Wynwood Brewery sits along the interstate in an area of town where the rent is probably cheap, graffiti is common, and needs gentrification.  You would never expect this place to have a great selection of great beer. However, it does and it is evidenced by the luxury cars parked along the street in front — the beer definitely brings people in from outside the neighborhood.

The atmosphere is cozy, the staff is friendly, and the beer is good– what else could you want in a local brewery.

We started our tasting with the La Rubia which is characterized as an American blonde.  A light beer for those who want a beer on a hot summer day or who enjoy the lighter styles it was a good beer. However, for me, it was a bit too light with almost no nose. Not a bad beer, just not my style.

Next, we tried the porter which had a typical porter nose of coffee and chocolate. The malts were good and toasty in this beer. It was a bit sweeter than I generally like my porters but overall a good beer.

Beat the Meat Wheat was my favorite beer here.  A wheat beer that was dry hopped with citron hops, this beer had a fantastic nose and taste of citrus from those hops. I have noticed that citron seems to be one of my favorite hop varieties.

The Magic City Pale Ale was a good solid pale ale with a nose that had a generous hint of hops.  This pale ale was also a little on the sweet side for me but overall not a bad beer.

The Wynwood IPA was just as an IPA should be with a great nose and tastes of grapefruit and citrus.

Magic City Sweet Potato was the Magic City Pale Ale brewed with yams, cinnamon and vanilla. The tastes here were not overpowering thought. This beer was definitely sweeter than the regular pale ale with a hint of cinnamon but the flavors of the pale ale still prevailed.

The Wynwood Brown was definitely a brown but dry not like Newcastle to which many people compare browns.  It did not have the nut nose so it wasn’t traditional. However, it was a good solid beer.

Richenbacker Pils has a traditional pilsner nose but is a little bit sweeter than a traditional pilsner. It would be a good outside beer and great for a hot day.

The Tuttle Stout was the nitro beer.  A session stout it didn’t have much nose but had that toasty malt and creamy mouthfeel traditional of a stout.

The Father Francisco was a great Belgian strong with the traditional Belgian nose. This beer reminded me a lot of Victory’s Golden Monkey which is one of my favorite Belgian strongs.

If you find yourself in Miami, don’t mind driving through a questionable neighborhood, and are searching for great local beer, then you definitely have to make your way to Wynwood. This place is worth the visit.

Titanic Brewery sits very close to the University of Miami campus in Coral Gables. I would imagine it is quite a packed house when school is in session. However, I was lucky enough to visit during the summer and on midweek afternoon.  The atmosphere here was somewhat typical of a college style bar with dark wood and minimal lighting. I like this kind of place as it gives me memories of my time in school. 

The beers here were all good but the British style beers really seemed to be where the brewers expertise laid.

I started out with the Triple Screw Light Ale which had a good pilsner style nose and taste. This was a solid beer and a great choice for a hot day.

The White Star IPA was a little bit more disappointing for me.  I found the color very light for an IPA, giving indication that this was going to be more on the weaker side. The nose was a pine and grapefruit so I had high hopes. However, the finish on the taste seemed a bit too bitter like it needed to be tamed a bit more with a balancing malt.  It wasn’t a bad beer it just didn’t seem finished to me.

The Captain Smith Rye didn’t have much of a nose or taste to me but it did finish bitter on the end. I didn’t get much of the spice or fruit that is advertised in this beer so I was a bit disappointed in this one too.

The Britannic Best Bitter was, to me, the best beer here.  In tasting this beer, I really could almost imagine it with a plate of English style fish and chips.  There was a slight hop nose here and a great finish. I find that most bitters fall short but this one didn’t. This is a must try. 

The Boiler Nut Brown was another great representation of a traditional English style beer.  This had a good nose of nutty malts and a great flavor of hazelnut. This was another must try!

The Ship Builder Oatmeal Stout almost didn’t disappoint. The nose was of a good smokey malt. It had a traditional stout taste with a great mouthfeel as it was silky to the tongue. A final must try!

Overall I was very impressed with the beers here. It is hard to find good English style beers made locally that are true to their roots.  I am not sure that college students would really appreciate these beers — I hope I am wrong– but I sure did.  If you find yourself driving through Coral Gables or at University of Miami make sure to make a stop here. 

The Miami Brewing Company at Schnebly Redland’s Winery is a location not to be missed. The tasting room is reminiscent of a tasting room at a winery in Virginia, Oregon or California with a large classical style home with white columns.  The gardens here are absolutely spectacular with landscaped waterfalls, koi, and iguanas lounging in a tropical setting.  I couldn’t think of anything else but this would be a great place for a wedding or fundraiser. The owners seem to even have this in mind as the area has numerous outdoor setting areas under thatched roofs and a couple of outdoor bars. 

