Yep this upcoming week is American Craft Beer Week!

What is that? Well here is some history from American Craft Beer Week.
“Look for American Craft Beer Week promotions featuring craft brewers in breweries, restaurants, and better beer stores (There were more than 500 events in 2009.), become a fan of American Craft Beer Week on Facebook for more information on events around the country and toast the week with a delicious beer brewed by one of the over 1400 craft brewers in the US.

Small brewers are small businesses; they provide so much to their local communities and have reshaped American beer culture. On April 22, 2010, U.S. Congress began discussing House Resolution 1297 (PDF file) supporting the goals and ideals of American Craft Beer Week.
For the Homebrewers

Homebrewers, American Craft Beer Week has not forgotten about your role in helping us get 10,000 fans of American Craft Beer Week 2009. This year we have a homebrew recipe from the American Homebrewers Association’s Big Brew celebration. American Craft Beer Wheat can be brewed in early May, and then you can tap it May 17-23!.”

So what are you doing for Craft Beer Week? Well there is no reason why you should not celebrate this week, and no reading my blog (while appreciated) is not celebrating actively.

Here are some of the events in the local area this upcoming week!

Monday 05-17-2010
The Coffee District: Delray Beach; Weekly craft beer meetup. Bring a bottle of something rare to the area to share and enjoy good beer company.
Vine and Barley: Ft. Pierce; Terrapin Keg Tapping Party, 6pm, Come to the tapping of a few special Terrapin kegs; Oak-aged Wake-N-Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout and Terrapin ‘Side Project ‘Monk’s Revenge Double IPA/Belgian Tripel

Tuesday 05-18-2010
Boca Beer Lovers: TBA; This is a monthly meetup group that shares good beer (Google Boca Beer Lovers for more info)
BX Depot: Lake Worth; Avery Brewing – We will feature Maharaja and offer a tasting of some of their other beers.
The Coffee District: Delray Beach; Come meet the Founder & CEO of Harpoon, Rich Doyle. Specials and win some SWAG!

Wednesday 05-19-2010
Abraxus: Miami Beach; from 10-12 for their American Craft Beer Week edition of their Beers of Abraxas tasting. 12 – 3 oz. pours of their finest American Craft Beers for $15.
BX Depot: Lake Worth; Dogfish Head- Until we run out, we will compare “08 and ’09 Worldwide Stout and feature Aprihop on tap
Drinking Made Easy w/ Zane Lamprey; Ft. Lauderdale: Come witness the EPIC miracle himself Zane Lamprey from Three Sheets live on stage at the Culture Room

Thursday 05-20-2010
BX Depot: Lake Worth; Southern Tier- We will feature Oak Aged Unearthly and who knows what else will be poured
Whole Foods: Boca Raton; Join Matt “Can a brother get some samples?” Villei from Shipyard for a tasting at Whole Foods in Boca from 3-5pm. FREE!

Friday 05-21-2010
BX Depot: Lake Worth; Cigar City- We had to include this brewery in the mix as it is a Florida brewery- Can anyone Say Hunahpu Imperial Stout, we will have some pours of this delicious brew and maybe some glassware, and we are not done.
Total Wine: Boca Raton; If you missed him at Whole Foods you can catch Matt from Shipyard at Total Wine in Boca for a tasting of Shipyard and Sea Dog from 5-7pm

Saturday 05-22-2010
Abraxus: Miami Beach: HUGE Beer Tasting for only $20.00 which includes Food, Water and a sampling on beers. Also bring what you have and share with everyone!
BX Depot: Lake Worth; Amazing Beer Dinner; showcasing some great food and brews.

Remember that there are tons of bars carrying a great selection of Craft Beer. So check out The Lodge, The Funky Buddha, Charm City Burgers, Brother Tuckers, Trist, Bar Louie, Grease, Havana Hideout, and more!

So there you have it, if you can’t find something to do this upcoming week….well then I’m sorry…I tried! Have a Craft Beer and enjoy a week long celebration!

Slainte!

Ahh the morning before a festival, I guarnatee I feel better this morning in comparision to tomorrow morning. Why?!?

Tonight is the 2010 NewTimes Beerfest in Ft. Lauderdale Florida.

The Festival includes about 50 Breweries total and over 100 beers, Food, and always a good time. You can check out the list of the breweries by clicking HERE. While I personally know that 2 of the breweries pulled out this past week, the show should be pretty fun tonight.

If your going look for a few things.

