Before looking back to the second of the monthly Tweetups held at Celebration Town Tavern on Wednesday (3/31), I must make mention of something that The Wife and I did earlier in the week.  We took advantage of an opportunity to tour the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and learn even more of the specifics of what they do on a daily basis.  Please take a moment to check out The Wife’s post recapping that visit and discussing hunger in America.

There is not an obvious way (at least for me) to make a segue from that into my typical discussion of all things beer, so I will just jump back to it.

Perfect weather for the outdoor bar area

Every time we leave ourselves extra time to arrive somewhere, traffic treats us well.  Once again we had clear sailing and were able to arrive early enough to see the final portion of the set up that evening being done by @icejunkies, @beer99club, and a few members of @thebrewcrewteam.  As usual, if you want to know their actual names you will have to come to the next Tweetup!

Once again, part of the event was a free tasting flight of beers to be voted on for addition to the draft list (and to replace Orange Blossom Pilsner)  If you remember, the four beers to be voted on were:

• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Chico, CA)
• Abita Andygator (Abita Springs, LA)
• Dogfish Head Aprihop (Milton, DE)
• Avery White Rascal (Boulder, CO)

Some light reading about the contenders

After sampling, my ranking of those selections was:

1.  Dogfish Head Aprihop

2.  Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

2a. Abita Andygator

3.  Avery White Rascal

Now I must explain my decisions, or at least my thought process.  The White Rascal was clearly my last place finisher and seemingly for many others that evening (see picture below).  I really love my Avery beers, but White Rascal has always been at the bottom of their brews for me.  I do enjoy the subtle sweetness and notes of spice, but on that evening being up against three other really flavorful beers also hurt its chances.

Thinking that they did not vote for White Rascal

I really had a tough time breaking the tie between the Abita and Sierra Nevada offerings.  In one hand I had the smooth, sweet Andygator that goes down very easily for a beer that has 8 percent ABV.  Then in the other hand I had the well-balanced Pale Ale that has great notes of citrus and floral hops, but with enough malty sweetness to even the whole out.  Why choose when neither was the winner for me on that evening?  A rematch down the line may force me to pick one over the other.

Looks so nice in the natural light

So that leaves the Aprihop as the winner for me.  After having my first taste of this recently in Baltimore, I was looking forward to trying it again in this format.  It is becoming pretty clear to me that I love me some IPAs, so I probably should have known this is where I would end up with my vote.  Adding fruit to the style is not exactly a common thing to do, but then again not much of what Dogfish does is common to brewing.  The apricots add a nice character to the aroma and their sweetness does mellow some of the bitterness of the hops, but it certainly does not come across as a fruit beer.  When my non-IPA drinking wife finished an entire pint of it a few weeks ago in Baltimore I knew that it was something special.  All of that makes it my winner for the month.

Saving the best for last

When the votes are officially tallied and the decisions is made as to what will be added to the draft list at CTT I will be sure to pass that along.

So stay tuned!