Last night I had the privilege of having an early tasting of some new brew.
If you haven’t yet heard through the grapevine, there’s a new brewery opening up this Fall in Miami and the best part in my opinion is, you don’t have to drive to South Beach for it.M.I.A. Brewing Co. will be opening their doors this Fall in Doral, but last night they provided beer lovers at World Of Beers Kendall a sneak peek to some of their new brews. In their rotation last night were: Castaway, a Kölsch beer, which according to M.I.A. Brewering Co. is described as a pseudo-lager that has clean lager characteristics with subtle apple and stone fruit esters which are provided by mid fermenting Kölsch yeast. Yet, they say this isn’t a fruit beer, so get it right and don’t categorize it as a girly beer. It ranks with an ABV of 5 percent.
For those of you who like a little bit more of a kick, their Hurricane Saison is a Spiced Red Saison with an ABV of 6.9 percent. Hurricane Saison is a malt driven red saison that has enough deep caramel sweetness to balance a moderate bitterness and plenty of earthy late hop additions. The finishing touches on this brew are plenty of spices to give it the kick such as ginger, orange and Saw Palmetto berry.
Finally, Cubano, which is a Coffee Stout is the darkest of the three and has strong coffee and molasses flavor. M.I.A. Brewing Company describes it as a big coffee nose and a toasty balance of dark roast malts that mingle well with a cooked sugar finish, all trapped beneath a thick mocha head. This hefty beer ranks in with an ABV of 8.1 percent.
By now you’re wondering what my thoughts on these choices were. Well, I first tried the Cubano, which I was told I was starting off with the strongest and should’ve done it the other way around, but then again, when do I ever follow the rules? I figured I’d try them out backwards. I loved the flavor in the Cubano, which surprised me because I am not always a fan of dark beers. If you love your “cafecito” Miami break, or Starbucks hit, this one will rank high with you. You can definitely get a taste for your coffee satisfaction, while enjoying a great brew. Sounds like a perfect mixture of both worlds if you ask me.
The Hurricane Saison was not my favorite. Personally, I’m not a big fan of lots of spices, not even in my food, so in my beer it just didn’t feel right for me. However, some of the men around me were really loving the Hurricane Saison, so I can’t say there wasn’t something to fill everyone’s taste buds.
As for Castaway, I’m going to assume it was the big hit of the night because by the time I went up to give it a chug, it was all gone. I heard good things about this one and wish I would’ve downed the other two or three a little quicker to be able to sample it for myself. If you think I miscounted there, I didn’t, I had more than one try of Cubano. Guilty as charged.
If you missed last night’s unveiling of M.I.A. Brewing’s new beers, I feel sorry for you, but don’t worry you might be able to catch them around town soon. Keep your eyes and ears open because they’ll be participating in a few events around town in the next few weeks before their late Fall opening date. Rumor has it they’ll be sharing more of their brews at some of the Octoberfest events around town. Mark your calendars because I’m sure that once they’re open their doors will be filled with new patrons at their Doral location.
You can keep up with them through Facebook for now. Go ahead, become a fan, you know you want to.
On a side note, I had a great time at Bingo Night at World Of Beer. I’m not usually a fan of games, but somehow I managed to win, so I’ve named myself the Bingo Queen. M.I.A. Brewing Co. definitely did a great job promoting their new brand and creating memories for those in attendance to attach to their brewskies. And let’s face it, who doesn’t enjoy some free beer?
