Drink Tampa Bay is an ongoing series chronicling locally made beer and wine.

This time, Rusty goes it alone and struggles to get through the Moonraker Imperial Stout and the Post-Prohibition Pilsner brewed by Southern Brewing & Winemaking in Seminole Heights.

Moonraker Imperial Stout – 10.6%

Great name. Dark…. obviously. Beautiful. Had a nice head on it, a nice, dark brown head. You can’t see through the glass, it’s super opaque. (Sniffs) Smells pretty… pretty innocent smelling. You get a bit of the cacao in there. (Sips) Whoo. Heavy, heavy syrupy. Very bold, dark flavor. It’s almost like a coffee, almost. Very low carbonation. It’s bubbly, but it’s almost just wet… flat. Very bold. Dark, bitter flavor. It’s good. A little bitter though, a bit of dark bitterness. Pretty intense… not super exciting. I don’t really get the vanilla – it’s powered by the cacao, that’s what you got going on in there. It’s not bad.

Post-Prohibition Pilsner – 4.5%

This is like a peepee… peepee yellow type color. It almost looks like a cider, it’s got the head if a cider (maybe a little frothier than that). (Smells) The smell is almost non-existent. (Drinks) …Pretty hoppy. It’s not bad! So you take the sip, it’s light up front, followed by the hoppiness, and it kind of peters out into a bland wheatiness. So it’s inoffensive… kind of plays it safe, not intense, not a crazy flavor. Very drinkable. But it kind of has that back end that gives it a little something extra.

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The pilsner is not typically what I’d drink. I’d be more inclined to get this Moonraker in general, this type of beer. But I feel like the Moonraker is a little bland. A little flat. Whereas the pilsner has the drinkability, and kind of a little something else going on. Gives it a little value. I like that. Of the two, I would go with the pilsner, I think. A bit surprising. Not usually my choice.

The Moonraker Imperial Stout and the Post-Prohibition Pilsner can be found on tap at Southern Brewing and Winemaking.

Listen to the full rambling monologue here:

 

Southern Brewing & Winemaking is located at 4500 N Nebraska Avenue in Seminole Heights.
Open Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 11am-7pm, and Thursday-Saturday 11am-11pm. Closed Mondays.