Appearance – Pours a bubbly but clear copper, amber color with good size white head but it disappears pretty quickly.

Smell – Ginger, some spices and a little bit of a citrus type smell.

Taste – There is a sweet citrus taste of orange and lemon up front that is met with ginger.  Some other spices add to it as well with a slight malt flavor at the end.  Good Belgian yeast taste through out.

I’ve been looking forward to trying Pangaea for quite awhile.  I really like the idea behind it that they use an ingredient from each of the continents (water; for those wondering what is used from Antarctica).  A pretty good straight forward Belgian style pale ale with the addition of the ginger to it.  As with a lot of the Dogfish Head big bottles very good but a little expensive to have time after time.  But if you feel like indulging yourself with the holidays coming up I would say give this one a try.

Overall Grade – B

Appearance – Poured a clear amber color with a big white head that left lacing on the glass.

Smell – Very subtle hop aroma.  Kind of pine like and earthy.

Taste – The hops on this are really funky.  I can’t quite describe it but the piney and earthy hops are just not mixing well here.  There is a caramel like malt backing to it but the funk of this hop profile just lingers around well after sipping it.

I don’t know if something just happened to these beers on the delivery to me or maybe this was a bad batch or even I just don’t like the way it tastes but I really didn’t care for this one at all.  Just something about the profile of hops in this one did not sit well with me and I am a self admitted hop head.

Overall Grade – D-

Just off of Colonial by the Fashion Square Mall and across the street from a trendy looking night club, Redlight Redlight has a small parking lot that is full.  Overflow heads down the street and behind the building.  As the club across the street didn’t seem to be open you could pretty easily assume the people were here for the beer.  Walking in the place has the feel of a homey pub.  Blue walls with wood accents and support beams are covered with craft beer tackers, signs and neons.  There are a few tables along the wall leading up a decent sized bar with some more tables beyond that.  A lot of the tables had classic games on them like Jenga, checkers and Battleship I believe I saw.  There is an outside patio area for smokers and just those that want to be outside.  But behind the bar is where the pride and joy of the place is.

Around 20 taps including a hand pump and 3 nitro taps consisting of numerous styles of craft brews.  Their bottle lists is quite impressive too and everything is broken down into style.  There is even an impressive vintage and rare bottle selection for those that want to indulge themselves.  Oh yeah and they have a good selection of mead and wine as well.  The service is top notch.  Even with the bar beginning to get busier the later it got the each of the bartenders took the time to help out anyone that had questions or needed a recommendation.  Their knowledge was very high and at no point did they make you feel lower than them if you didn’t know.  True class and true love of beer right there.  Each beer is served in an appropriate glass for the style.  The amount of glassware on hand here was absolutely amazing.

I enjoyed a few rounds that including Cigar City Jai Alai IPA, Shipyard Nitro Pub Ale, Lagunitas New Dogtown Pale Ale and Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro.  And my friend enjoyed a couple Ommegang Wittes and Brooklyner Weisse.  One might think that with that much good craft beer to expect a big tab.  Nope!  Our total came out to be $28.  Everything there was extremely well priced.  I would probably pay quite a deal more for the same stuff in a similar place down here.

Of course with any place there are some things of note but these are so small they really wouldn’t both most.  They do not have a full kitchen.  So if you are looking for a meal along with your brews you are not going to get that.  They do have some snacks that you can purchase and there was a cart vendor right outside of the bar selling food.  They are also a cash only bar.  There is an ATM in the bar that has a quite modest $2 service charge on it.  But that ends anything that one may think as a bad thing about this place.

Overall me and my friend had a blast.  I can completely see now where all the hype on this place comes from.  It stinks that it is not closer to my place and I envy my friend that she is only 30 minutes away.  But I highly encourage anyone that goes to Orlando to stop by Redlight Redlight if you want a great beer in a great atmosphere at an amazing price.

Redlight Redlight
745 Bennett Rd.
Orlando, Florida, 32802
407-893-9832

Appearance – Pours a completely opaque black color with a big brown head on top.  It does leave a good amount of lacing on the glass.

Smell – Chocolate, roasted malts and a slight bit of hops come to the nose.

Taste – A bittersweet chocolate taste up front that is followed with roasted malts and a little coffee flavor.  There is a little bit of a hop and alcohol bite at the very end.

The distributor for Brooklyn in our neck of the woods doesn’t really bring us a big selection of Brooklyn brews so seeing this one I had to jump on it knowing it wouldn’t be around for long.  Nice full flavored beer that masks the 10.6% ABV pretty nicely.  This would make a very good after dinner drink that can serve as a desert of it’s own.

Overall Grade – B+

Appearance – Poured a pretty clear orangish to golden color with a good sized white head that left a lot of lacing on the glass.

Smell – Great hop smells of citrus and pine.  They are not overpowering at all.

Taste – The hops are the headliner on the taste but there is a good sweet malt backing to it to balance things out.

