Beer Travel: Kickbacks Gastropub, Jacksonville, FL

I headed down to Jacksonville, Florida this past weekend and, as I am want, tried to find a place to have a good pint with dinner. I succeeded.

I found Kickbacks Gastropub in the old historic district of Jacksonville. It's a bit of a contradiction. At first glance, it looks like a typical dive bar but boasts 60 taps and an extensive bottle list. It is filled with flat screen TVs but blasts loud music instead of the game. You wouldn't expect to be able to get much more than pub fare or a burger for food but they have quite the gourmet menu (at least, that's what they shoot for).

One of the first things you notice is the large board with neon writing on it that details the 60 taps available that evening. I decided to get a draft of Terrapin Oak Aged Wake N' Bake and figure out what to eat. The server was prompt, attentive and knew his beer. We talked about the beers he had on tap and he brought me out the extensive bottle list too.

I decided to go with The Harpoons; skewers of broiled bacon-wrapped shrimp and scallops and they were served with steamed broccoli and fried onion chips. They were very good, much better than most pub food I have had. Was it fantastic? No but they are aiming high and it's damn good...especially when you consider all the good beer.

The Terrapin Oak Aged Wake N Bake was very good. I usually don't think that oak aging stouts works that well but this one turned out pretty well. It doesn't really improve the beer any but it does make for some pleasant differences.The oak aging adds some nice dark fruit notes to the stout but doesn't overpower the roasty coffee flavors that make the beer so great.

I chatted with the server about a good local beer to try and he suggested something from Cigar City Brewing. Cigar City is based in Tampa and started brewing in 2008. I decided to try the Jai Alai IPA. And it was a good choice. It's well-balanced but with strong citrusy hop profile. Orange, grapefruit and apricot with a bready malt backbone. The website says it weighs in at 7.5%...really tasty and smooth even at that strength. I was impressed. (Between Cigar City and Saint Somewhere, I may have to revamp my entire thinking of what Florida breweries are capable of...)

Only one point of feedback...the draft beer list. It's on a couple of greaseboards (see the fist picture) and the writing is so small I had to get up and walk over to the list to read what was there. Maybe I'm just getting old. Or they could invest in a couple big chalkboards so you can read it from across the pub.

Kickbacks Gastropub is the best beer bar in Jacksonville. I wish this place had been open when I live here.

A couple beer sidenotes from the rest of the trip...

Stopped out by Singleton's Seafood Shack in Mayport as I always do. Even straight out of a bottle, Sam Adams Boston Lager goes great with fresh seafood.

Out at the The Baseball Grounds in Jacksonville, the European Street Cafe runs a "Biergarten" where you can get good beer while you watch the Jacksonville Suns play ball, which is always welcome.

Tasting Notes - Pumpkin Beers: Terrapin Pumpkinfest

Brewery: Terrapin Beer Company, Athens, GA
Style: Pumpkin Beer
ABV: 6.1%
Date Poured: October 2009

After taking a break from the pumpkin beers last year, I decided to jump back in this season with a couple new selections and a couple of my old favorites. Thus, a mini-theme for the week leading up to Halloween of pumpkin beers of various varieties.

First on the list is the latest from the Side Project series from Terrapin Beer Company in Athens, GA. This is #8 to be exact, a beer they call Pumpkinfest. According to their website, this beer is a traditional Oktoberfest beer melded with ingredients for a typical pumpkin ale. So you have all the maltiness of a traditional German fest bier (Munich and Vienna malts) coupled with 1 pound of pumpkin per barrel with pumpkin pie spices (allspice, ginger, cloves and cinnamon). Side Project has rarely disappointed and I am looking forward to see how they pulled this one off.

This one pours a crystal clear orangey copper with a thin ivory colored head. Clove and all spice in the nose. Maybe cinnamon. Sweet caramel malt too.

First sip tastes like pumpkin pie. Sweet caramel malt, lovely mix with the spices, sweetish finish with the sweet spice in the aftertaste (allspice, cinnamon and ginger). Sweetish finish and creamy body.

Terrapin does it again. They manage to strike the right note while combining two disparate styles.


Terrapin Beer Company

Tasting Notes: Terrapin Maggie's Farmhouse Ale

Brewery: Terrapin Beer Company
From: Athens, GA
Style: Saison
ABV: 6.0%
Date Poured: August 2009

OK, time to clean out the notebook. Tasting notes!

This was a bomber of Maggie's Farmhouse Ale, #7 in the Terrapin Beer Side Project series of one-off beers.

Fills the glass with luminous and lightly hazy golden hue, frothy but fleeting ivory head. Very lemony nose, sweetish with pointed herbal hops.

Distinct juniper berry flavors in the mouth, bitter and crisp. The body is light but fruity like new apples. But the bitter lemon and citrus is always there too. Herbal and tart. Finishes fairly clean with that juniper berry bitterness closing things out.

