Chugging Through the Humidity

Welcome in, everybody. It's the craft beer republic. Thanks for drinking. Thanks for joining. I am Greg and I am being joined by the juiciest, most dry hopped buff guy on the Midwest. And that's flex. What's up big fella? I am juicy, are. Very juicy with notes of tropical. Ooh, I like the sound of that. Sounds like I need a vacation. Oh, dude, you're telling me I need to go somewhere? Not Florida for vacation. Oh, boy. Get to that in a couple of you. It's already starting. Oh, fuck.

Florida. Uh, follow me on this. Follow me. Follow us on the socials. @CraftBeerRepublic @flex_me_a_beer underscore in between and of course, 800 553 beer. 2337. Shout out to our top listening city last week, and that is Trenton, new Jersey. What up. What up, new Jay? That's what they call it now. Is that what they call it? Yeah.

Don't ask more questions, but. Absolutely. Okay. I'm convinced. Yeah. We got some booze news to get to. Ludacris. Libation law. And what Flex is most excited for my trip to Florida. I can't wait. I'm so excited. You literally didn't tell me anything. I really haven't. Usually we talk things out. I just I've told you almost nothing about my trip to Florida. So very excited about this.

We'll get right into it. Uh, before we do, Flex is waiting to drink his beer until he reviews it. Because he's so excited for it. Well, it's not that I'm excited. It's that it smells really. Amazing and it's gorgeous. And I'm just. I just don't want it to, like, I don't know, I'm nervous. So I was gonna go first because I need the beer before I talk about Florida. But I don't want you to sit there and not drink your beer. So let's find out what Flex is

drinking. In a world where craft beer is king.

A world where muscles are bigger than growlers. Only one tongue can guide us. One man, one tongue. One Tongue-jobber. In this world, we must find out what is Flex drinking? All right, so we've had multiple versions of this beer on the show. It's a series. Long running series. I thought it was gonna end at five. Apparently they are on eight. Episodes on. Flex is drinking Voltron Defender of

the Universe volume eight from 4 Hands Brewing out of Saint Louis, Missouri, which I had the pleasure of visiting last summer. Oh, and this is always a collaboration beer. And this time they collaborated with a in-state fella, three sheeps brewing up in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Not to be confused with Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Yes. Very different. So I would say relatively new beer. Uh, 674 ratings on tap. That's 674 and a collective 3.99. So now my hopes are, you know, they're getting a.

Little, little bit up there. Um, I don't know why I talked like that. Uh, this is a hazy IPA, uh, in IPA, and it says it has sultana strata and mosaic hops, and I believe sultana are the, uh, artists formerly known as Denali hops. Oh. You can fact check me on that. I didn't even look it up. I just made it up. The old Untappd crew here says the eighth release in a series of collaborations with breweries from around the country to bring the mighty Voltron to life.

Voltron volume eight is a juicy, hazy IPA brewed with Three Sheeps Brewing in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Topped with a blend of sultana strata and mosaic hops, this tropical juice bomb boasts bold notes of pineapple, hello passionfruit, citrus and blueberry that soar from a malt base composed of pale malt, white wheat and flaked oats. So, I mean, I was big on the pineapple because I was telling Greg,

my co-host here, uh, hey. It's me. Hey, Greg, uh, I poured, I cracked this beer, and I poured it before the show, and it smelled so good. It smelled like fresh, ripe pineapple. Like you just cut it up and took a big whiff of the bowl, and it was just. It got my hopes so high that I was actually afraid to drink the beer. Um, so I said that I wasn't gonna drink the beer until the show started. So here we are. Um, we will start with a little bit of the nose buds. Um, see what's dancing on those

fellas. Hashtag nose buds. And you're right, by the way, Sultana. Formerly known as Denali or Experimental hop 06277. I didn't know that one, but, you know, look at me. Look at me go. I know those things. So it's a nice looking beer. Great looking. Definitely. Still is. A little bit ahead. Uh, it's been poured for about, I don't know, ten, ten or so minutes. Sure. Uh, so on the, on the nose buds, it's definitely still heaps of

that fresh pineapple. Uh, now that it's warmed up a little bit, you get a little bit of the malt base coming through. Uh, fingers crossed that that's not going to come through on the palate. Um. But without further ado, warm up the old Tongue-jobber. Batch 367, 406 and 456. For the other times we drink Voltron. Okay. Um. Ooh. That face. Oh, no. I wish you guys could see this. Oh, that was, um. We're gonna try this one more time. One more gallon. Uh. It's not. Okay.

Where are you gonna try this now? Again. Take two and go. It's a beer. Oh, no. So much excitement. Oh, that is so. Much. Build. Huge bummer. Oh, no. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Uh. Let's see. They said bold notes of pineapple. No. Passion fruit? No, I said citrus. I didn't get none of that blueberry. No, I didn't get that. Um. It's really bitter. And it, like, hits you late. Oh, no. It's on my tongue, and I kind of want to pour it down the drain. Wow. Yeah. This is. I'd say that's the last Voltron

that you'll be having. I can't. I couldn't it just be a single can? That's funny. It's a bummer. I mean, granted, this is only this is only like 1249 for the four pack, so, like, how bad? Complain. Oh, time to plug and chug. But this is just not. It's not what I wanted. No, daddy. Yeah. And I've had really good offerings from both of these breweries. So this is maybe is a bad can question mark. Yeah. Maybe one of the other three will be not a drain pour.

