Beer tour - not quite, but some...

[RickBeer]

Just finished a trip to Florida. Left on 12/26. Stopped in Asheville, NC on first night. Spent 2nd night in Hilton Head, SC (no brewery stop), then arrived in Florida on 12/28. Went to Orange Bowl on 12/30 - quite brisk. Out for a quick brewery stop on 12/31 and then headed back on 1/2 with a stop in Florida overnight to visit my sister, then stopped in Chattanooga on 1/3 before arriving home on 1/4.

12/26 - Highland Brewing - this was our targeted stop. Made a reservation for their 5:45 tour and drove SWMBO to leave in time. Had 45 minutes of padding and hit traffic, arrived with 17 minutes to spare. Gary gave a good tour, worth every penny (it's free). Small brewery, but big goals. Founded by a Chinese American, his daughter now runs it and the head Brewmaster is a woman from Sierra Nevada I think they said. Gaelic Ale was the free sample (and plenty of it), it was good. After the tour SWMBO had a Loco Cocoa Cakewalk and I had a Thunderstruck Coffee Porter (what I wanted they were out of). Both good, but not amazing. Headed over to Sierra Nevada, knew it would be high-priced small plates and it was. Had to wait about 20 minutes (and this was close to 8PM on the day after Christmas). Had a Celebration Ale and I think Two-Hearted is better. Portions were small and over-priced. Clearly a tourist destination.

12/27 had some of my homebrew with my aunt and uncle and had a Fat Tire of my uncle's, then a Sweetwater IPA at dinner. It was ok, nothing special.

Drove to my mother's in Florida. My son brought two beers for our anniversary, we had the Soothsayer by Brewery Ommegang before going out - it was very, very good (He also got us a Maredsous Abbaye-Abdij Tripel that we brought back to Michigan and haven't opened yet). Went out for our anniversary with my eldest and my Mom (who says I am not romantic)... Had a Shake Chocolate Porter on nitro by Boulder Beer Company at a local restaurant - very good. Drank some homebrew while tailgating the next day before the Orange Bowl.

On New Year's Eve we went to Tequesta Brewing for a drink or two. Small bar basically, and nothing remarkable about the "Bob's Your Uncle IPA" I had, or the Pop's Porter from Wynwood Brewing that they had also. SWMBO had a Terminally Ale and it was ok.

On New Year's Day we went to Friday's for dinner (not much open) and I had two Jai Alai IPAs by Cigar City - my experience with Cigar City is mediocre beers and this wasn't different, but the only beer worth drinking at TGIF.

Stopped at my sister's on Jan 2nd overnight and drank my homebrew, she didn't have any, preferring to drink wine.

Final stop on the trip was Big River Grille & Brewing Works in Chattanooga, TN, which just so happened to be at the end of our hotel's driveway and 10% off (food only) with a coupon from the hotel. 2 of their mainstay beers were gone, and they didn't offer other than the 4 listed. Had a Big River IPA that was unremarkable, the wife had a Vienna Lager that was good. I asked about the Red Rocket Ale that I saw in Untappd and they checked and had it (glad I asked). It was also good. Last night after arriving home went out to dinner and had Two-Hearted.

Best was Highland Brewing on the first night by far.

[Beer-lord]

Thanks for the info on Highland.....it's on the schedule for the meet up in February. We missed it last time.
Sounds like a nice trip since beer was involved!