Some snowbirds may think of Paradise as New Jersey but being a resident of Florida I think about the entire state and especially Key West as paradise. Now if you're the New Jersey Governor and have a condemned beach all to yourself, then that is a different story!! FOCUS Wines are inspired by owner Joe Carusos' two daughters who were born with congenital cataracts, and a portion of the proceeds of the wine sales goes to the Children's Hospital and Ophthalmologists in Philadelphia (C.H.O.P), and other locations who helped them through 26 eye surgeries. They are a wholesaler based in Cape May, New Jersey with their grapes being picked from Sonoma & Napa vineyards.
My wife and I first tasted FOCUS wine selections during the 2016 Key West Food and Wine Festival events, where three of the five grape varietals were available. The wines are also sold year-round in Key West and a few other select retailers and restaurants. The varietals include the Parker pinot noir, Shea chardonnay, Zion cabernet sauvignon, Madeliene Q merlot, and the Sadie sauvignon blanc. At the time of this article, the current vintages were 2012 and 2013.
The “Parker” pinot noir is named after one Mr. Carusos two daughters who, like him, were born with congenital cataracts. These doctors and their teams have provided numerous procedures, therapies, and support many children with loss of sight.
The “Zion” cabernet grapes according to FOCUS were selected among the best coastal growing regions in California's northern coast and San Joaquin region. In these areas, warm sunny days provide optimum grape ripening while the Pacific Coast fog creates cool nights that maintain the acidity of the grapes resulting in the balanced fruit of a full-bodied cab. Zion is a remarkable young man who received the first pediatric bi-lateral hand transplant EVER! Watch the video about Zion's story here!
“Shea” Caruso was born in 2010 and was the first case of congenital cataracts to be seen in an ultrasound. Dr. Scheie was Joe Caruso's eye surgeon when he was a child and is now a legacy to which all the eye surgeons and ophthalmologists at C.H.O.P. honor in their practices. The winemaker selected grapes from vineyards across the coolest growing areas of the Sacramento River Delta and San Joaquin Valley, as well as vineyards in the North and Central Coasts. Grapes harvested from a variety of vineyards and areas each provide unique flavor components, creating a balanced, complex and harmonious wine.
Personally, the cabernet needs a little more time to age, and according to the winemaker it can easily go for 10+ years, so I would give it 4-5, then decant it. The pinot noir was nice for a California blend considering I lean more towards Bourgogne and Willamette for my pinot favorites. I suppose it is due to the higher alcohol content in FOCUS then you see in Old World pinot’s that made it so attractive to me, along with all the winter spices. The Chardonnay was an excellent “non” oak bomb for a Cali wine but still had California spelled all over it with the crispy floral and zestiness. They are very different in general from the French and Oregon varietals which are more earthy and granite flavored in my opinion.
In Key West, I did not taste the merlot or sauvignon blanc, as I may have overlooked it. The cases produced each year range from 600 to 1800 depending on the varietal. You can learn more by visiting the website.
Wine & Grape:
Nose (Bouquet):
Palette Experience:
2014 Shea Chardonnay
Winemaker Notes:
57% Napa, 43% Sonoma County with a brilliant straw hue. Elegant floral nose of gardenias, with crisp citrus and white tropical fruit notes.
Winemaker Notes:
The palate has a crisp foundation that forms the backbone of lemon zest with hints of guava, mandarin oranges, and grapefruit.
2012 Parker Pinot Noir
Winemaker Notes:
52% Sonoma, 48% Napa Valley
A red garnet hue, an elegant aroma of ripe bing cherries, rose petals, Christmas spices with hints of fresh vanilla bean
Winemaker Notes:
On the palate, the soft entry leads into a rich dark cherry foundation with a hint of leather and the terroir of vineyard earth of slate and loam. A plush elegant finish of cola, cordial cherries, cocoa bean and notes of toasty oak. This wine will age easily 10+ years.
2014 Zion Cabernet
15 months in French Oak (40% New)
Winemaker Notes:
54% Napa 46% Sonoma County
75.7% Cab Sav, and 24.3% Merlot
this wine shows sweet black fruits with high notes of anise and hints of pine and holiday spice on the nose
Winemaker Notes:
The palate is rich with blackberry and ripe cherries, sweet vanilla bean, and cocoa with hints of smoked meats, earth, and leather
*** NOTE TO THE READER ***
I refer to myself as an oenophile though, oenophilia is defined as “a disciplined devotion to wine, accompanying strict traditions of consumption and appreciation.” In a general sense, oenophilia also refers to the enjoyment of wine, often by a layman - which I am, and not qualified as a professional. I just enjoy drinking it, so my rating is based on enjoyment and the overall experience, not the science of an expert.
