Beer Rumors 6/28/2010: Mellow Mushroom New Orleans

A lot of times I'll see something open up in Baton Rouge or Covington and wonder why the hell aren't they in New Orleans. When people think of Louisiana they only think of one city. New Orleans. What possesses companies to move to any other city in this state first? I guess I'll never understand it.

Anyways, one of those businesses is Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers. There is one in Baton Rouge and one in Covington. Seriously? WTF? I'll allow my anger to subside but only because I have received some information stating that they are in fact coming to the New Orleans area. In fact, my source tells me they are looking at an Uptown location and hoping to open by November. For those of you that like pizza and beer like myself this is great news. Their pizza is great and their beer is usually a nice selection. I'll keep you up to date if I hear anything else!

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Beer Review: Magic Hat #9

Sometimes there are nice perks to being a beer blogger. Once in a Blue Moon(pun intended)a brewery will send you a nice package in hopes that you sample and review it. Recently I was lucky enough to get one of those sample packages from Magic Hat Brewery. They have just recently entered into the Louisiana market with their #9 and that's what they sent me.

I'll be honest I've had #9 before and didn't like it at all. I had it on draft at the Mellow Mushroom in Destin, Florida and fully expected the same experience this time around as well. I usually reserve judgement of a beer until I have at least had it twice so I've never reviewed #9 on this website.

The package they sent me was your typical package(information folder, sticker, koozie) except for this:

Yes dear readers they sent me condoms. Now I've been married for 12 years now and have one kid so obviously I don't need to tell you anymore regarding my usage of condoms but I can tell you it's been awhile. I'm not even sure I know anyone that uses them. Actually I may but it's not really a topic of conversation when drinking beer with my boys. Maybe that's the thing behind the name Magic Hat. They named themselves after condoms? Perhaps someone from the company would be kind enough to explain the whole condom thing. Rumor has it that condoms, games and other "beer events" seems to be part of their whole schtick. Not sure why a brewery needs a schtick but whatever.

Anyways on to the review:

Brewery: Magic Hat Brewery

Beer: #9

Style: Fruit/Vegetable

Recommended Glassware: Pint Glass

Appearance: This beer pours a a golden amber with a nice white head. A little lacing is present.

Smell: Whoa! Amazing apricot aroma. Very powerful apricot presence with hints of grain and slight hint of hops.

Taste: Huge apricot sweetness with a mild hop bitterness and graininess. To me it's apricot sweet in a good way.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with medium carbonation.

Drinkability: This beer is a good beer for summertime. Nice crisp beer with hints of apricots. This beer has potential here in New Orleans if sold properly. I have a feeling it'll most likely be marketed to the ladies because well that's the misperception of women and beer- women like fruity beer.

Score: 3 out of 5 Buddhas

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha

Panama City Beach Beer Spotlight: Mellow Mushroom

If I had to pick one food to be stuck on a deserted island with I'm pretty sure pizza would be it. It has all the major food groups wrapped up in one delicious pie.

Meat- Sausage, pepperoni, chicken, whatever meat you choose!
Dairy- Cheese
Fruit- Hawaiian Pizza has pineapple!
Vegetable- Tomatoes, Green Peppers, again, whatever veggie you choose!
Fat- Olive Oil!
Bread- The crust!



And, as we all know, nothing goes better with pizza than beer. In 1974 three college students in Georgia decided to open up a pizza and beer joint near the Georgia Tech campus and now the Mellow Mushroom has over 100 restaurants in 15 states and thank god one is here in Panama City Beach!

I'll be honest. As of right now this is the only place that has a decent draft selection in this town. I've not been anywhere else that has this kind of selection. There has been talk of another place but I've yet to go so as of now this is it. Here is my review:

Food- The food at the Mellow Mushroom is always good. The pizza is some of the best I've had and the prices are reasonable. They also have sandwiches, salads, calzones and appetizers.

Atmosphere- They're going for that whole hippy I'm tripping vibe with mushrooms everywhere and psychedelic colors. Fine with me. They also had TVs up on the wall showing football games.
On their events menu it looks like they have live music and specials during football games. From what I read happy hour was from 430-630. Pretty standard. Music was on a good rock station and was a bit too loud which made conversation a bit difficult but no big deal.

Beer- Very nice tap list! Nothing special but so far the best in PCB that I've seen. They have 36 taps with selections ranging from Stone Arrogant Bastard, Sweetwater 420, Sweetwater IPA, Boulder Hazed and Infused, Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan, Bells Amber, DFH 90 Minute, Terrapin Rye Pale Ale and others. I didn't see any special releases. They had the standard macros as well. Their bottle selection was small which included mostly macro lagers and even included PBR 16oz can for $1. Also had Full Sail IPA, La Fin Du Monde and Strongbow for the cider crowd. They also have a beer club membership which of course I joined and gives you perks for drinking lots of different beers. As if I needed to join a club for that. But hey, their gonna give me free stuff for doing something I had planned to do any way? Of course I'm in!

Service- The service my family and I had was great. No complaints at all.

Overall - This is probably the best place to go and have a good pint in PCB.

Heeeeeere's Buddha! I'm back!

So it's been awhile since my last post and for that I do apologize but really I'm the one who suffered here. I had to go almost 2 weeks without cable or internet! Imagine the horror! But anyways I am back!

So I'm sure many of you have a lot of questions. What's Florida like? Do you enjoy your new job? What's the beer culture like? Etc, etc, etc. I'll tell you, it appears I'm in some weird beery episode of The Twilight Zone. I just left a town with very little retail beer selection but with an incredible bar scene(especially beer bar with Avenue Pub)and entered a town with a nice retail beer selection but no good bar scene whatsoever. There is no beer bar from Destin(where I work) to Panama City Beach(where I live). There is McGuires and Mellow Mushroom and as far as I can tell that's it. I'm told there are some other potential places but when I ask people they just shake their heads and tell me there aren't any good beer bars other than what I just listed. As for beer retail shops their is Chan's Wine World, Chan's Wine World or...Chan's Wine World. No one has the selection that we carry. It's great really. I have a lot of freedom to expand on the already great selection. I have grand ideas with the section so we'll see what happens. The job is like Martin Wine Cellar but more laid back(t-shirts and shorts!)and way more freedom! Plus two beer festivals a year!! The best part is I can work on the ol blog more!

Well that's all for now. The job is great, living near the beach is awesome and for those with some cash, their is a golden opportunity to open a beer bar here in town. Plus, I can get Yuengling at the store bitches! I'm out!


Cheers!

Beerbuddha