by Joan Wilkerson Hoffmann | Apr 24, 2019 | Blog, Breweries, Local Beer
Photos Courtesy Flying Machine Brewing Company
If you’ve been to Flying Machine Brewing Company (FMBC) lately, you may have seen people around you sipping tall glasses of foam and felt yourself asking questions…namely, “why?”
Well, get excited because it’s pretty cool.
When I saw FMBC posting photos of their mlíko brews, I decided to do a little research on my own. Because while the folks over there are certainly innovative & creative enough to popularize their own new thing, I had a feeling I was missing something. And I was.
Mlíko, which translates to “milk beer,” is a style of pouring beer that originated in the Czech Republic. It’s achieved by only partially opening the draught tap to create a big glass full of frothy foam. The result is a zippy, aromatic, fluffy version of the liquid you love that doesn’t cause bloating.
You can experience the mlíko pour during Mlíko Week-o at Flying Machine, which is running through this week. But there’s always a mlíko option available. When I talked to David Sweigart, owner of FMBC, he said that the reason they wanted to present the Port City with the Czech pouring style is because of the brewery’s commitment to “innovation through tradition.”
by Jeremy | Apr 24, 2019 | Blog, Community, Local Beer
A weekly roundup of local and craft beer that can be found around the area on tap, in bottles, or in cans. These are not beer reviews and should be used for entertainment purposes only.
Orange Blossom Wit: 4.9% A light summer witbier exhibiting bright citrus flavors from orange blossom honey, and sweet orange peel. Balanced by a touch of toasted coriander and a clean, refreshing finish.
Dank’s Revenge: 7.6% Sweet & juicy up front, with a bitter dankness on the back end. This west-coast inspired IPA was double dry-hopped with citra, mosaic, and ekuanot.
El Hefe: 4.6% This wheat beer is the boss of all summer beers: bright, crisp, thirst-quenching, and crushable. Invigorating citrus and dried berry notes replace the tired old banana-clove flavor combo of lesser wheat beers. Take your taste buds on summer vacation: this is a boss you won’t mind working for.
Cream Ale: 5.2% Super clean and crisp and perfect for those warm, sunny days!
Black Tea Peach Saison: 6.5% Flytrap’s classic saison aged on whole peaches and cold-steeped with black tea.
Hoppy Wheat Ale: 5.7% This new brew was forged with the combined hop powers of huell melon and motueka.
by Joan Wilkerson Hoffmann | Apr 18, 2019 | Breweries, Community, Local Beer
A weekly roundup of local and craft beer that can be found around the area on tap, in bottles, or in cans. These are not beer reviews and should be used for entertainment purposes only.
Swamp Thang: 8.9% 75 IBUs In honor of our swampy local film industry, WBB presents to you the dankest DIPA of them all!
Perpetual Outrage: 7% This is a West Coast-ish IPA made with hops from Crosby Hops, including simcoe, amarillo, centennial, & CTZ.
Particle Wave: 5.1% Particle Wave is a blonde ale brewed with loral, mosaic, and palisade cryo hops. It’s a play on the lupulin powder in the cryo hops. An aromatic beer, it presents incredibly refreshing and super crushable.
Strawberry Spruce IPA: 7.7% This IPA is a bit experimental using nature-found ingredients. A West Coast IPA with piney aromas influenced by spruce needles and hops that complement. Strawberry’s were also added to balance out the spruce bitterness.
Biere de Garden: 5.4% A French style farmhouse ale with caramelized honey and 8 different spices, including rosemary, thyme, sage, lavender, basil, oregano, bay leaves, fresh mint, tarragon, and lemongrass.
Moonlit Descent: 8.5% A complex imperial rye stout with notes of roasty rye and rich caramel malts.
by Joan Wilkerson Hoffmann | Apr 8, 2019 | Blog, Breweries, Local Beer
A weekly roundup of local and craft beer that can be found around the area on tap, in bottles, or in cans. These are not beer reviews and should be used for entertainment purposes only.
Manila Mango: 5.6% This NEIPA includes fresh, ripe mango, vanilla, and lactose for a full-bodied, smooth drinking experience.
Flying Circus: 4.6% This hazy light golden hefeweizen is a summertime favorite. Check 6’s version highlights the coconut and banana flavors inherent in this style. The carbonation of this style makes it perfect for spring and summer.
Jorts Party: 7.4% This hop gusher was dry-hopped with over seven pounds of mosaic per barrel and then recirculated in the fermenter to extract every bit of juicy hop goodness. Only available at the brewery in 4pk 16oz cans.
