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.