The worlds best restaurants is a subjective list of who is writing it and changes on a regular basis. The Wine Dine and Play best experiences are based on my highest rated stared restaurants, meaning that the visit was an outstanding or extraordinary experience. From cafés, chains, mom + pops, hole in the walls, to fine dining including a few Michelin spots. Visit the Top 100 page to see the entire list.
Food and wine, to me it is like the Frank Sinatra song “Love and Marriage” which was used as the theme for Married with Children. I agree with the song as it relates to food and wine, because you can’t have one without the other. All over the world there are food and wine festivals (find a local festival in your town) and my fiancé and I found one on paradise island, at the Southernmost Point in the United States called the Key West Food and Wine Festival. Besides this festival, we wanted to see everything else this small island had to offer. This article will not just be about the festival but the entire trip and what we saw, ate, drank, and did to give you the full scope of this escape called Key West.
Follow Wine, dine, and Play:
From the home page of the food and wine festival:
78 Degrees, 40 events, one tiny island, flip flops required.
January 27-31, 2016
Main review:
on the map, the Keys from Central Florida looks like a short distance with a nice drive through Alligator Alley, then you hit Miami where your nice 80 miles per hour drive comes to a crawl. Once your through that mess and cross the first causeway onto Key Largo, you go from a nice four lane road, down to two, so hopefully you don’t have a winnebago in front of you going 35-40 MPH. If you do, then the nice 70-90 minute drive from Key Large to Key West will become three hours or longer. For us it was over eight hours total between traffic and bad weather, plus stopping for a cocktail at the Beach Cafe, Morada Bay Resort on Islamorada.
A few fun facts about the Florida Keys
The first inhabitants on the islands were the Native American tribes of the Calusa and Tequesta. Ponce de Leon arrived later on as one of the first Europeans to find and explore the islands. The total land area of the Florida Keys is 137.3 square miles (356 sq km) and in total there are over 1700 islands in the archipelago.
Only 43 of the islands are connected via bridges, but the Seven Mile Bridge is still the longest. It connects Knights Key which is part of the city of Marathon in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys.
One of the worst hurricanes to strike the United States made landfall near Islamorada in the Upper Keys on Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 1935. Winds were estimated to have gusted to 200 mph (320 km/h), More than 400 people were killed, to include hundreds of World War I veterans working on the roadways as part of a government relief program. They were housed in non-reinforced buildings in three construction camps in the Upper Keys. When the evacuation train failed to reach the camps before the storm, more than 200 perished. Their deaths caused anger and charges of mismanagement that led to a Congressional investigation.
In 1982, the United States Border Patrol had established a roadblock and inspection points on US Highway 1, stopping all northbound traffic returning to the mainland to search vehicles for illegal drugs and immigrants. The Key West City Council repeatedly complained about the roadblocks, which hurt the Keys' tourism industry. After various attempts to get a legal injunction against the blockade failed in federal court in Miami, on April 23, 1982, Key West Mayor Dennis Wardlow and the city council declared the independence of the city of Key West, calling it the "Conch Republic". After one minute of secession, he as the Prime Minister surrendered to an officer of the Key West Naval Air Station, and requested one billion dollars in foreign aid. Now that is a way to get the Governments attention when they are intruding into the rights of the people.
It begins: Thursday, January 28, 2016
We stayed at a nice one bedroom rental attached to a larger Inn with at least ten rooms on Amelia Street behind The Salty Angler Restaurant, where on one evening we did stop in for a drink, but not to eat. The International Headquarters address for the Festival was also on the same street so very convenient. We found the property through Key West Vacation Rentals and got a great deal for that extended 4 day weekend as they catered to veterans and active duty military. The location was perfect, right off of Duval Street, three blocks north of the Southernmost Point, and four blocks south of the Key West Lighthouse and the Ernest Hemingway House. Duval Street in total is 1.25 miles (2.12 km) with water on either side. The southern end of the road is the Atlantic Ocean and the opposite end is the Gulf of Mexico.
