tell us that it was still okay.  She then made a shocked face and went to change the bill.  She came back with the corrected bills for us and we paid and left.  The manager didn't seem happy with us and she kind of made us feel like we were causing a burden on her.  595 Tap and Tavern would have been a great hang out place for us but we were left unsure and I don't know if I'll be back soon.

Bobby's Burger Palace

Hey all,

So this blog is going to be a little different than previous blogs in the way of focusing a little more on the food.  Don't get me wrong, I still ordered a beer for tradition but the selection of beer was not a good amount.

Store Front of Bobby's Burger Palace

So on Saturday, I went with a group of friends to the Kendall area, around Dadeland Mall to be specific.  We walked on over to the mall because we heard of a place called "Bobby's Burger Palace".  We heard they have really good burgers and many different choices to customize your burger.  With the owner of the chain being a world famous chef, Bobby Flay, we new we had to try it. 

"Bobby Blue Burger"

After carefully looking over the menu and trying to go with a "healthy" alternative, I chose the chicken breast burger with swiss cheese.  You can either get angus beef, ground turkey, or chicken breast as your burger.  They also have a big thing to get your burger "crunchified" and they put their own potato chips on the burger.  Cool concept, but I was trying to keep it simple on my behalf.  

You order from the front counter when you walk in and they have runners that deliver the food to your table.  I ordered a Sierra Pale Ale as my beer which is different because as my readers know, I like dark beers (See introduction).  My beer came out to my table within 2 minutes and we all had our burgers within 10 minutes of placing our order.  The burger was very filling and extremely juicy.  I noticed a friend of mine had his burger "crunchified"  They have all different kinds of sauces at the table and I loved their hot sauce.  We also ordered sweet potato fries and they were delicious.  

Overall good experience, but I feel like they need something else to differentiate them from all the burger joints.  The market is so "tapped" and they need to stand out.  Maybe a beer battered burger?  Pricing was average to high with our bill totaling about $27 for 2 burgers, a beer, and an order of sweet potato fries.  If I'm in the area, I could see myself going again, but I would not make a special trip to Bobby's Burger Palace.  

The Tipsy Boar

Hey all,

So my girlfriend and I were looking for a place after valentine's day to grab a drink and some good food.  We went to "The Tipsy Boar" in downtown Hollywood, FL.  It is right by the other place I previously blogged about, "The Greek Joint".  We were craving a beer and a bacon burger to be specific and we heard this place has good craft beers and awesome burgers.

Beers on tap at The Tipsy Boar

We went there on Saturday, 2-15-14, and sat at the bar.  It was somewhat busy but we found a couple seats right away.  They had over 40 craft beers on tap and all were written on a chalk board style menu in front of the bar.  I recognized many of the beers such as Cigar City Brewing (CCB) and many others. The menu was also very detailed and all their choices sounded delicious.  Since we had a burger craving, we decided to order their "Millionaire Bacon Burger".  It was one of their specialties along with Pizza.  I ordered CCB "Cubano Espresso" to drink and it is a coffee porter with a strong coffee flavor.  My girlfriend ordered "South Hampton Abbot" beer which I had before and she enjoyed it.  

The bacon burger came out within 15 minutes of ordering it and was extremely tasty.  It definitely satisfied our craving!  We ended up having just the beer and burger, but they do have many other foods such as pizza, steak, seafood, salad, and many bar bites.  They have about 12-15 TV's in there and the atmosphere seemed really "chill".  The pricing was a little higher than some other places with craft beer ranging from $6-$9 for a glass and the burger was $14.  I think it was worth it though, as we both loved our experience. We will definitely be back to "The Tipsy Boar" soon.  

The Greek Joint

Hey friends,

So over the weekend my girlfriend and I went to "The Greek Joint" in downtown Hollywood, FL.  It was located on the busy strip there right by Young Circle.  It is not too far from "Hollywood Organic Brewery" which I blogged about previously.  

The name of the location has changed a few times over the years but this last change was a relocation of a former business.  "The Greek Joint" was previously on Harrison Street in downtown Hollywood, FL, which is just one block away.

The Greek Joint Logo

They primarily had focused on their Greek style food and did not really have a bar.  We were there before and enjoyed our food every time we had gone.  Since they relocated, their main focus is on the bar with numerous craft beers on tap featuring many local breweries such as "Cigar City Brewing" (CCB) and "Wynwood Brewery" and they were in the process of acquiring beers from "Funky Buddha Brewery".  Click here to read more on "Funky Buddha Brewery"  

They also still feature their Greek style foods and also offer delivery.  I ordered Maduro from CCB and I loved it.  I had it previously before when I was in Tampa, which is where CCB is located, and it is a top brown ale choice of mine.  Overall, it was not that packed when we were there and the prices were about average.