Yeah, maybe I'll just give em away. Haven't decided yet. Some unsuspecting, unsuspecting fool. Yeah. Maybe they'll think it's okay, I don't know. Maybe. But, hey, at least the cans. Cool. There's that sweet can art.

All right, well. I wonder if I can scrape this off my tongue before I go to bed. Oof! I'll see if I can move on from that gracefully. Yeah. How do we segue from this? I don't know, man, that sounds awful. Oh, Florida. Florida. Hey, speaking of awful. There we go. Let's talk about Florida. So I think I've talked about leading up to this a couple

times on the show. Had to go out for a stupid high school graduation. One of the wife's family, nephews, people, and first of all, to me and like I were flying across country for a high school graduation. That's crazy that you told me this. Yeah. And I thought that was astounding. Is it isn't finishing high school just a legal requirement? Yeah, like maybe not Florida, I don't know. You almost like you have to, like, not try to do it. Right.

Because I did pretty good at not trying and still graduated high school. Exactly. Not with flying colors, but, uh, still graduated. You do it. I did it. So you had to do that. We, uh. We took a red eye Wednesday night, and the graduation was Thursday morning at 11 a.m.. We landed Thursday morning at, like, 730. Rough. I such a bad sleeper on planes. And this was no exception. In fact, this was one of the worst red eyes for me that I've ever taken. I got about 30 minutes of sleep.

So we land, we get the car, we go to a. We found this actually really cool breakfast spot. Um, ate some breakfast, had like 900 cups of coffee while I was there. The guy he brought the coffee after the first one was gone in about 48 seconds. He was real southern and great. He was funny, but he was like, oh my God, I'm not doing my job. And like comes over with more coffee. And I said, but if you just want to leave that there, like, I wouldn't be mad. I can pour it myself.

He's like, no, no, I'm supposed to. I was like, then you're gonna be getting your steps in today because I'm gonna be needing some coffee. Can I ask you a question quick? I don't want to interrupt too much. Please. No. How do you feel about them refilling your half cup of coffee? Oh, it throws off my cream ratio. I hate it, yeah. Let me finish my cup before you bring it over to refill. Mhm. Because otherwise you are

screwing everything up man. Yeah. If I see him coming with it I'll pound it. Interesting. Like if it's half or less than half you know. Yeah. Yeah yeah. And then I'll pound it so I can start over with, with the ratio. Um so did that uh, went and then went to graduation after that, after we landed. Got car, I got breakfast. It's time for graduation. Went to graduation. It was 90 fucking degrees out and 95% humidity. Gross. We were at this, like, amphitheater thing that luckily had,

um, like, like sales. Like shade sales. You know, it. Was a nice. Yeah, it wasn't a hard. But when it's 95% humidity and the air is not fucking moving, it was just like living in a mouth, right? Things are getting sticky. Oh, sticky and sweaty and, like, legitimate. At least three people were carried on a stretcher by the end of it. Come on. Yeah. Due to the heat. You're serious? Yeah. Yeah. No, seriously. Old people were getting carried on stretchers. I saw at least three.

In fact, the wife's mom was getting really bad at one point, and she. She's like, go run up ahead and start the car and get the AC running. So like I did, I ran up. Cut the cut the car going. And we had bought a case of water. And you said but honey the knees. Yeah. At least I didn't have to get up off the ground. Oh, that was an off air conversation. Um, and so I got some bottles of water for everybody. It got a little dicey, but, um. Yeah, so that was awful.

It was hot as balls, just fucking dripping. Then afterwards. So this is a weird one for me afterwards. Give me your opinion. We went to lunch. She was like, hey, graduation lunch at this restaurant. Okay, great. Huge chain restaurant in that area. I was like, oh, super fun. We're going on vacation. Vacation quotes. It's not a vacation. We're going on a trip and we eat

out all these chain restaurants. Um, we get there, we order, we're eating, and at one point, the waiter went up to the father of the graduate and said something we didn't. We didn't know what it was a big table. And then the waiter comes over to everybody and starts asking how we want to split the bill. Okay, whatever I can, I can pay for my own meal. I'm not mad that I have to pay for my own meal. I did think it was weird that you've asked me to come to this graduation lunch, and you're not

covering it. Is that me? That. No. That's kind of weird, right? It's not like I asked, can we go to graduation? Especially because it's not like you flew halfway across the country. You flew the entire way across the country? Yeah, all the way. California to Florida. I do think that's a bit bizarre. I just like when I graduated. And you were invited to the lunch. It's not like, hey, we're gonna go to this. Come with. Exactly. Yeah. It wasn't like a whoever wants to feel free. It was.