1.  The Funky Buddha will be out and about tonight pouring two of their HomeBrews which will be sold at their new “brew-pub” in Boca. I have had them both and they are VERRRYY Tasty. Make sure you look out for them.

2.  Similarly, BX Depot will be out there sharing some of their HomeBrew goodness with the crowds tonight. They always bring some really tasty stuff. Great beer people!

3.  Amongst a sea of Macro Breweries make sure you stop by the following local Mico-Beer tents; NATIVE, Holy Mackerel, Jupiter (Monk in the Trunk). These three can usually be found near each other. GREAT Local Beer!

4.  Finally, Look for me, Cerveza Chica, El Guapo, Miguel, and this upcoming weeks guest blogger Eduardo. We will all be scattered about pouring at the festival. I can personally say I will be up in VIP pouring the Hard Stuff “liquor” with Crown Spirits.

Ok, so those are the highlights of the show. I would also reccomend purchasing your tickets before. Where?!? Just click this link —> Tickets. GA is $25 and VIP is $75 in advance. Expect the price to jump about 5 bucks if you buy at the gate.

I recommend VIP for a few reasons. It’s inside (AC), indoor bathrooms, the crowd should be a bit less than whats in GA, you get to say hi to me (thats worth $75 right there!), expanded food selection, open exhibits in the museum, and there is going to be wine and liquor instead of just beer.

Hope to see you out there!

~Ferm Out

As I pulled into the parking lot all I could see was a dark black door. There appeared to be shadows moving around inside with beads, hats, and all types of craziness.

I opened the door, and took a peek inside….and what I saw almost knocked me off my feet.

Yep, I knew I was in the right place. These were my peeps. They came in all shapes and sizes. All different ages, sexes, and backgrounds. Though we were all different in just about every way we all were united for the love of one thing- BEER!

Where was I? Heaven? Colorado? Mardi Gras? Nope…..I was at the Boca Beer Lovers meetup.

Yep, and I was a virgin…it was magical.

The Boca Beer Lovers meet up once a month and dicuss all things beer. These meetings are a great place to come and sample some new beers, try some homebrews, meet some new friends, and talk about all things that have to do with beer.

Last night we sampled the house brews from The Funky Buddha (which I reviewed already from their soft opening), several of their stellar tap selections, and (the treat) some Great Lakes Beers.

Yep, Great Lakes, you can only get that stuff in Clevland, Ohio or the Boca Beer Lovers meetups.

Jonathan Gottlieb, has been putting these meet ups on for the past eleven months, and has seen the group grow from a handful to 30+ at last night’s meetup.

For more information about Boca Beer Lovers and a detailed break down of which Great Lakes Beers we sampled last night, jump on over to Boca Beer Lovers.

I’ll See Ya Next Month!

Question from the crowd; “Wait hold up Ferm, did you say they’re open, they never closed?!?!?”

Well they are re-open folks, and last night Dos-Beerigos was invited to check out the new diggs and what can I say I’m speechless.

Cerveza Chica and I went by and were greeted at the door, Cerveza Chica had to speak for me since my jaw was on the ground….this is what I saw……

It was heaven within a beer bar!

Now what’s different about the new Funky Buddha? Well besides the fact that the place has grown by at least 4x’s, the stage is larger (allowing for more acts, and the most important….HOMEBREW!

Yep Funky Buddha now not only carries some of the finest Micro’s in the local area in draft and bottle (over 110 at any given time) but they also now carry up to 6 HOMEBREWS…..ohh yah!

So the new Brew/Pub of sorts had some offerings and I had to test them out; as a beer fan and a homebrewer. Last night they were offering;

an IPA “Hop-Gun”; and it’s just like the movie Top-Gun because it “enters the danger zone” with 6 different types of hops entered 14 times in the brew!

They also had the “Floridian” which was a pretty straight forward Hefe. with some amazing yeast notes to it.

A “Piiti” Porter; which was probably my favorite of the night (and I hate porters!) it was big and bold up front with a nice sweetness lingering at the end….a nice treat!

Finally, a Kolsch Style Brew by the name of “Kaya”; very easy to drink and had nice sour and sweet notes to it…great for a fan of Lagers or lighter beer.

The grand opening is tonight (2-5-2010), and I have to say you must go in and try the homebrews then venture down the draft lines to the Micros (they have some awesome stuff on tap right now…)

The New location is located in the same shopping center as the last location just further down! All the information can be found here @ The Funky Buddha