This is still my favorite ‘Melo . . .
Carmelo Anthony
. . . but I am now making room for another one that I have a much better chance of hanging out with: the Mellow Mushroom.
I had visited the Winter Park location of Mellow Mushroom previously, but only to enjoy the awesome selection of beer. The list of beers on tap would be good for most any bar and is especially good for a pizza joint. So when my wife and I decided to go there for a Saturday evening meal I knew that at the very least the beer would be a sure thing.
We were able to get a table right away even with the people waiting outside for a spot to open up. That is one of the advantages of being a party of two I suppose. After a short look at the beer list my wife and I each ordered a paddle of beer containing (4) 5 oz. beers.
My paddle consisted of the four beers that held down the four rotating draft positions . . . Locomotive Breath Porter – Lagniappe Brewery, Bolita Brown(?) – Cigar City Brewing, Double Simcoe IPA – Weyerbacher Brewing Co, and Anchor Summer Ale – Anchor Brewing. I will let you know what I though of those after I also let you know what my wife enjoyed. Her paddle lined up with the Double Simcoe IPA, Blue Paw Wheat Ale – Sea Dog Brewing Co, Tangerine Wheat – Lost Coast Brewery, and Bogart Pale Ale – Atlanta Brewing Co.
Line them up . . . Locomotive Breath leading the way.
My paddle order didn’t exactly match the ticket provided, but being the sharp tack that I am, that didn’t affect my consumption. I will say that beer evaluation at dinner is far different from that in the friendly confines of my home. First, its tough to get a real sense of aroma with the smell of great pizza surrounding you. It’s also not that easy to judge beers back to back to back to back and be able to describe the subtleties of each. I have great respect for beer judges. With that said I have my quick reaction to each, but I hope to revisit all of them for a more thorough review someday.
The Anchor Steam was very light, crisp, and clean. It was actually a bit creamy for a beer with such light body. Definitely a good beer for warm weather.
The Weyerbacher had a medium body, and was smooth on the palate with a rather high hop bitterness. I did catch the floral hop aroma even with my pizza inches away (more on that in a bit). There was a slight bit of astringency at the finish, which did linger for a short time.
The Cigar City had a medium body and was quite smooth and creamy. There was a slight bit of dryness at the finish. It had an even, complex roasted flavor with maybe a touch of molasses-like sweetness.
The Lagniappe had a medium-light body with some sharpness from the carbonation. It did have some roasted maltiness with a slight burnt note, but there wasn’t a big overall flavor.
Nothing bad can come from this.
All four of those on my were paddle pretty good, but none of them great. I would say they would all fall in a B- to B+ range . . . at least for me in that environment.
The beer was good as expected and the pizza definitely did not disappoint. I had an awesome white pizza with olive oil, garlic, mozzarella, ham, red onion, tomato, and a few other cheeses. My wife ordered a calzone with spinach, mushroom, tomato, pineapple, and mozzarella. They were both great and that, combined with the beer is more than enough reason to be back again.
Stopping for air.
Another point in Mellow Mushroom’s column . . . There was a mix up with my wife’s order that was dealt with so well that it would have been enough for a repeat visit buy itself. Her calzone was made with the wrong ingredients originally, but it was delivered to our table with the manager explaining the situation and telling us that her correct order would be out soon. So we ended up with a free calzone and enjoyed it as much as the rest of our meal. Fast forward to getting our check and we found out that we were only going to be charged for half a calzone because of the mix up, even though we ended up with two!
Thank you to Star and the rest of the staff, you all made the experience very enjoyable!
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