This is what we're doing after the graduation ceremony. We have reservations. Be there by this time, so on and so forth. So I thought that was weird. Like at my graduation, I can't remember high school, but definitely college graduation. It was like, you know, it was paid for by my parents because. Right. That's what you do anyways. Whatever. Um, so that was Thursday. Friday. I mean, every day we were there was hot as balls, humid as balls.

We went to a couple places for, you know, to eat. We were with family. It was the wife's family. So I just kind of had to turn off my caring about where we were going because, like, we kept going to these chain restaurants. Nobody wanted to be minutely adventurous with their food. and I'm like, in a new area. Let's try some local cuisine. Right. How often are you there?

Hopefully never again. Damn it. So, uh, you know, the food was just mediocre and there was nothing to do because all they have to do is either like outdoorsy things where you sweat your balls off. Now, where were you, exactly in Florida? We were in Saint Pete for the most part. Okay. Sapient floor, which is outside of Tampa. And, uh, the old people were too old to be walking around in the heat. They were fucking passing out, and we didn't want to do,

you know, museum after museum. And we even told them, like, hey, you guys go do a museum. You want to do a museum? No, we want to do whatever you want to do. I'm like, bitch, I want to get hammered. Forget that. I'm in Florida. Do you not know who I am? Right? So it was a lot of like, arguing about where we were going, sweating our balls off the first night there. So Thursday night we go out to dinner

and, uh, we go to pay for parking. It's one of those things like, hey, get your license plate and go pay for your parking at the machine. We're paying for parking the machine, and we see the guy coming around giving tickets to people like he's on it. And we go, and we have dinner, and we come back, and we came back. There was a parking ticket on our rental car, and I looked at the time, the time on the parking ticket ticket was 823.

The park, the the time on my receipt from the parking thing was 824.

This motherfucker gave me a ticket while I was filling out the parking machine. Come on. So then we had to next day go to the fucking. Here's how often they do this. They have an office off of their city hall just for parking tickets. Not the police station, not a general city hall office. It is specifically for parking tickets. And so we went into this and I just I said, the lady, I was like, hey, I got a parking ticket while I was paying for parking,

trying to do the right thing here. I said, you can look at my receipt, you know. 823. 824. She goes. Let me have a look. To her credit, extremely friendly and was like, no problem, we're gonna avoid this out. I was like, is the rental company gonna know? She's like, they'll never find out. My wife wanted to get a couple words in she goes. And we saw him doing this and we were paying and maybe he needs to blah, blah, blah. And she goes, I'm gonna avoid your ticket. And I was like,

just let her avoid the ticket. We'll never come back here. Yeah. Like she I look normally I'm totally with her. Like, let's fucking bitch and let them know that fuck you Florida because fuck you Florida. But I was like, let's just let's just not have to pay for the ticket. And they do that thing where, like, the parking ticket was only like $25, where it's one of those things where it's like, oh, just it's low enough to where I'll just pay it

so I don't have to waste my time. Yeah, but it was a matter of principle at this point. Fuck you. I'm a big fan of principle. Yeah, not principles, but principle. Yeah. Yes. What? What you said. So anyways, got that voided. Went on with our day of just eating too much food. And the one family member who lives there was impossible for suggestions. It was like, hey, you know, what do you think we should do if we want to do x, Y, and Z?

And she's like, oh, I don't know. So at one point we go to this area called Gulf Gulfport, which my wife had done a little research on. It's like an out, I say outdoorsy, everything's outdoorsy, but it's like a beachy community where they have like shops along the beach and it's like old houses turn into shops and that kind of stuff, like, all right, that sounds cool. You know, we'll eat lunch and cruise around these shops. Well, she kind of forgot that.

That's an area that got fucking destroyed by the hurricane six months ago. And so almost everything along the beach was closed. Oh, no. You had to go like a block in, and it just wasn't what it was sold to be. I will say one of. No, not one of the best brewery in Saint Pete that we went to was Gulfport Brewery. Went there for lunch because it's the only place we could find that had enough indoor seating for all of us, because we needed the air conditioning,

and their beer was pretty not gross. That sounds like a stellar place in Florida. Yeah, exactly. So, um. Then Saturday it was raining, like, woke up to it pouring, but luckily it mostly stopped by about noon. Saturday was decent. So we on Friday evening, uh, the old people went back to take a nap. And we went to Three Daughters Brewing, which I had heard of. I've had a bunch of three daughters stuff at Disney. Okay. Yeah, I'd heard of them.

I think Nicole, when they went out there, they had had them. And so I was like, all right, right down the street, let's go. Let's go fit in a couple of beers at Three Daughters and got a flight, plus a couple beers. And it was just okay. It's very okay stuff. Yeah, yeah. Like we had a couple. Yeah, we had a couple that were good. We had a couple that were fucking disgusting. And we had one that was like fine right in the middle. Yeah, that sounds. About. Right.

