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.