#16 Terry's Beer Tour of the World

Northern Ireland

Heverlee

A bit nothing.  Fizzy water with a slight taste of malt.  No point in remembering the name.

Hamerbock

Nice.  If the nice barman or bargirl says this is what they have, buy with confidence.

Clonmel 1650 OK

Harp Ice

Good.  On tap in lots of places

Harp Premium.  OK but the Ice is better, which is unusual in that the Ice products normally post-date the production of standard beers and are for the younger market.  In this case, I think it is a better drink.

Smithwicks Superior Irish ale 1716  Very Very nice.  In fact, Superior is an apt description.  Buy it wherever it is on tap.

Reigele Aechtes Dunkel.  A dark beer. A fair bit too sweet for me.  As in one's enough.  Carol's cider, the Orchard Thieves, was a class act and one is not enough.

Hapenny Bridge Inn ale.   http://hapennybridgeinn.com/

Served by the barman, Chris, a sharpish lad who’s travelled far and wide on cruise liners (Seabourne) when young.  Not a lot of taste initially but after a sip or two very nice drop.  There is, too, the romance of having a pint or more at the Hapenny Bridge in friendly surroundings with a young man of considerable breeding and deportment.  A very pleasant encounter indeed and one to be recommended to travelers to Dublin.

O’Hara’s Irish lager, Helles Style.  This is very nice indeed and probably the pick of the lagers I had in Ireland.  One day when we were in Dublin, on a Thursday, it was summer for the whole day and this was nice in the 22 degree heat.

Dublin Brewer Lager.  Sharp, crisp full.  Not sweet.  Great.  Buy with confidence.

Guinness West Indies Porter. https://www.guinness.com/en-us/our-beers/guinness-west-indies-porter/

 Sharper than Guinness. I much prefer this to Guinness, which I think is too bland.  This is very nice.  Only just released and not widely available yet.  Brought home to our B&B by the young sister of the unit owner – she works in a specialty liquor store and gets this newish stuff to try.  This, to me who dislikes Guinness, was a very rich offering and would be great on the other 364 days of the year in Ireland which aren’t summer.

Back in Spain

Alhambra 1925.  A specialty from Alhambra brewing.  Not that special.

However, Alhambra Especial, on draught, in Sevilla, was a very nice beer indeed.  Had quite a few in our 6 days there and it is one of the best of the Spanish, along with Estrella Levante. (Levante is still a family owned brewery)

St Bernardus Tripel

8%.  Dry and heady. Not the right time of the year to be drinking this. I’ll  try some other time.

Grevensteiner 

A G&A Veltins offering.  Cloudy, a little darker than its advertised blonde.  Sharp, nice.

Baltika

Russian.  Comes in grades i.e. 3,4,5 etc depending on alc. %  This was a 3 and was far too sweet.

The 4 is a darker lager and is not too bad at all.  Not too sharp, certainly not sweet.  Vastly different to the 3.

Tempelier by Corsendonk.  Would have imagined more  but not to be.

Monkey Amber Ale.  In Maquilla Bar, a Seville micro-brewery, rated very highly in Trip Adviser restaurant guide.  This is more of a statistical aberration, as they have some extremely high positives and only a couple of negatives.  Nevertheless, the bar food is excellent -  I had a "Hot Dog", but it was with a difference!!.  A thick hot pork sausage in a grilled Spanish crusty roll, covered with caramelised onions and mustard.  It was something special.  They brew a couple of beers under licence, and have a couple of Belgians in a tank or two but the Monkey is their own and it is really nice.  Also had a Weisstephan Pils there but it was barely OK.

George Gale and Co’s Seafarer’s English Ale.  https://www.fullers.co.uk/beer/explore-our-beers/seafarers
A Fuller's offering.  From the people who give us many great beers.

Had the first and second ever pulled in Bianca’s Bar in Gibraltar.  They had just installed the tap in the morning before I arrived after lunch.  Very nice indeed, half way between an Ale and a Lager.  Nice head that lasts all the way to the bottom.  Crisp and a little bubbly, with a nice sour aftertaste.  An English chappy had the third pint and I asked him what he thought of it – he was very complimentary about it.

Tongerlo.

No idea what gave rise to this name but available in Mercadonna in Spain.  Quite nice.  A Belgian offering.

Carrefours own Abbaye.