Yeah, exactly. Even I posted a picture on the gram and Vanessa, you know, responded to it. Hi, Vanessa. And, uh, was like, oh, three daughters. What did you think? And I was like, we had two that were good. We had two that were bad. And she goes, yep. Sounds about right. Yeah. So every. Everything I've ever had. Yeah. Yeah, it was just fine. Um, so Gulfport and three daughters, um, Gulfport was the better

brewery descent. So. Okay. So Saturday woke up, had breakfast, and then, because the old people had left, the wife let me have some beers that day. And so we went to Dissent Brewing, which is also in Saint Pete. It was fine. Uh, better than three daughters, you know. Got a couple flight or got a flight and a beer. And, um, it was better than not, you know. Pretty good. Okay, here's what I will say about three daughters. They did have a coffee blonde ale. And it was fucking phenomenal.

Phenomenal, phenomenal. Like, would purchase, but they didn't have cans. Oh. Yeah. Um, so yeah. So descent was fine. And then we made our way to Tampa, and this is where the beer finally started to get. Tampa's got a Zac goes to Tampa for Tampa Beer Week, right? Which I totally forgot. And I should have asked him now. I got great suggestions from Vanessa and her husband and I totally forgot. Zach's always down there,

and he even hit me up after I posted a couple of pictures, like, are you in Tampa? And I was like, fuck, I should have asked Zach. Yeah, Zach knows all about that. Yeah. So I started at Ology Brewing. Fantastic beer. Yep. So good. In fact, I will say it now. Ology Brewing had the best beer

I had on the entire trip. Big words. Yes. Really good. Wish we could have just stayed there all day. They didn't have food at the location we were at and it was our first Tampa brewery, so of course we were gonna move on. Um, then we went to Angry Chair, and Vanessa was really pushing that. We go to Angry Chair, and I was like, all right. And so the wife was like, you know, girl power or whatever. Vanessa says, angry chair. We go to anger Chair.

Plus we were hungry and they had food. Uh, beer was fine. Same kind of thing. Or like, big stouts. I've never heard of anything else by them. Yeah, and she said that she goes, hey, they have really good stouts. And I said, look, we're not drinking stouts. It's 90 degrees and way too much humidity. Last thing I want is fucking stout with my balls sweating. And she goes, no, no, no, they still have good beer. It was fine. Didn't have any stouts, though. Then we went to deviant. What?

Oh, I was I thought you said they didn't have any stouts. You said you didn't have any. We did not. We they did. We did not drink them. Then we went to Deviant Brewing, who I guess was known for their sours, and they had a couple sours in our flight that were really good. Got their hazy, pale because, you know, I'm a whore. It tasted like liquid bandaid. There were so many off flavors in that thing. It was the worst beer I had on the entire trip. Oh, what a.

That says a lot too. It was bad, but the couple of sours were pretty decent, so, you know, whatever. Um, would would buy this ours again. And then we ended the night at Cigar City. I know Cigar City is, like, sort of craft. Not really, but, um, they have a big kitchen and it's like, you know, going to what is yours? Lakefront brewing. Lakefront. Yeah. You know what you're gonna get? You know, you're gonna get some decent beers no matter what.

Yeah, it's not going to be mind blowing, but you're gonna drink and say, yeah, this is a beer. Yeah, exactly. So I went to Cigar City, had dinner. First of all, food was really good. They had. They called them Chicharrones. What do you think of chicharron is what do you think of when you hear chicharrones? I actually have no idea. Is it like a, like a pork rind or something? Exactly. It's a pork rind. And they, they called them pork belly. Chicharrones. Well, they weren't chicharrones at all.

It was legit chunks of pork belly. Like, it was like pork belly nuggets. And they were giant. They were delicious. First of all, did not expect it to be this giant plate of pork belly that was just gonna be chicharrones, uh, fucking delicious, but way too much. And then also got, like, a salad with that. And, um, food was good. I had, they had a, um, hazy, pale on tap, which was not part of the core lineup, and it was delicious. I ordered two,

that's how good it was. Um, so they may not be super crafty, but it was fucking delicious. And I ran a train on those choo choo. Yeah. Then we, uh, then we went back to the hotel because we had to wake up at four in the morning to catch our flight back home. Oh, man. Yeah. Uh, dude, the first day there, when we got there, the day of the graduation. So fucking tired because obviously did not really sleep on the plane. And I want to do is go back and take a nap.

And I was like, no, come to dinner or lunch and pay for your own lunch and, and then do this. And finally, at one point, I told the wife I was like, I need to go take a nap because I'm getting a little angry. And nobody, nobody wants to see Angry Greg. Exactly. And she was on board too, but she just needed a little prodding. So she's like, all right, we're gonna go back to hotel and take a nap. And, you know, don't call us for three hours or whatever. So I took a nap, and then I just.

