Tallahassee brewery Proof Brewing Co. hosted its 5th Annual Florida Tap Invitational beerfest, on September 29-30, with a Kickoff Party on Friday night at Madison Social in the city's College Town entertainment district, followed by an all-Florida beerfest at the brewery on Saturday afternoon.
The unique beerfest featured 47 Florida breweries. The catch? The beers were rare, limited release, or tap room-only brews, with some having been tapped for the first time anywhere at this fest. Brewers highlighted creativity in beers that many have not tasted before, and the craft beer-lovin' crowd sampled beers in many different styles, flavors, and colors.
Of course, in proper fashion, my weekend festivities began on Friday evening with a visit to Proof Brewing, at Railroad Square. It had been a couple of years since I had visited the "new" Proof Brewing. Co-founders Byron and Angela Burroughs expanded operations in 2014, when the brewery moved from its original location on Tennessee Street to its current 20-barrel brewhouse, production and tap room facility in the Railroad Square arts district. It's a beautiful venue. Tables and chairs, many under cover, line the outdoor beer garden, and an entertainment area offers cornhole, bocce and more activities. You'll feel like you're at a resort while sitting outside under one of the umbrellas. A large tree provides a natural backdrop in the corner.
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Munich Lager in the beer garden to start the night |
Inside, the open tasting room features 20 taps, with a couple of large bay doors to accommodate weather conditions.
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Decisions, decisions! |
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View of the brewhouse through the windows. Seating at the bar or at tables and chairs inside. |
Next stop on the itinerary: Tap Invitational Kickoff at Madison Social in the College Town District. The area represents social interaction at is utmost, with bars and restaurants dotting the street. Nearby Doak Campbell Stadium at Florida State University looms in the background. The Kickoff event offered paired Proof Brewing beer and food sampling stations, intermingled with games and activities up and down the street, with coupons for drinks and food for participants.
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Socializing at the Kickoff event |
Proof Brewing tapped its just-for-the-occasion Madison Soc-Ale, a cask pale ale with extra Simcoe on White Oak spirals, poured by the friendly Proof crew.
Games included spin the wheel for prizes, knock down the cans, ring toss, and a stein holding booth, among others.
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Not bad for a novice stein-holder! That stein is thick glass, Heavier than it looks. I'm ready for the next one, now. |
Beer and food pairings included such delights as meatballs in red sauce, chicken wings, Chicken Al Pastor, and Pork Belly Sliders, each complemented with a Proof Brewing beer.
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Hungry? Pork belly sliders |
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With Alan from Proof Brewing: a face every Florida beer geek can love |
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Always love seeing Gabe from GrassLands Brewing over on Gaines |
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Under the big tent.... |
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...or in the beer garden |
When Proof released the fest tap list last week, it was enough for instant salivation. Most of the breweries served two beers. The final tap list named styles ranging from light to dark, sweet to sour to bitter, and everything else in between. In addition, Proof's tap room served 20 additional house beers.
Two large tents in the front covered the majority of the brewery tables. Florida Brewers Guild Board Member breweries were set up in the beer garden (Proof Brewing, Coppertail Brewing, Cigar City Brewing, Green Bench Brewing, Intuition Ale Works, Sea Drift Brewing, and Wynwood Brewing).
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Follow the map |
Not only were there many different styles of beer, but the colors! Almost as many colors of beer as in a box of crayons! Aqua, blue, red, orange, green, gold, black.
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Proof Brewing's Blue Raspberry Evil Kiss Berliner. It's aqua. Lots of flavor and refreshing, like a blue popsicle! |
It's impossible to show every beer that I tasted (some more than once), but photos are required, so here goes. Guess we'll let the photos do the talking for a while:
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With John and Ian from First Magnitude Brewing (Gainesville). Passionfruit Sour Ale with Mosaic: hops worked well with the sour. |
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Hidden Springs Ale Works (Tampa) didn't have any f**s to give: Zero F**ks Pale Ale. Zero IBU. Might be my new favorite beer to talk about. |
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Had been wanting to try the Central 28 Ideia Coffee Porter. Robust coffee taste |
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Yes, there were water kegs throughout the fest. Stay hydrated! Nice touch, by the way. |
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Screamsicle! With the guys from Bold City Brewery (Jax) |
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Red beer in hand, and a rare photobomb: Proof Brewing Blood Orange Evil Kiss Berliner (got all that?) Vibrant color, amazingly refreshing |
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It might sound like a country song: Red Cypress Brewery Pineapple Earlene New England IPA: Fruity good |
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Gotta love those Red Cypress guys, too! (That's my second glass of Earlene) |
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Heaven in a glass: Hazelnut Mayday from Saltwater Brewery. Great seeing the guys again! |
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With Jay from SeaDrift Ales & Lagers (also Barley Mow). A set of solid beers: Mocha Stout this time: chocolate & sweet |
And, look around, everyone had an awesome time!
And, then, the tents started coming down.
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Well done, Proof Brewing! |
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What do you mean, it's over? |
Proof Brewing is located at 644 McDonnell St. in the Railroad Square area of Tallahassee. The tap room is open six days a week, closed on Monday.
And, Proof Brewing is excited to announce that its Warpath DIPA was just named in Paste Magazine's Best DIPA/Imperial IPA Blind Tasting list, coming in at Number 7. Congratulations to Proof!
It was an awesome weekend at the Florida Tap Invitational, with awesome beer people, and awesome beer! (Yeah, it was awesome!)
Thanks to Proof Brewing for an amazing fest and the hospitality! If you're looking for a road trip/beertrip or long weekend, be sure to add Proof Brewing to the agenda. Tallahassee has blossomed into a brewery destination, and I think I'll head west on I-10 again.
That's a wrap this time.
See you with a beer around Florida Somewhere....
Cheers!
Til next time,
Linda
Linda Johnson,
Certified Cicerone®
(all photos by Linda Johnson)
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