Nicely balanced and delivers what you need from a saison. It won't beat you over the head but it serves as a nice refreshing summer beer with some complexity on flavor to keep things interesting. Nicely done.


Terrapin Beer Company

Tasting Notes: Terra-Rye'zd Black Rye Lager

Brewery: Left Hand Brewing Company/Terrapin Beer Company
Style: Black Rye Lager
ABV: 6.6%
Date Poured: July 2009

This black lager is the result of a collaboration between Georgia's Terrapin Beer Company and Colorado's Left Hand Brewing Company. It was released at the end of last year and the experiment continues with a new beer this year. This "tweet" from Terrapin:

"Left Hand & Terrapin brewers stepping up to the brew house today at 2:00 to cook up Midnight Project number two...Depth Charge!"

Pours black with hints of red around the edges topped by a creamy head the color of dirty sand. Lots of rye in the nose, sweet with just a touch of herbal hops evident.

Malty schwarzbier character intertwined with a persistent rye graininess. Underlying citrusy hop profile keeps the beer malty but not overly sweet. Roasty, milk chocolate, bready, grainy spicy rye and big citrusy/floral hops. An odd combination of flavors. The rye is so pronounced, I would avoid this beer if you don't care for rye beers. As it is, it's a malty, velvet smooth and perilously drinkable.

Brewery News From Around Georgia

Twain's brewpub down in Decatur is planning their first ever beer dinner on September 27th. Five courses and five house beers for $40. Beers on tap at Twain's these days: Saison DuCATUR, Hannibal Red Ale (nice and hoppy), Sleepy Conscience ESB, Up The Kriek ("Our Saison DuCATUR brewed without spices then conditioned with a sour cherry slurry") among other regulars. More found here: Twain's Billards and Tap

The opening of the Terrapin Brewery in Athens draws ever closer. (They have primarily contract brewed up to this point...). The target date for the first brewery tour is October 18th. Also, the fall seasonal Big Hoppy Monster is set for release and the India Brown Ale, originally a one-off for the brewery's fifth anniversary, will now be a year-round offering. More at TerrapinBeer.com

Sweetwater's latest addition from their recent "Catch and Release" series will be a big hoppy barleywine called Donkey Punch! It will be released on September 21st in liter bottles, perfect for the cellar. More at SweetwaterBrew.com

The Session #4: Local Brew

I'm a newbie to this beer blogging thing but I saw The Session post over at Lew Bryson's blog and became intrigued with the concept. I was wholly unprepared for this but did have a couple local beers in the fridge that met the criteria so I figured I'd pick up the flag for the Atlanta area.

Terrapin Rye Pale Ale

Terrapin is based out of Athens, GA (even though all their bottles are contract brewed in Maryland) and since the ABV cap on beer was popped nearly three years ago have built a reputation on their seasonal "Monster Beer Tour" extreme beers. However, their flagship beer manages to be pretty innovative, if not extreme. Rye Pale Ale is made with (duh) rye, in addition to other specialty malts but at about 5% ABV makes a decent session beer as well.

The beer pours a slightly hazy copper with a billowy ivory head. The sweet, citrusy hops are evident immediately in the nose but the real payoff for this beer is when it hits your lips and the lightly grainy malt flavor melds with the orange rind flavored hops. The mouth is real creamy. Above all, this is just a really enjoyable and tasty brew. I was happy that one of my local favorites was in the fridge. I must be doing my job, supporting my local brewery and all that.

Sweetwater Road Trip

If you were to rank the best breweries in Georgia, Terrapin and Sweetwater would be ranked 1 and 1A and you couldn't go wrong with either in the top spot. (Some would argue that only Sweetwater is a true GA brewer since Terrapin contract brews elsewhere but I don't subscribe to that argument.) While Terrapin only offers two year-round offerings (their Golden Ale and the aforementioned Rye Pale Ale), Sweetwater offers five and has very recently put an emphasis of their seasonals by thinking outside the box (well, for them anyway). They bottled their Happy Ending imperial stout this winter and this spring have released Road Trip, a beer they bill as a double pilsner recipe in which they subbed ale yeast for the lager yeast.

Road Trip pours crystal clear with a bright golden hue. The head is snow-white and dense and the aroma is dominated by noble hops. The hops (Saaz?) dominate the tongue as you sip this beer but do not completely overwhelm the malt. The mouth is not crisp like a pilsner but softer and creamier (I'm guessing from the ale yeast...). To call this a double pilsner is incorrect; it's what may be the world's first Imperial Cream Ale! (The extreme beer movement's next logical step...) I have a soft spot for a good cream ale so this beer is right up my alley.

Well, I've enjoyed my first post for The Session and think this is a great idea. Support your local brewery!