I was tired the whole trip because that totally threw me off and then landed on Sunday was just super, even though it was Sunday and we had the whole day like super tired. The only direct flight back was at seven in the morning Florida time. And so what did you arrive like 4 a.m. California time? So no, no, you go the other way. So I land. Well, not the other way, but yeah, it went up like two hours. We landed like just before 9 a.m. California time. Okay. Because it would have been 12

Florida time because like a five hour almost. Right? Right, right. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So had the whole day to ourselves Sunday to recover. But, you know, took a nap and was tired and still tired the next day and just just trying to recover. So anyways, um. And traveling just takes it out of you. It does. That too. You don't really do anything, but it just takes it out of you. Yeah. There's gotta be some science behind that. Probably slept so little on this

trip. I'm still recovering. So, um, did not get a gator nor a grenade when I stepped foot onto Florida land. Really? Sound like you actually went to Florida then? Yeah. Yeah, maybe. I say maybe Tampa, not Florida, but Tampa is very Florida. Like it's there was some Florida people there for sure. Uh oh. Here's here's Florida for you at the graduation. Besides all the old people passing out from the heat, uh, there was a fight in the parking lot afterwards. That's amazing. Yeah.

Anybody we've told that story to, they're like, oh, well, welcome to Florida. Stop it. I swear to God. It's like that's a normal occurrence. I guess they're just like, oh yeah, welcome to Florida. It's like, all right. Fantastic. So what's what's next? Yeah.

So like, you know, did anything horrible happened? I guess not. It was just not first of all, it was not a vacation. Like when I got back Monday morning, the boss was like, hey, how was your trip? I was like, uh, not not a vacation, not relaxing. You know, zero out of ten would not recommend. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, thanks. Weather fucking suck. Hey, worst dick weather. Yeah. Ever. So you texted me that, and I was astounded. So bad. I've been to Orlando quite a few

times. I know, I know. We've talked about. Orlando a little discrepancy. You know, in Tampa and Orlando. Orlando's great dick weather. Yeah. Like you would have feel real good about yourself. Go to Orlando. Yeah. Go swinging in Orlando. Oh, yeah. Now, I've only been to Orlando in either January or February, so obviously not hot. I've been in January once. It was still pretty nice. Yeah. Still nice. Now, the first time I went was the coldest January they'd ever had on

record. That's not good, right? I mean, you know, it's Florida, so that meant like 50s. Well, it's still not great weather. Yeah. Not great weather. No, that's for sure. But all the other times, great dick weather in Orlando. Um, Miami had pretty good weather too, from what I remember. It wasn't that humid. Okay. And we were chilling at the beach the whole time getting drunk. So the the the dick was swinging. Super good dick weather there. Yeah, but, uh,

Saint Pete slash Tampa area. That thing is looking for a hole to hide in. That's crazy. Yeah. It was it was just so bad. It's so hot and muggy. And like I said, it was like

living in a fucking mouth. Gross. I don't want to live in a mouth. Exactly. Nobody does. That's like, actually, like a really gross way to put it. Yeah. I mean, it was kind of Vegas kind of does this a little bit. Not humid. Vegas is not humid at all. But Vegas, you know, if it's 110in the day, you'd be walking around at 3 a.m. and it's still like 98 degrees out. You know, it doesn't get it doesn't cool down that much. This was the same like it'd be 90 in the day and humid as fuck.

And then we'd be walking around at midnight and it was still like 88 humid as fuck. It's like no reprieve. Just getting the AC. It's all we could do. And then her sister, the one who lives there, just wanted to, like, roll down windows in the car and sit outside at bars. I'm like, what the fuck is wrong? What is wrong with you? And she's not from there.

She's from the San Francisco area where it's cold all the time. I was like, I don't care how long you've lived here, this is not okay. No. Rolling your windows down in 98 degree weather. Not cool. There was nothing enjoyable about that. So bad. Yeah, like, let's roll our windows down to turn the heat on. You know? Like who? No. It's your air conditioner. Broken. Like what is happening? Grow up. Oh. So gross. So, um. Yeah. Hey, don't don't go to fucking Tampa,

I guess. Or just Florida in general. I have no need to ever go back. I said something about never coming back to Florida. The wife's like. But I want to go to Disneyland with you someday. I was like, we can do that. I hope you corrected her and said, you mean Disney World? Oh. You know what? I bet she said, world. This is. This is me. I've been drinking. Yeah. Uh. So, um. Yeah. Florida sucks. Sorry, Vanessa. Yeah. You know what? I really enjoy Disney because Disney's not really Florida, right?

It's a little slice of heaven inside of Florida. It's a melting pot of heaven. And then, um, what else we got? Uh, I really, really like Fort Myers. I don't know if you've ever been another super touristy town, but. Okay. Um, kind of demolished with the, uh, hurricane last year, so. Oh. I don't know if it's up and running if it's not. But that was always a really cool place and it's real close to the

airport. Okay. Over there. So, uh, any kind of trip from the hotel or the airport to the hotel, just super nice. Okay, I'm looking it up now. All right, so that's pretty south. I mean, that's almost as low as Miami just on the other coast. Okay, I didn't realize. I didn't realize it was that low. Yeah, like I'm looking now. Like Naples is exactly the same level as. Yeah, it's near Naples. Yeah. Naples is exactly the same as Fort Lauderdale, which is just above Miami.

