Directionless mishmash lacks clear identity but doesn’t necessarily suck. Despite having its hybridized light chili peppering depleted by dirty earthiness, pesky maple-sugared chocolate malting and subsumed raisin-prune conflux sweeten honeyed pumpernickel spine. A certain acridity beckons at the murkily mocha-derived finish.
Watered-down autumnal moderation brings desolate maple-sugared caramel roast and honeyed cereal graining to dry phenol-spiced leafy hop setting. Subtle orange marmalade fluff disintegrated by dull phenol spicing and mild skunked musk.
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
Atop the heap of escalating Orlando beer destinations in the neighborly Audubon Park Garden district lies REDLIGHT REDLIGHT CRAFT BEER PARLOUR, an indisputably inspirational guiding light for the Sunshine State’s latent craft beer revolution. Making its inconspicuous debut inside a downtown Winter Park second-floor hole-in-the-wall in 2005, this intriguing beer pub truly welcomed Central Florida to America’s growing cultural movement.
Formerly a dormant ‘beer scene’ dominated by cheap Bud-Coors-Miller grub, forward-thinking owner, Brent Hernandez, changed the entire scope of business by allowing Floridians to discover craft beer at reasonable prices. Taking its name from Amsterdam’s famous De Wallen-based red light district (where sex shops, peep shows, coffeehouses and marijuana boutiques thrive), the dankly pristine premise also has a rustic pre-prohibition ambiance.
Occupying an unfinished maroon-walled concrete-floored roadhouse mall since 2012, the highly praised Redlight Redlight made Draft Magazine’s 100 Best Beer Bar list recently. Its aquamarine-lettered signpost and neon beer insignia’s (Cigar City, Sweetwater, Anchor Steam, Victory, Brooklyn, Founders, Wittekerke) adorn the unassuming glass-fronted white exterior. Inside, the raw industrial space is consumed by exposed beams, ducts and pipes.
Featuring 23 draughts and a leather-back menu loaded with 300-plus exclusive international bottled beers, its roomy 20-seat, concrete-topped, J-shaped bar gets packed slowly during my initial twilight rampage in mid-December ’13.
Enthusiastic beer slinging manager, Teege Braune, twice voted Orlando’s best bartender, serves as convivial host by pouring two interesting Belgian strong ales and one wintry German dunkel (reviewed fully in Beer Index) to this perusing northerner. His knowledge of fine wine and beer cannot be underestimated. A snarky poster next to my left side bar stool provocatively boasts “Fuck Art This Is Red Light,” a marvelously snide interjection that’ll form the context of this establishment’s daringly independent vibe and the basic sarcastic attitude surrounding the first beer I’ll drain as the moon comes up ’round 6 PM.
As my lips get captivated by the first drops of To Ol’s ultra-dry saison, Fuck Art This Is Architecture (Belgian Pale Ale), with its soured yellow fruiting and herbaceous brettanomyces-affected barnyard funk, Braune lets it be known that Redlight Redlight plans to use the mezzanine space above the bar for a small upstairs brewing operation. And a veritable cornucopia of beer styles are expected to be crafted.
While thoroughly enjoying an ’Immaculate’ hybridized collaboration called Cathedral Square/ He’Brew St. Lenny’s Belgian Strong Ale, with its candi-sugared yeast picking up tangy IPA-like pineapple, grapefruit and orange juicing over peppery hop resin, the beer-centric Braune points to the nearby Randall system. As it turns out, on the last Monday of every month, the pressurized cylinder gets used to infiltrate tapped beers with fresh adjuncts. Recently, Breckenridge Vanilla Porter was put thru crushed-up ginger snap cookies and made quite an impression.
Peter Bjorn & John’s melodically whistled pop gem, “Young Folks,” plays loudly as I consume Weissenohe Monk’s Christkindl Dunkel, a German dark wheat ale layering musky tobacco-roasted earthen rusticity above molasses-buttered nutbread and muted fruitcake illusions.
Though I’ll likely never find half the vintage one-off international bottled selections available, it’s good to see Florida no longer lacks serious craft beer enthusiasts. Hipster beer geeks unite!
redlightredlightbeerparlour.com
‘Potent’ Copenhagen gypsy brew (crafted in Belgium) could be mistaken for a fine IPA due to its luscious piney-hopped fruiting and crisply clean-watered briskness. Tropical mango-melon-canteloupe-kiwi sweetness, juicy apple-peach-cherry tang and candied pineapple-grapefruit sugaring contrast spruce-tipped orange rind bittering. Pine nut, almond, fennel and cannibis undertones flutter beneath rich honeyed molasses spine.
On tap at Redlight Redlight, ultra-dry saison-like yellow fruiting gains substantial sourness from astringent farmhouse-wafted brettanomyces funk. Zesty lemon spritz, juicy yellow grapefruit tartness and desiccated tangerine-apricot rot regale light grassy-hopped bittering. Herbaceous peppercorn-basil-rosemary seasoning, leathery horseblanket acridity and musty vegetal snip add rustic backdrop.
On tap at Redlight Redlight, thrilling ‘immaculate collaboration’ between Cathedral Square and Shmaltz loads Belgian candi-sugared yeast to IPA-related citric fruiting. Tangy grapefruit, pineapple and navel orange frontage and zesty lemon juicing pick up peppery resinous hop bittering. Latent cookie dough sweetness and caraway-seeded rye breading reach burnt caramel spine.
On tap at Redlight Redlight, confusingly updated bock (2013) allows musky earthen rusticity to enjoin dewy peat mossing for dryer-than-expected copper-bronzed dunkelweizen changeup. Snubbing the usual dark fruited holiday spicing for molasses-buttered nutbread insistence and tobacco roasted crisping, its brown-sugared fruitcake dalliance fades precipitously alongside the wispy caramel malt backbone.
Rich Belgian-styled quad loads brown-sugared dried fruiting inside sharp hop-spiced caramel malting. Raisin, fig and prune overtones sweetened further by ancillary cherry jubilee tartness. Dark rum, bourbon and burgundy boozing adds warmth.
Uncanny saison feels more like a doughy hefeweissen with its Challah-breaded baguette resonance and honeyed wheat base outlasting stylish yellow fruit-spiced tartness. White-peppered lemon meringue, cake-battered key lime pie and bubble-gummy bruised banana illusions struggle for space as sourdough flouring gains prominence.
A bit complacent for a Belgian-styled pale ale, though mild hop-spiced lemon zestiness retains brisk crisping. Herbal lemongrass snip and passive clove dusting fade at sourdough-breaded baguette bottom.
Complacent soft-toned pale body contrasts raw-honeyed orange-candied tartness with wispy caramel malt creaming. Sharp hop bittering and fuzzy diacetyl oiling nullify wavered tropical fruiting.
On tap at Tap & Grind, mellow light-bodied Belgian blonde ale provides soft habanero-like Muscadine peppering to mild peppercorn herbage and sedate citric-hopped frisk. An easygoing hybrid with just the right amount of peppery accents for blue collar imbibers and veteran beer geeks alike.
