Traveling to Florida

Jai Alai and I think MZ and Last Snow is released that month

 

Civil Society in Jupiter is brewing some of the best IPA/IIPA available anywhere right now. Unfortunately they're about an hour & a half from Orlando....

 

Are you driving down? if so, be sure to stop in Jacksonville. We have several great breweries in the area. As for Ocala, I was there recently, and Infinite Ale Works is the only thing going down there that I could see. Their house beers were just ok, although I had a Fruited (forget which fruit, lol) Wit that was quite tasty from them. They have a really good taplist overall though, right in downtown Ocala. Definitely check the Tampa / Orlando Recommendations thread for Orlando, too much to list!

 

If you are going to Ocala and have some free time you might as well drive 30min north to Gainesville and check out Swamp Head Brewery and First Magnitude Brewing. There are also quite a few restaurants with quality craft beer selections as well as some good beer bars.

 

In my opinion the must try regularly available Florida beers are Jai Alai, Miami Brewing Mega Mix, Miami Weiss, Hop Stimulator, sunshine city, and then other cigar city stuff is always good depending on what you like

 

I would just head to Tampa and go to Cigar City. It's about 1.5 hours away from the Orlando Airport (on the off hours, traffic on highway 4 sucks big time during rush hour). There have been a lot of great Florida Breweries that have opened up in the past few years, but CCB is still the one brewery you don't want to miss. If you have some extra time in the Tampa area check out Cycle as well. If you can't make the drive, you should at least go to the local Total Wine and More Store in Orlando for CCB stuff like Jai Alai (maybe white oak if your lucky) and their special releases like Expresso Cubano, Caffe Americano and possibly even Good Gourd (sometimes it comes out as early as August). They usually keep special releases behind the counter. Also, already mentioned is Funky Buddha Last Snow which comes out in August and will also be behind the counter (if you're lucky). For draft beer a little closer to the Orlando area you can also check out Brew Hub which is a contract brewer for CCB and a few other breweries. They will have a lot of fresh beer on tap.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...ando-look-here-first-spring-16-update.390487/

Go to the first page. Browse the rest at your leisure.

 

My favorite beers from my March trip down there were Cycle's Crank IPA, and Jai Alai, Guayabera, and Invasion from Cigar City. Obviously the two flagships from CC can be found anywhere in stores down there. But Crank specifically is amazing so try to pop in and grab some crowlers even if you're pressed for time. That beer the day of is an excellent IPA.

 

Yeah I had crank in a growler fill from Athens GA (odd, never see it in Orlando hardly) and it was absolutely amazing. One of my fav IPAs

 

Coppertail Unholy is really good

 

There are some GREAT tap rooms in Central Florida, some with food, some without. My top two recommendations near Orlando are Crooked Can in Winter Garden and Brü in Tavares (which is smack in between Orlando and Ocala on 441). Enjoy!

 

I also second going up to Gainesville for Swamphead and First Magnitude. Good bottle shop there called Tipple's Brews, you can find some of the best distro'd beer there and probably some recommendations. You are not going to find much locally in Ocala outside of Infinite (BTW, 40 taps there, not just their own beers). I'd recommend eating on the rooftop at Pi. good pizza, decent craft beer list, nice atmosphere.

 

GF is currently in florida, is Jai Alai - White oak and Caffe Americano still out around the orlando area?

 

I would call stores in Orlando to check. I know we got a second set of Caffe Americano up here in Jax this week. Call Total Wine and Knightly Spirits (or other stores listed on the Orlando / Tampa thread).