10 Oct CARRY ON KEEP CALM AND PARTY ON …AND YES…PROST

Fall has always been my favorite time of the year… when temperatures start to fall and leaves turn beautiful shades of orange and red and the idea of hot chocolate and steaming bowls of chili begin to once again sound appealing -unless of course you live in Florida where temperatures continue to hover in the 90’s and the only leaves on the ground are storm damaged palm fronds and debris stacked in piles on the street waiting to be picked up after our visit from Irma.  But even that certainly won’t stop the locals from celebrating Octoberfest and our brewery and food partners in the Tampa Bay area have many activities planned from beer garden festivities to family friendly events.

Historically, Oktoberfest traditionally starts in the third weekend of September and ends the first Sunday in October and originated in celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Bavaria in 1810.  However, I think you will find that locally, breweries all around generally choose to extend the celebration through the entire month of October.

I think it is safe to say that Octoberfest can be accurately described as a celebration of “superlatives” –  with millions of people celebrating worldwide in local events while consuming over 7.5 million liters of beer (translated to 1.98 million gallons) in Munich alone during their 3 – week celebration and when you multiply that number around the world there is a staggering amount of beer being poured and consumed in honor of this one marriage!  Who knew?   But on a side note, I suspect for some there are plenty of reasons to celebrate the taste of local craft beer and the Tampa area certainly boasts some award- winning breweries – many of which are showcased on the TampaBay Food and Craft Beer Tours.

Recently the awards for “The Best of Tampa Bay” were announced and we were so excited to see that three of the local craft beer breweries (3Daughters, The Green Bench and Cage breweries) and 2 of the featured restaurants on our new St. Pete Craft Beer & Bites tour were highly recognized for being the best of the best with some receiving multiple awards.  This new tour featuring these breweries and local restaurants will officially launch in November and we are so pleased to partner with each of them as we introduce guests to another great historic neighborhood in the Tampa Bay area.

And, just a few miles from St. Pete, we have the Dunedin breweries serving up many local events and special craft beers in celebration of fall, Octoberfest and Halloween. Our brewery partner, Cueni Brewery is tapping off their Pumpkin Beer this week and Caledonia Brewery has teamed up with another one of our brewery partners to create a “collab” beer called Happy Hosen Heiss Lager and will be hosting a Beer and Zombies event on October 21^st.    I encourage you check out each of their Facebook pages for more information on upcoming events and new beers –  including Soggy Bottom and 7venth Sun breweries. There is always something unique and exciting happening in the local brewery market throughout the Tampa Bay area.

And don’t forget the great food options here in Tampa Bay…from the authentic Cuban sandwich to charbroiled oysters on the half shell we have it all.  And here is another easy recipe from one of our favorite chef’s Happy from Happy’s Bayou Bites – that we encourage you to try.  She and her husband Mark assure me it goes great with any libation of your choosing – but especially craft beer.

Crab Cakes – Crabby Patties

1 ½ C bread crumbs

¾ C mayo of your choosing

1 ½ T seafood rub

2 tsp dry mustard

3 eggs

3 T parsley

2 lb crab meat (1 claw and 1 special)

Combine bread crumbs, parsley dry mustard and rub

Add in mayo and eggs

Mix in crabmeat and then fry, saute’ or bake in oven until done.

If you aren’t a big seafood fan (and are feeling adventurous) then change it up and add diced brats, some shredded Swiss cheese and the rub of your choice to the mix until you get the desired consistency that sticks together!

“It doesn’t matter if the glass is half full or half empty as long as you have a lot of glasses.”  Just remember to eat.drink.local