Sick Flips: 7.3% A NE IPA loaded with cashmere, amarillo, el dorado & hallertau blanc, and named for a very sweet friend of the beer community who passed away, Dean Harrison Goodyear.
Rhubarb Dubbel: 6.8% This take on a traditional Belgian style was aged on 60 pounds of whole rhubarb, which adds a pleasant tartness that balances well with the malt-forward dubbel.
Blue Agave: 6.8% This warm-weather thirst quencher will take you straight to the beach for pure relaxation. FSB composed the recipe using pure blue agave as one-half of the ingredients, creating a super-crisp and refreshing golden ale with echoes of tequila: some bright hints of white pepper and citrus.
by Joan Wilkerson Hoffmann | Mar 21, 2019 | Blog, Bottle Shops, Breweries, Community, Local Beer
What better way to celebrate Cape Fear Craft Beer Week than a *free* shuttle to scoot you around and sip local liquid!? The Port City Brew Bus is doing just that this Saturday, March 23 from 11 am to 5 pm. Two different buses will be running two independent routes, both of which are starting downtown.
Read on to learn about the Hop On/ Hop Off brewery shuttle routes and what I would get if I got to ride the buses that day! ( And don’t forget to tip your driver!)
Route A:
Starting/Ending at Bombers Beverage Company: Bombers is arguably one of my favorite bottles shops in town for definitely two, but possibly more, reasons–the selection is great and the people who hang out there are amazing. (To be fair, the owners are two of my best friends…I got married there, after all.) It would behoove you to just pick Kyle or Sunni’s brain and ask them what you should drink. They’ve never lead me astray.
Edward Teach Brewery: I’m a big fan of a fruit beer, so I would definitely go for Teach’s Peaches, a peach wheat ale. It’s perfect for our imminent spring, and the brewery does a great job of introducing fruit without presenting cloying sweetness.
Broomtail Craft Brewery: Get a Moe Beer. It’s a super delicious brown ale named after a very sweet dog, and they’ve had it on draught since day one.
The Sour Barn: The sister brewery to Broomtail is a fabulous mecca for fans of sours. The blackberry gose came out most recently. I only had a pint, but I could have easily (responsibly) had a pitcher.
Flytrap Brewing: My very, very favorite beer (maybe in the city) is Hoppy Tripel. It’s a dangerous one since it creeps up over 8%, but since you’ll be at the end of your tour and I KNOW you’re not driving home, you’ll be fine.
Route B:
New Anthem: I recommend closing your eyes and pointing at the draught board at New Anthem and ordering whatever you land on. You won’t be sorry. I had a pour of The Feels today and loved it.
Waterline Brewing: This tour is going to be great for hop heads. The Waterline Black IPA is awesome. It’s roasty, hoppy, and clean, and I highly recommend drinking it. I think it’s fabulous.
Wilmington Brewing: One of my favorite things to do is drink a Tropical Lightning from the source, but if you’re nervous about it being too boozy, try a Beach Time Session IPA.
Wrightsville Beach Brewery: At the end of a long day (whether or not it includes a long day of drinking) the first and last things I want are the same–a good, crisp lager. The Lame Street Lager from WBB is perfect.
by Joan Wilkerson Hoffmann | Feb 27, 2019 | Blog, Breweries, Community, Local Beer
This week joining us Behind Bars we’ve got Jarrod Howe, the taproom manager at Broomtail Craft Brewery. Broomtail is one of the very first craft breweries to emerge on the scene following Front Street and they’ve been knocking it out of the park ever since.
AT: What’s your favorite thing about bartending?
JH: I would definitely have to say my regulars. I’ve been hanging out with some of our customers for 3 years and consider many of them to be very good friends. We all look out for each other and it never really feels like work when you are hanging out with your friends (and lots of them bring me food). Also, lots of dogs. Dogs, food, friends, music, and beer. What could be better?
AT: Do you have any advice for current or future craft beer bartenders?
JH: The best advice I can give to any bartender (and I stress this to all of the new employees I’ve trained) is to get to know your regulars. Learn their names, learn their orders, just learn about them as people. I am consistently humbled by the kindness and generosity of our customers. Who knows, some of these people might become one of your friends, and who doesn’t want to tip their friends well?
AT: If you were a beer, which one would you be?
JH: I’m gonna go with our Moe-Beer Brown Ale. Simple, yet classic and delicious, you can never go wrong with our flagship Brown Ale, and as Broomtail’s longest working employee, the people that come to our taproom expect to see me (like it or not), just like they expect us to always have our Moe-Beer ready to pour.