As with most of the large supermarket chains, Carrefours commissions beers with fancy sounding names and you have no clue from which brewery they come.  The breweries don’t want to eat into their brand premium pricing and at the same time they want the volume that people like Carrefours can get from them.  This one is a Belgian monastery brew ordered by Carrefours to compete with the brand-name Belgians at about 1/3^rd of the price.  And very nice it is too if Belgian holy beer is your tipple.

Kalnapilis Grand Select lager.5.4%

A Lithuanian beer.  Purchased from the Russian lady in Almerimar.  Nice enough to start with but a bit too sweet on the aftertaste.  Not as bad as the “3” Baltika but just enough to put you off.  If I was in Lithuania and it was on tap I would drink it, though.

Fuller’s India Pale Ale

500ml bottle, 5.3%

As I guessed, this is far better than the American IPAs being sold today.  None of the excessive fruity taste that they have.  Good with my Vindaloo tonight when we went out to Khan’s restaurant for Johannes’ birthday.

Dorado

Canaries beer.  Supposed to be a Pils but a bit sweet for that.  Ok but only just.  Well, only just if it was a mile to the next bar and it was over 100.

Oettinger Weissbeer.

From a brewery dating back to 1731.  Not usually a fan of wheat beers but occasionally I am.  Would be nicer in summer.  Good head on it, grassiness not too pronounced. 

Carib  

BVI’s most available beer, but not local.  Very pleasant and not a reason not to visit Road Town, Tortola.

Cuban Beer

Cristal.  

Light, like Corona, Dorado etc.  Easy to drink if nothing else available and not hard on the pocket at about CUC1.5 or say a buck and a half.

Buccanero Fuerte.  

Probably a touch better than Cristal, with a bit more body.  Good choice in any bar on a hot day.

Presidente Pils.

From Barbados but available all over Cuba.  My pick of available beer in Havana.

Sol

One of the many beers made in Guatemala and shipped all over the Carib.  Not much to recommend it.

Monte Carlo

Available by the truckload (somebody overordered!) and nice enough indeed.

Another from Guatemala.  Very drinkable – I have plenty on the boat.  Must go to Guatemala one day.

Dutch Windmill.

Yep, a Dutch beer in a  bar in Havana, near the Cemeterio de Colon.  They had Bavaria too but that I’ve had before.  Nice enough but only a small 330ml can and no glass available to take away the taste of tin.  Would buy again if it saw it, especially if on tap with a glass.

Mayable.

A Cuban from the Bucanero brewery.  Only 4%.  A bit light on for taste.

Monte Cristo

Another brewed in Guatemala.  I bought this by the dozen.  Very nice.

Back in the USA

Up there with the best of the USA is Yuengling.  One of my worldwide favourites.  Drank it a lot in Maryland, its home turf and was pleasantly surprised to find it here in SW Florida.  Knowing that Yuengling is not widely distributed in the US, I was curious as to why it was here and discovered that Yuengling has a brewery here in Tampa.

Carol and I wandered off to visit and made it just in time for the afternoon tour.  At the end, we were treated to some samples.  As it was available, without me having to make a purchase decision, I tried the Light, the Black and Tan and the IPL.  The light is like all lights – barely flavoured water with nothing to recommend it.  The IPL is just as bad as any IPA.  However, the Black and Tan was very nice indeed and I was disappointed that I couldn’t get its base, Yuengling’s Porter, to try.  As a visit, it was great.  As a taste testing, I am confirmed in my preference for Yuengling Lager.  Got the tee-shirt, too.

Had lunch in a Mexican cantina restaurant in downtown Tampa.  Nice arrangement of tacos with different fillings.  I had a Presidente, which I had a lot in Cuba, and then tried a Modelo, a Mexican beer.  Not impressed.  Fairly tasteless.

Motorworks Brewery   http://motorworksbrewing.com/

Very nice not-so-micro brewery here in Bradenton.  They have the usual sop for the effete amongst us (Lavender Lager??  Peach?? Pineapple IPA?)  Still, they do run two very nice drops, the Motorworks V-Twin Vienna Lager and a Cruiser Kolsch.  The brewery itself is in nice surrounds, with several pitches for bean bag tossing plus a couple of Bocce courts.  They have a Yappy Hour every third Sunday where they raise funds for retired greyhounds and also organise adoptions for them. 