My only issue is that I wish that the beers from the Miami Brewing Company that are tasted here were of the same caliber as the setting.   The tasting fee is also a bit expensive– $14 for four tastes, 1 full pint, and a take home glass (which I could do without as I have a cabinet overflowing with pint glasses). The tasting started with Big Rod a coconut ale that had lots of coconut on both the nose and tongue. I didn’t hate this beer but my husband is not a coconut fan so it didn’t go over as well with him. You would definitely have to like coconut to like this beer.  I would have preferred something more subtle like the Pina Colada Wheat that I had at Funky Buddha.  This was definitely a wheat beer with a hint of pina colada.  I have been telling people to subtle flavor here reminded me of lip gloss that we wore as children. Unfortunately, the Big Rod had too much coconut and was too overpowering.

Gator Tail was a brown ale. I found this to have a taste closer to a porter than a brown ale because of the very roasted malt taste. However, the mouthfeel on this beer was closer to a brown ale.  This was the most drinkable of the beers here. I ended up doing this for my full pint.

Shark Bait was a mango ale.  I found this beer not even drinkable. It was very mango on the nose and promising from just the aroma. However, the taste reminded me of the pink amoxicillin I was given as a child. I couldn’t drink this one– bad childhood memories or just a taste that didn’t agree with me– who knows? My husband was able to drink his and said it wasn’t so bad. But that was not my opinion.

The Vice IPA was very light in color for an IPA. It had a light citrus nose with a light grapefruit and bitter hop flavor.  Although clearly an IPA, the choice of hops might have been improved to give a more full bodied IPA. Something about this beer wasn’t quite balanced for me.

I would actually like to go back here to try the wines. Some of them seemed to be the same varieties found at Naples and Key West Winery; however, it has been a while since I have been to either of these locations.  I am planning on heading down to the Keys in a few weeks and thinking I might make a stop on the way. If nothing else, watching the koi and iguanas provides a good diversion from the road for a few minutes.  

I occasionally will have a Holy Mackerel beer, but I usually stop at just one.  In general, I find them a bit too sweet for me. I like a good strong beer every once in a while that has some sugar just to balance flavor. However, I can never do more than one and a sampler of them is too much for me. 

I started with Psycho Fish which was a Belgian with orange. The orange was only a hint on the truly Belgian nose but the taste was very sweet like orange syrup. 

Panic Attack is a Holy Mackerel standard and one that I will drink occasionally. It also is a Belgian style with a Belgian nose and on the sweet side. However, the Psycho Fish was much sweeter than Panic Attack. 

Panic con Pablo was Panic Attack with added coffee. It had a very coffee nose but the sweetness of Panic Attack combined with the coffee was too much for me. It reminded me of coffee that a noncoffee drinker drinks– loaded with sugar to try to tame the bitterness of the coffee. You can actually smell the sweet in this beer!

Nib Slip was brewed with cocoa nibs which wasn’t evident on the nose. It had a toasty malt flavor and was not near as sweet as the other beers available on my visit. This was a good drinking beer and more along the line of my palate. 

There were other beers available on guest taps at the Mack House and we tried the Thunderhead Red from Native Brewing.  This was  a good beer– red by color but a German hop taste with a light malty roasted flavor.  This is a red that I would drink and I am generally not a red fan. 

My suggestion is stop by the Mack House for one beer– don’t do a sampler as it is too much. Maybe try a guest draft of another Florida brew, especially, if like us, you can’t get many Florida brews in your area. 

Organic Brewery in Hollywood, Florida, is located right on the Boardwalk. I can’t imagine a better view than when drinking a beer than here. I recently saw an article online titled something like “The Best Places to Drink a Brew Outside” and I immediately thought when I got to Organic Brewery that this place should have been on that list.  

Unfortunately the beers don’t really live up to the view.  The special of the day was a Russian Stout. However, the beer didn’t have the mouth feel or heaviness of a stout. It also have herbal undertones from the hops that made the beer reminiscent of a Belgian style ale.  The beer was good but not really what I expected from a Russian stout.  I would say this was more along the lines of a porter seasoned with Belgian hops. 

The Belgian here, on the other hand, was quite weak for a Belgian. I didn’t get much flavor from this at all. There was a bit of malt on the nose and a slight yeast on the tongue. The carbonation in this one was weak too. 

The Pilsner was the redeeming feature of this brewery.  This was a good beer and typical of the style. It had a hint of German hops and a mild taste that was reminiscent of Pilsner Urquell. 

The menu here was quite intriguing though. It offered a variety of foods including some German favorites, which for me, go well in a place that serves a good pilsner.  I would say this is a place to have a good pilsner and a wiener schnitzel. This place may not be the best ever, but it is definitely an improvement over the other boardwalk offerings of Corona, Bud Light, and Miller Lite! What a treat to find a brewery located right on the beach! Have a beer and enjoy the scenery!