And Fort Myers is a little bit above Naples. So it's down there. It's right on Palm Beach. So, um. Yeah, I wonder if the weather's just nicer the south or you go or something maybe. I don't know. Because, like, we're we're in Saint Pete and Tampa. It's on the water. It's not like there was no water to be seen. It's just fucking hot as balls. Interesting. It's awful. Never again. Hashtag never again. American. Damn it! So, um. Yeah, that's. That was Florida. I never need to go back to Saint

Pete. Tampa. What a trip. Yeah. Can't wait to never do it again. I feel like my dad. My dad hates traveling. I just hate Florida. Yeah, I like traveling. Yeah, I do too. I like it a lot, actually. I don't do it enough. But, man, when I get out to somewhere new, I'm looking for all the cool places to go and anywhere that's not a chain. And. Right. I don't ask people to pay for their own lunch. Like I said, totally fine paying

for it. It just was weird. It's like, hey, come to this thing that I have organized, but also pay for your own lunch. Okay, I didn't know that's how it worked, man. It's Florida tradition. Maybe. Oh, Flex his face. He just took another sip. I'm trying to finish it. Right. All right.

Before it went on way too long. I'm sorry. That was just a big, long. Too long. Didn't read version. Florida sucks. Uh, before I talk about my beer. Let's talk, uh, ludicrous libation. It's been a while. Yeah, it really has. Take a trip up to your hood. Minnesota. Well, you know. Next to your hood. Don't confuse people.

Hood adjacent. Hood adjacent. I like that. What a term. Yeah, apparently, public intoxication is specifically not a crime. That's fucking awesome. Yeah, a lot of places. If you're just drunk in public, that's a crime. You can't be drunk in public. Uh, it goes on to say, while merely being intoxicated in public is not a crime under state law, the behavior associated with intoxication can lead to criminal charges such as disorderly conduct, offensive, obscene, or noisy behavior.

I mean, that's everywhere. The fact that you can be drunk in public is amazing. Just handle your your shit and keep your shit together. Right. Because here, it's definitely not okay. Right? Yeah. Here is super not okay. I had a buddy come over, uh, one summer for, you know, a couple cans and have a good time. And he rode his bike, and it was probably like a two mile bike ride from his house.

And the topic of conversation came up, and it was like, hey, like, even if you get caught drunk on your bike, like, that's still a ticket, right? You know, so like, it shouldn't be. But yes. Right. It shouldn't because you're not only. Endangering yourself. Right. You're not endangering others. Um, but yeah, still a legit citation. And, you know, so it's like what? You know, I guess the lesser of two evils if you want to put it, you know. Yeah.

A lot of places, the punishment for, like riding your bike while drunk is the same as driving a car. Which is mind blowing. That's bullshit, I am, I'm totally against you. Should be encouraged to not get behind a vehicle. Yeah. Whatever. Walk. Ride your bike. Yeah. Just. Yeah, exactly. So who cares? All right. After all that Florida bitching, I need a beer.

He calls to the bullpen for beer. I am drinking out of Colorado Outer

Range brewing sunrise dreams. This is a gorgeous hazy IPA six point. Very nice. Yeah, the right color on the last week. 6.7% has A413 untapped out of 646 ratings. And it says nothing but hops. Nelson and Citra, ABV 6.7. That's the description. Amazing hops. Great hops. That's all it says. Let's see on the nose buds. Fairly light. Picking up some citrus? Yeah, just real light. Uh, citrusy orangey ness on the schnoz. Let's dig in with the old Tongue-jobber. Oh. Mhm.

Much better than your beer. I'm not jealous at all. Yeah. This is the best way possible. Is like orange juice. The Nelson and Citra are shining. It's orangey and citrusy. It is not coating the tongue. It's just finishing dry. This is. This is a good daddy. I drink this again. I'd buy this again. Damn. I'd buy a whole four pack. Ah, there it is. Yep. I'll be in Colorado next month. Maybe I could find me some more juice. I'm one jealous daddy over here. Let me tell you. Jealous daddy? Um.

This is good. Outer Range brewing. I feel like I've had something from them before, but I have. I must have, right? I've definitely had a beer or two from these guys before. Okay, I guess I could looked it up before we did this, but I think I've seen them on the table before. And this is another one of those Tavour beers. And if this is good coming from Tavour, imagine how good it is. You know, not coming from Tavour. Let me search for it real quick. Nothing's popping up on the show

archive. I haven't had any Outer Range on the show. I think I've had Outer Range. Gotcha. That's what I'm saying. I see. All right, a little news before we get out of here. First, don't forget this week. June 14th is Topa Topa 10th anniversary.

If you're out in our hood, stop by on Saturday. Come say hi and be there. Be square, you idiot. Yeah, don't be square. Be circle. Uh. All right. Six of the ten largest craft brewers shed volume in 2024. According to the Brewers Association. Latest update in the new Brewer magazine, six of the top ten craft breweries actually lost volume in 2020 for craft beer overall,

dropped 4% last year, down to 23.1 million barrels. Now, that's not entirely unexpected, but here's what stings the big regional players. Those pumping out over 15,000 barrels a year were actually down just 3%. Which which suggests the smaller guys are doing all right. It's the big names dragging the averages. So some of those names are Yingling, which I did have in Florida. I was like. It's just whatever though. It's just whatever.