Three Keys  www.3keysbrewing.com

Smaller than Motorworks, they sell other micro-brewery offerings as well as their own.  I had a very nice Ale called something like an Alameda Ale but it doesn’t appear on their website for some reason.  I even have a nice photo of it.  Reasonable place to visit but probably better if you’re a local and it’s your usual place of retreat.

Last Voyage

We set off from our home in south-western Australia in 2011 to buy a sailboat and go cruising. Now, six years on, the 20,000 mile journey is drawing to a close.

We set off from Marina Hemingway, Cuba, heading due north to the Dry Tortugas for a final experience of anchoring out before continuing to Tampa where Common Sense will be prepared for sale. The promising wind didn’t really develop and we motor-sailed the 90 mile passage, uneventful apart from Terry catching a nice small tuna for dinner. In the Dry Tortugas, Fort Jefferson dominates the low sand islands, which are a nature reserve and home to thousands of seabirds and several turtle colonies. Brown pelicans dive-bomb schools of fish, gulls, petrels and terns circle, and huge flocks of boobies are constantly put to flight by the menacing shapes of frigate birds and sea hawks overhead. Several ferries and two sea-planes bring tourists in shifts to walk around the fort and photograph the birds. It’s nice to be able to swim off the back of the boat again, but we decide not to go ashore - we haven’t yet checked into the US and this is not a Port of Entry, so we won’t complicate matters. The wind gets up and we end up staying for a couple of days to avoid an uncomfortable passage, but once the weather station gives a favourable report, we set sail for Tampa Bay.

Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas

And of course, the wind turns against us. We end up motor-sailing the two day passage, which is pretty tedious. Finally the vast expanse of Tampa Bay opens up ahead of us and we find a spot to anchor overnight near the Skyways Bridge. Next day we make the long trip up the Bay to Apollo Beach, where we are guests of the Tampa Sailing Squadron, thanks to Nick and the friendly sailors whom we met in Marina Hemingway when they were on the Cuba Rally. It’s an excellent club – everything is done by volunteer members rather than paid staff, and they all go out of their way to help us and make us welcome with shopping trips, repairs and social gatherings. A particular highlight is a dinner out at the Alpha Restaurant featuring star attraction, Elvis...

But we need to get Common Sense fixed up, clean and on the market. I am struggling with some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease, particularly stiffness and immobility in my right arm, hand and leg, slowness of movement, and balance issues. These problems in combination make life aboard a sailboat especially challenging. It’s time to move on to life ashore, grateful for the amazing things we’ve had the opportunity to see and do, and the wonderful people we’ve been privileged to meet along the way. Several people recommend Whiteakers Yacht Brokers to handle the sale, so we meet with Gary the broker and take his advice to move the boat to the dock near their offices at Regatta Pointe in Palmetto.

Common Sense at Tampa Sailing Squadron

This was a day trip through the Bay – you could spend weeks sailing around Tampa Bay, it’s enormous! We finally arrived almost at sunset, and manoeuvred with some difficulty through the narrow channels and into our slip. A few days later, we had a visit from Dave and Barbara Zeuli, Common Sense’s original owners who are now living in nearby Punta Gorda. We had a very enjoyable catch up with them, sharing stories of our travels and their reminiscences of life aboard.

Former owners of Common Sense, Dave and Barbara

The last couple of weeks have been mainly occupied with serious cleaning, and with fixing up all those irritating little things that you just put up with – until you want to sell your boat! We replaced the head pumps, plugged the holes left by broken soap dispensers, resealed the fridge, fixed a couple of switches, mended the spinnaker and the bimini. Importantly, in hot, humid Florida, we got the air-conditioning working after its five year holiday in the Med. We replaced the annoying taps on the water tank system and repaired the waste tank monitor. We threw out or gave away a load of stuff, and advertised things of value (wetsuits, BCDs, wet weather gear) on Craigslist. New batteries and a rigging check. Phew, no wonder I’m exhausted.

In between jobs, we’ve got to know our dock neighbours, especially Ingrid and Fred who are preparing their Beneteau 42 Solaris, for cruising. It’s lovely to think of them setting out on their travel adventures, just as ours are winding down - a bit like passing the baton. Being the USA, it’s been difficult to get around without a car (no kidding, the two of us, and the homeless, are the only walkers in town!) but we now have the loan of a vehicle for a couple of weeks, thanks to another neighbour – so we will have a chance to get around and see some of the sights. But now our first prospective buyers are coming for a look – fingers crossed!

This is what happens when you plant a tree next to your house in Florida...