2016 was the 7th annual event for the food and wine festival in Key West. The starting date was Thursday, January 28th, at 7:00 pm. Throughout the four day festival there would be over 40 events that you could purchase tickets for that varied throughout the day. Based on the scheduling, it would be impossible to attend all of them unless you cloned yourself. We purchased tickets to the opening event called the Henry Flagler’s Welcome Party, set at the Casa Marina Resort by Waldorf Astoria. Conceived by American railroad tycoon Henry Flagler, the resort was intended to accommodate wealthy customers of Flagler's Overseas Railroad, which spanned from Key West to the Florida mainland.
The house or ballroom was packed out with over three hundred people, plus the many vendors offering wine tastings, a buffet of flatbreads, and a carving station of short ribs with truffled mustard aioli. Plus pass hors d’oeuvres were available such as coconut shrimp with horseradish kumquat marmalade, Spanish chorizo empanadas, cilantro emulsion heirloom tomato bruschetta, roasted garlic honey buttered yellowfin tuna tartar, wakame seaweed salad of roquefort on crostini’s with candied walnuts and grapes. Is your mouth salivating yet?
The Flatbread station had selections such as caramelized onions, goat cheese with Nueske’s bacon, a roasted vegetable flatbread, a pesto with fresh mozzarella, and my favorite a baked brie with marinated figs.
For entertainment we had singer-songwriter and guitarist Rusty Lemmon direct from Memphis, Tennessee. His style of music blends dynamic and raw country, with rock and blues sounds to create an original style of music that fuses traditional Americana and alternative rock with a much darker side.
Some of the wines tasted that evening included Chamisal Vineyards based in the Santa Maria Valley of California, Focus Wines which appeared at every event that we attended that weekend except the beer and slider tasting. They have a main office based in Cape May, New Jersey with grapes picked from Sonoma and Napa.
Their was a Sauvignon Blanc from Tangent Vineyards also based in San Luis Obispo in the northern Santa Maria Valley, which my fiancé enjoyed.
Another one that she loved was sparkling wine made with blueberry extract called Blanc de Bleu Cuvée Mousseux from California marketed by the Bronco Wine Company. On the nose you have blueberries of course, followed by notes of apple and lemon.On the palate there is fresh and crisp hints of spice and berry.
Lets see, they also had Montes Winery, from Chile, where they have five separate vineyards stretched out from the Aconcagua, Casablanca, San Antonio Valley’s, and two vineyards in the Colchagua Valley. Then as a special treat, we did a tasting of tropical fruit wines from the Key West Winery with flavors like key limen, mango, and a brand called hurricane class 5.
Finally they had a nice thick Napa cabernet by Forefront Winery which I really enjoyed just to name a few.
We were so impressed from what we had seen thus far that we purchased a Food and Wine Festival Poster that was signed by the artist and number printed from Kepart Studio Gallery also based on the island. If the remainder of the weekend were to continue like this it would rank on my list as the best wine festival I have ever been to. Now my fiancé used to be in the wine business so she has been to hundreds of these events around the country, and she mentioned that so far this was very nice, and that is high praising compared to the events she has seen in the past.
As the event continued inside we went out near the beach and enjoyed the hammocks tied to the palm trees, and had more wine, reflecting on how wonderful the day was to include the bumper to bumper traffic in Miami all the way till now, enjoying this wonderful resorts catering to the event. We even talked about the next time that we return to Key West to stay here at the Casa Marina.
Friday, January 29, 2016
The next event that we had tickets for wasn’t going to start until the evening, so the whole day we enjoyed a few sightseeing tourist destinations around the island and of course midway up Duval Street where we stopped into Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville and had a quick drink. I had been to Margaritaville once before when I came to Key West with my father back in 1997. I was in the Army and on leave being transferred from Fort Bragg in North Carolina to Camp Hovey in Tongduchon, Korea. While my dad and I were there I had to be a Parrot Head and eat a Cheeseburger in Paradise with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and a French fried potato, big kosher pickle and a cold glass of Corona Beer, so good god all mighty which way do I steer? Sorry couldn’t resist. Sitting next to us was another gentleman who overheard me mention to my dad that I was enjoying the burger, so he waved down the bar tender, and bought us a round of beers, to which I thanked him, looked his way and said shit, because it was Jimmy Buffet.