But I saw it at a bar and I was like, you know what, I'm in Florida. I gotta have a Yuengling. I had it at the old time diner at fucking Hollywood Studios. Oh, yeah. It was just like, man, why do people talk so much about this? Yeah, but I had I had to do it. But I that that's why I had it. Because I had to do it. I had one in close to a decade, probably. Uh, Yuengling still sitting on the throne at number one, did see an 8% dip, which is over 230,000 fewer barrels than the year before.

Boston Beer took the hardest hit of them all. They lost more than 320,000 barrels in volume. Which they claim they have the number one light beer in America. I don't know if you've ever seen the commercials. Which one is that? Uh. It's like Sam Adams light or something. Yeah, but it's got, like, a catchier name than Sam Adams Lite. Oh. Wish I could remember. I saw a commercial for it right before we did the show, but now I don't care about it.

So is it. Is it Van Duzer lite? Attention, van. Duzer. Uh, but Sierra Nevada, on the other hand, is up 2% year over year. Not a huge jump, but at least they're not losing barrels like the other companies. Uh, Tilray dropped 13%, which is about 114,000 less barrels. Uh, Athletic Brewing unfortunately keeps growing. They're up 55%, adding over 140,000 barrels. 55%. Yeah. Stop drinking na beer.

You guys, it's just wasted calories. By the way, the Sam Adams one is just called American Lite. Oh, yes, I've heard of that one. There we go. May have even had it at some point. So anyways, uh, there you have it. Nerdy numbers for you. Speaking of American, real American beer. Hulk Hogan's beer brand.

Trying to buy Hooters. Jesus is king about it. Is there a better white trash match in heaven? It just makes sense. Like if the shoe fits, right? Right. If the boot fits. Drop it. Damn it! Uh, just weeks after Hooters of America filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Hooters of America. Hooters of America. Apparently, that's the name. Uh, Hogan's Beer company. Real American Beer is planning a bid for the Hooters name.

According to America. According to a report from Business Insider, the bid would focus solely on acquiring the brand's intellectual property, not the restaurants themselves. If successful, the deal would give Real American beer the rights to create Hooters branded products. Of America. Of America, including beverages, food items and merchandise. Those products would be distributed at Hooters restaurants, retail stores, entertainment venues, and other locations nationwide.

A person familiar with the company's plans told Business Insider that Hooters has always been a big part of Hogan's life. I bet it has. Geez. Why? Cause he likes wings. Uh. Both Hogan and Hooters got their start in Clearwater, Florida, and Hogan still lives in the area. Of course, he's from Florida, by the way.

The plan would involve licensing the Hooters name back to the restaurants, allowing them to continue operating independently, while the brand itself would be used more broadly for product distribution. The bid is expected to be an all cash offer, though the total amount has not been disclosed. While Hogan isn't looking to operate restaurants, he does have experience in the hospitality industry.

He currently runs Hogan's Hangout, a bar near the beach in Clearwater, which I have heard of. I have not heard of this one though. In the 90s, he briefly opened a pasta themed restaurant called Pastamania in Minnesota. That's brilliant. I did not know this.

I think that is brilliant. How did that not last? Right. Uh, at this point, the deal is still in flux and other buyers could emerge. But this moves forward. The partnership could give the Hooters brand a new lease on life, this time with a side of real American beer. So what was the place called? Pasta water? No. In Clearwater. Oh, uh, Hogan's. Hogan's hangout. So I my wife's cousin, coworker of mine, his girlfriend's grandfather, lives in Clearwater, and they go there, like, once a

year to vacation and help him out. Um, and he sent me a picture. There's, like, Hulk Hogan statues all over the boardwalk, and he actually hosts a karaoke night. I don't know if I said this on the show before, but he hosts a karaoke night at his bar, and the champion of the karaoke night gets a belt. Oh, nice. And I think that's just kind of brilliant. That is pretty good. Uh, but, yeah, he's a big deal down there. Uh, yeah. They must like racist assholes down there. It is Florida after all.

It makes sense. Yeah, I just googled Pastamania, and I found a picture of an old menu. One of the items on the menu is Hulk's Power pasta, which is penne pasta, chicken, veggies, and your choice of sauce. Sounds pretty powerful, brother. That's the only like. There's no pun on any of the pasta names. Well, that's what I was hoping for. I thought you were gonna give me something real good. Oh, except. Okay. This is good for the little. The kids menu is called for the

little pasta maniacs. Damn it. They have Hulk shows, which must

be like SpaghettiOs. SpaghettiOs? Yeah, yeah, this sounds awful. Cheeseburger pasta. And my favorite Hulk aroni and cheese. Damn it. That's so good. So dumb. Should have been like Hulk and Meatballs or something like that. You know, like. Pythons and pasta. Chicken, Hulk, Fredo, or just everything with Hulk in front of it. Yeah. Oh, that's Hulk lasagna. Uh, I don't know. I don't know how you top Hulk aroni and cheese, though. That's pretty good. Yeah.

