I remember that Blue used to like this place back in the day, and I could have sworn I'd been here…read morebefore, but in doing some searches for Broward County beer, I realized that I actually never made it. Sorry, Blue - but I'm here to rectify that.
I think the location may have stopped me from going in the past - it's right by Park & Go, FLL, and Port Everglades. I came to the realization that whenever I'm in this area, it's because I'm taking a flight or going on a cruise. That's just what I associate it with, not necessarily hanging out at a brewery. That said, it's pretty easy to get to, with quick access off 595.
Admittedly, this one is entirely on me. From looking at pictures, I knew this was an open air tap room, and I still went on one of the hottest, nastiest sunny August afternoons of the year. So yeah, it was hot. They have Big Ass Fans (tm) but they can only do so much. I'd probably rather go when the weather gets a bit more bearable, but I'm so hot, you know. Your mileage may vary.
The taproom, tucked away within a marine warehouse area, is open air as I mentioned, and has an indoor and outdoor section with plenty of seating. It has a tiki bar-ish feel and is pretty chill. I don't have to feel weird about showing up in my beloved shorts and flip flops. In fact, it would probably be weird if I *didn't* show up in shorts and flip flops.
The beer selection is part of what drove me to finally check this place out. Many breweries have a pretty narrow selection skewed toward IPA and fruited sours these days, and I'm the anachronism who gravitates more toward saison, strong Belgian blondes, crisp lagers and the occasional imperial stout. They had a Chardonnay oak-aged saison on tap called Ou'll Drink To That, so obviously I started out with that. Nice flavor, but the carbonation was not really where I needed it to be. The next one, Ice Breaker, was probably my big winner of the day. I know I took shots at breweries for having mostly IPAs, but this "Cold IPA," essentially an IPA fermented with lager yeast, was pretty nice, with good carbonation and structure. I would order that again. However, after that, I went with Rice Rice Baby, a rice lager that let me down, due to poor carbonation and some diacetyl (buttered popcorn) off-flavor. So, with a three beer sample size, I have a big winner, a big loser, and one kind of in the middle. In giving an overall rating, I'm going to give the winner more weight than the beer that wasn't good, and also take the fact that the two beertenders were both absolute delights, into consideration. More importantly, I would, and will, go back.