黄 嘉 維

I spent a wonderful long weekend with some college friends on the east coast of Florida for some spring training. Like any trip we take, what was primarily a baseball trip was ostensibly a beer trip as well. Not that there’s anything wrong with that at all.

Here’s a rundown on the places we went to while bouncing around Florida.

• Champion Stadium: Nice stadium but they need to work on getting better food and beer in their concession stands. It’s on the Disney World complex so you could conceivably maximize your day if you’re already going to the amusements there but it’s a bit out of the way otherwise.
• Cricketers Arms Pub: Solid, if not spectacular, British pub food. Decent selection of beers on tap and cask though they’d be better served if they would do a better job of either updating their menu when one kicks or perhaps better displaying what’s available for all to see.
• Knightly Spirits: One of the best selections of beer we’ve ever seen in a store in any state.
• Universal Cineplex 20: Yes, we watched a movie while on vacation and while that may be considered to be lame, they served $2 24-ounce beers. So, yeah, that kinda rocked.
• Orlando Brewing: It’s located in what can best be described as a remote location – be prepared to hear Amtrak trains as the track and station is right behind the brewery – but the beers they have on tap make it worth the trip. They don’t serve food there so if you want to eat something to absorb all that wonderful beer, we recommend ordering from the nearby Cornerstone Pizza.
• Coasters Pub: The food here was great. The wings, which we ordered as medium, could have been spicier but the crunch on them was really nice. The draft beer selection here is absolutely amazing but we’re wary about the bottles as there’s some pretty serious markup on some of them.
• Double Dragon Vietnamese: A hole-in-the-wall takeout Vietnamese place that turns out some decent inexpensive food. Nothing to drive out of your way for but you could certainly do worse.
• Tradition Field: It’s probably one of the largest spring training stadiums you’ll ever see as its size would rival many minor league stadiums. Great selection in food – Nathan’s and Italian sausages made their way down south – and the beer here is better than it just being Bud and Coors.
• Vine & Barley: Without a doubt, the highlight of our trip when it comes to beer. The staff is knowledgeable and the atmosphere was decidedly classy. The best thing about the place was their bottle pricing – we got a bottle Brooklyn Black Ops for $20, a bottle which normally retails for, wait a moment, $20 (at least in NYC). We appreciate not being gouged on bottle prices.
• Woody’s Bar-B-Q: A BBQ takeout place that serves some good ribs, which we got on recommendation.
• Space Coast Stadium: We’re cheating here as we didn’t actually get to enter the stadium due to time constraints. It looked nice from the outside. Big too. That’s all we can really say until we actually set foot in the place.