Oh, and here's a flyer from their grand opening where you got a free beverage with any purchase of pasta. Oh, this is so good. Ringside dishes. Pasta sauce. Salad. Good times. I'm gonna stop. I'm gonna close this page now, uh, here's here's a Florida story for you. Drunk driver urinates in a cop car

after hitting a bystander with a vehicle outside of a strip club. I feel like the headline alone is enough. That is so on brand. I couldn't come up with a better headline myself. Um. A Lakeland man was arrested for hitting a vehicle and a bystander while fleeing from a deputy after drinking at a strip club, a deputy spotted spotted a large crowd, later found to include 49 year old Terrence Christopher Phillips. Come on, Terrance and Phillip in the same name in the parking lot of club 27 cabaret.

The deputy pulled into the median of the highway and saw multiple people who appeared to be in a verbal altercation. At that point, he informed dispatch of the situation and approached the crowd in his patrol vehicle with emergency lights on. A female witness approached him and stated a man, later identified as Phillips, struck her vehicle and was trying to leave the property. The deputy observed Phillips in a black Toyota SUV trying to

flee the parking lot. He approached the passenger side of the vehicle and tried to open the door. As Phillips continued to drive away, Phillips put the vehicle in reverse and forward, directing the vehicle toward a man who was standing in the parking lot. Phillips then struck the man and continued to flee. He drove behind the strip club and headed south on the grass towards the high grove. Grove. Excuse me. Towards the High Grove Highgrove subdivision.

The deputy chased toward the vehicle as it continued to flee from him. Phillips drove behind the establishment towards the deputy, who drew a firearm and told him to stop. He did not listen. Instead making a right turn onto US highway 27 and heading towards Polk County. The deputy gave dispatch a description of the vehicle, which had multiple stickers on the back and possibly purple headlights in the front. What do you mean possibly? Were they purple or were they not purple? Geez.

As the deputy returned to the incident location, he saw Phillips vehicle passing the establishment again, heading towards the US highway 27. He notified other responding deputies who found the vehicle and administered a felony stop at a Wendy's. They then detained Phillips, according to the report. The first deputy subsequently met with the man who was struck by Phillips. He had abrasions on his nose and face and his thumb bled profusely.

Come on. The Lake County Fire Department and Lake County EMS responded to that scene to treat his injuries. Took him to the celebration hospital. The deputy moved on to speak with a male witness, who advised that his girlfriend, the female witness, told him Phillips struck her vehicle while trying to leave the parking lot. He intervened by taking Phillips keys, preventing him from leaving. He gave them back. Per the establishment manager's request, the strip club was like,

give him back his fucking keys. Phillips became hostile and used arbitrary racial language towards the male witness and other people in the parking lot. He got into his vehicle and tried to leave while the deputy demanded he step out. The male witness saw him drive forward, hitting the victim and then leaving the scene. Phillips was then arrested. While in route, he used derogatory and racial language towards African Americans, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. Oh why not?

He also maneuvered his hands to the front and took out his penis to urinate on the floor of the deputy's patrol vehicle. That does that. Maybe should have cuffed him a little better. Yeah, yeah. Uh, real winners out there. Yeah. He later gave two breath samples of surprisingly low. Like one for. Not that low 0.178. Okay. That's that's just a little over double. That's. He's whipping out his dick in a cop car.

The New York native was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, resisting arrest without violence and DUI. Second offense. Yeah. I just I've been really drunk before, you know, like. Super drunk. Really drunk. I guarantee I've been a lot drunker than 0.178. And like, we do a lot of stories, right? A lot of stories. Never once when I was ever as drunk as I've ever been, have I ever thought to do any of these things right.

Maybe people are just crazy, I don't know. Yeah. I mean, look, I've gotten drunk and I've fallen off a balcony. I have. What else have I done? All kinds of stupid shit. But I've never tried to hit people with my car or even get into my car. Uh, piss in the back of a cop car. Yeah, I don't get it. Like these. These people cannot be of sound mind already. There's some underlying shit, for sure. And then they get inebriated and it just fucking right.

Skyrockets when you add booze to Florida. That's what you get. You get Florida. You get it. You get extra Florida. Yeah. Would you like Florida or extra Florida? Extra crispy. Florida crispy. Daddy. Daddy. All right. I think that's where we end it. We've talked enough about Florida. Thanks for letting me bitch about my trip. Yeah. You're welcome. It felt good to get it off the old chest. It felt nice. To listen to.

Yeah, I've been holding it in because, like, you know, there's only so much I want to bitch to the wife because, you know, I still want to remain married. Yeah, I feel that. Yeah. You know, it's her family, so I can only say so much. So, uh, hopefully her or her family listens to the show. They probably don't. All right, uh, I'll have a little music. I'll tell you all to find us. @CraftBeerRepublic @CraftBeerRepublic on the socials. @Flex_me_a_beer underscores in

between 805538. Beer. That's it. I hope everyone is staying very well hydrated. And on that note. And a good night, everybody.