I really enjoyed this one.  A great mix of the big hops and malts make it a really easy to drink DIPA.  I would probably go out and venture that this is the best DIPA I’ve had all year so far.

Overall Grade – A

Appearance – Pours a clear orange color with a small white head but it leaves a good amount of lacing.

Smell – Citrus and floral hops are pretty much all I pick up.

Taste – Very nice hop taste that is just like the smell.  Not a whole lot going on in the way of malts but I am really enjoying the malt blend here.

This was included with my package of Founders brews I was sent and was really happy with it.  The wet hop beers just tend to have this really fresh taste to them.  I don’t really know how to explain it other than it taste like it has just recently been made.  I know that is typically what wet hopping is all about so I guess it works.  A pretty good overall brew.  Kind of bummed I only got one of these.

Overall Grade – B-

Appearance – Poured a dark black color with a nice sized slightly off white head.

Smell – Smoke is the first thing I pick up with a little bit of black licorice.  Some roasted malts can be picked up too.

Taste – Very smoked tasted with some roasted malts in the back but has an overall sweetness to it as well.

A couple friends of mine picked this one up for me on their trip to Asheville, NC.  I found this a lot more enjoyable that the Stone Smoked Porter I had recently.  The licorice notes are a lot more subdued here.  The smokey flavor really stands out and would make this a great beer for BBQ.

Overall Grade – B

Appearance – Pours a mostly clear red color with a decent sized white head that left some lacing.

Smell – Faint citrus hop aroma but not a whole lot else going on.

Taste – Some citrus and earthy hops with a sweet caramel malt like taste.  Very, very faint rye taste in there.

I received a few Founders brews from a client of my job last week.  I was really looking forward to this one but I have to say it fell flat.  I was expecting a big rye taste presence like Lenny’s Bittersweet RIPA but it just wasn’t there.  While it was a decent IPA of it’s own I was just expecting more of a rye taste with the word in the name.  But I will push on to the next ones with an open mind.

Overall Grade – C-

Appearance – Poured a very bubbly dark orange color.  The bubbles ran up the side of the glass keeping the white head around for a good bit.

Smell – Sweet smells of honey and cocoa.  Get a little boozy whiff in there too.

Taste – Quite sweet with honey, white grapes and a little cocoa coming out.  There is a very mild pepper taste but not nearly as much as I expected.  Has a slight alcohol bite at the end.

I was a little hesitant to pick this up after my last encounter with a chile beer but Dogfish Head rarely lets me down.  After first sipping it I was happy to pick it up.  The pepper taste was quite mild and not very easy to pick up.  I picked up grapes that reminded me of a white wine that made it sweet but enjoyable.  I really don’t agree with the tagging of chile beer but I can understand since it has ancho chilis in it.  But I found this along the lines of a Belgian dark.  If the price on this ($14) wasn’t so high I would definitely pick it up again.

Overall Grade – B

Just south of Palmetto Park Rd. on Federal Hwy. the Lodge really doesn’t jump out at you unless you know what you are looking for.  Surrounded by upscale stores and restaurants it just blends in with everything else.  But once you walk in you really don’t realize you are in Boca Raton anymore.  You walk in to a cozy wood paneled room with the bar.  There is a large chalk board on the wall, that I think is actually made from the wall, that has the specials, tap list and upcoming events.  The place feels like a hunter’s lodge minus the animal heads on the wall.

I sat at the bar where there were two TVs showing college football games with a few other folks.  I was greeted quickly by the bartender, Shenandoah, and given a beer and food menu.  The beer menu is very well laid out.  It gives the name of the beer along with the brewer, location of the brewery and information about each beer.  Great information for someone that may not know about a certain beer and wants to try something different.  I opted for Magic Hat #9 as it is brand spanking new to our area and figured why not give the draft the first try.  The food menu was your typical bar fair that you would expect and that was exactly what I was in the mood for.  I ordered a cheese steak sandwich on Texas toast.  I know some of my family in friends in Philly would curse this, and I was skeptical, but is was actually quite good.

I saw on their menu that they had Sierra Nevada Estate on tap and asked for one of those but they were all out.  But another employee quickly brought me an Acme Pale Ale that he thought I would like instead.  The staff is quite knowledgeable on their beer and are completely willing to help out with your decision making.

From what I hear they get pretty busy on Friday and Saturday nights, Saturdays are ladies nights, but they only sell beer and wine.  So I don’t think you would have to worry about bad company on nights.  I intend on taking my friends there one night in the near future.

All around I really enjoyed the Lodge.  It’s in a good neighborhood with plenty of parking.  The beer selection is great and most brews are around $5 to $6.  Some rare or seasonals may be a little more.  The straight forward bar food is good and filling.  The service is top notch and it is just a bar with a great vibe.

If you are in Boca and want a good beer, good food in a good environment head over to the Lodge and you will get all of those.

The Lodge
200 South Federal Highway
Boca Raton, FL 33432
561-392-5003
http://www.thelodgeboca.com/