Riverside Market Cafe

Hey all,

So yesterday, January 31, 2014,  I went to "Riverside Market Cafe" with my girlfriend.  It was my second time there, and her first.  I had an awesome experience the first time I was there and I knew I had to be back!  

Well, finding this place was not easy to begin with.  It is in a residential area in Fort Lauderdale, FL.  Not saying that's a bad thing, but let's just say it is easy to get lost.  We walked inside and explored our surroundings at first.  They have about 6-7 tables outside and a bunch of different seating options inside such as couches, high tops, etc.  The beer selection is more than I have ever seen in one place.  They carry a few local breweries on tap but where they stand out is their bottle selection.  They have over 550 craft beer bottles from all over the world in their self serve coolers.  In addition, they also have a kitchen for food.

Riverside Market Cafe self serve coolers pictured above.

I had a stout beer from Colorado and it was very smooth and rich.  We had ordered red pepper hummus with pita chips and also their pulled pork sandwich.  Both were phenomenal! We ended up getting a couple more craft beer bottles and stayed for a couple hours.  It was definitely a cool, chill spot and we are already thinking of when we are coming back!  So, if you are in the Fort Lauderdale, FL area, check this place out!

Hollywood Organic Brewery

Hey all,

I went last month with some people to "Hollywood Organic Brewery" out in Hollywood Beach, FL.  A beer and the beach? What could be better?  That was my mind setting going into it.  We went on a Thursday night and decided to give this place a try.  I had previously researched the location and saw that they brew their own beer and its a nice atmosphere to drink a craft beer right there on the boardwalk.  We got seated right away, as we were the only people there.  I understand it was a weekday, but still, there should have been more people.  The concept they have is great but something must be messed up somewhere or it would have been packed. 

Store front of Hollywood Organic Brewery

Like usual, I ordered their dark beer, the "Russian Stout".  It came in a really nice glass and had an amazing taste. I definitely enjoyed my craft beer, sitting outside by the beach and enjoying the nice breeze.  They also had some NBA games playing on outside TVs and a projector.  But, it was at a low volume, so you could still have that relaxing experience. 

The pricing was $5-6 for a 10-16oz beer and $11 for a 34oz beer.  They also had food selections and "infused vodka".  We did not try the food, as we were there only to drink.  The "infused vodka" was very good.  It was a specialty of theirs and it was a big hit with us as well.  Ultimately, we loved our experience there and we will have to come back some time soon to this amazing establishment in Hollywood Beach, FL!

Funky Buddha Brewery

Hey all,

So I just wanted to start this blog by going over my experience a couple weeks ago to "Funky Buddha Brewery".  I went to the location in Oakland Park, FL.  They do have another South Florida location in Boca Raton, FL.

On January 11, 2014, I went there with my girlfriend and met up a couple friends there for the launch of their "maple bacon coffee porter" beer.  I was there previously and had seen marketing signs about this launch and I was eager to try it.

Flyer for their release of Maple Bacon Coffee Porter Beer.

The second we pulled up, we saw tons of cars outside and about 7-8 food trucks in front.  Then, when we opened the windows, we heard the live band outside playing rock music.  We parked about a block away and walked over.  They had at least 200-300 people outside and it was packed to say the least.  We walked over to the tents outside where they were selling tickets for $5 each and you were supposed to take that ticket inside to the bartender and order your beer.  They brew many beers in house and they were "tapping" a new limited release beer every hour.  We bought a few tickets and went inside.   It was extremely packed inside, but it only took about 5 minutes for us to get our "maple bacon coffee porter" beer.  It was amazing.  I personally love dark beers and this one was an instant classic!  It definitely had a maple coffee taste right away and a little after taste of bacon.  I felt like I was in heaven.  This was, by far, one of my favorite beers that I had ever tasted.  We ended up getting a couple more and tried out a couple other limited releases such as a "whiskey beer", which actually wasn't that bad, and we also tried a "mojito beer", which we thought was a terrible mistake. 

Store Front of Funky Buddha.

Ultimately, it was an awesome experience with great beers, music, food, and friends.  The pricing wasn't too bad and the beer was extremely flavorful!  We will definitely be back to "Funky Buddha Brewery" soon.

Introduction

Hello fellow readers!  This is the official Florida Blogery.  I will be traveling to local breweries, and local bars that have a good amount of craft beers and in-house microbrews.  I will give the college minded, young, expert opinion on not only the beer, but the atmosphere and pricing points as well.  I will be mainly in the South Florida area but I may explore all of Florida, as there are some really good breweries around the entire state.

A little about me:

I am Joey Basher, 25, and I will be graduating this semester with my BBA in Marketing from Florida Atlantic University.  I love beer and my dream job would involve marketing it!  So if anyone reading this has any connections, please feel free to contact me.  

I particularly love darker beers which include stouts and porters, but I will never turn down a beer!

So please follow me in my journey to explore Florida and what great beers it has to offer.