Cheeseburger In Paradise:
After Margaritaville came a few other small stops like having a brand name beer at the famous Hogs Breath Saloon, and stoping to eat a piece of Key Lime Pie at the Key Lime Pie Company store which holds a recipe over one hundred years old, making it one of the oldest places in the Key’s to sell the famous pie. As the story goes, the key lime pie originated in Key West sometime towards the end of the 1800s. William Curry, a very influential Key West resident and Bahaman immigrant became Florida's first millionaire through his investments in the stock market. He had a cook named "Aunt Sally" who concocted the first pie from key limes. The traditional key lime pie recipe contains key lime juice, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolk. To go and see the kitchen where it all started then you have to book yourself in at the Amsertdam’s Curry Maison Inn on Caroline Street off of Duval and Simonton which used to be where Curry lived.
A tradition that my fiancé and I started from a previous trip to island paradises was in Puerto Rico where I shaved my head for the first time. While being over in Iraq I kept it shaved, but grew it out the month before coming home. So for this trip, she found a local barber called Moe’s Barber and Gun Shop, right up my alley, which is funny because I’m a pro Second Amendment Libertarian and she is about as anti gun as you can get. When we got there the person working said that the guns had been moved to a shop on another island, and the gun shop had become a style shop, just not updated in google yet. After the shaving we both grabbed a sandwich and a wonderful cup of coffee from a restaurant next door called the Cuban Coffee Queen.
As we walked back to our rental property we stopped in to see the Wyland Art Gallery and wished I had a few extra $100,000 dollars to get some of the beautiful paintings a sculptures he had on display. Finally a stop over at Mel Fishers Treasures where there were several coins on display and for sale from the shipwreck of the Nuestra Senora De Atocha which went down in a storm with four other ships off the Florida Keys in 1622.
Mel fisher
picture courtesy of squidoo.com
We prepared for the next event which from where we were staying was on the opposite end of Duval Street on the North side at the Hyatt Key West Resort. We made it a few blocks but with my fiancé being in high heels, it was time to flag down a cab. We hired one the bicycle taxi’s to which when you visit you have to do just once, giving you a feel of the Orient. Don’t do it too often though because they are very expensive.
This wine event was titled the Sunset on the Harbor Grand Tasting where some light bites were provided from SHOR American Seafood Grill, attached to the Hyatt property. For a Grand Tasting as it was advertised, it was not very big or grand for that matter. A lot of the same wines that were at the Henry Flagler’s Welcome Party the night before were also at this event, and the hors d'oeuvres provided like an organic caprese with organic olive oil and island coconut shrimp were okay, but not nearly on the same par as the Casa Marina. The price of this event was $95.00 per person, over $30.00 more than the welcome party, and we were not the only ones that felt like we were being gypped out of our money.
There was no singer like the night before, less food, less wine, and the dock where we all tried to cram ourselves into was extremely small. Though I’m not claustrophobic, I sure felt like it. At the main buffet table they had a cheese platter with assorted breads and a few new wines like Château Fonfroide a Heritage wine from Bordeaux containing a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Malbec. There were also wines from the California’s Carneros wine region called Cline Family Cellars, and a roséwine that my fiancé just loved from the A.O.P Côtes de Provence called Château Miraval. The roséwas a blend of Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah, and Rolle, which had a gorgeous pale pink color with soft and shiny reflections. It had a lovely mineral freshness with delicate aromas of citrus, red fruits and white flowers. On the palate the terroir reveals a pretty balanced and elegant volume along with a very nice tension bringing length.The bouquet of aromas is persistent leading to a long lasting fruity finish with an undertone salty character.
One new addition was the whisky tasting which had two-three of the maybe ten tables set up for service. The first whisky offering was from the High West Distillery based out of Park City Utah where they offered their Double Rye, American Prairie Bourbon, and Campfire. The American Prairie is a blend of straight bourbons that are not chill-filtered or carbon treated, 46% ABV, 92 Proof, 75% corn, 20% rye, and 5% barley malt. It also casked in New charred quercus alba white american oak, and was awarded 92 points by the tasting panel. It was an excellent selection, and that says a lot for me as I’m not a big bourbon fan.
The Double Rye is a blend of straight Rye Whiskies, and is also 46% ABV, 92 Proof. On the nose you have hints of mint, clove, cinnamon, licorice root, pine nuts, and dark chocolate, with a surprising dose of gin botanicals throughout. As you enjoy your taste you get an immediate rye punch of prickly spices, then gin, menthol, mint, eucalyptus, wildflower honey, and confectioners sugar flavors with a long finish. The High West Campfire is a blend of scotch, bourbon, and rye whiskey. On the nose you have floral, fruity, bright and spicy, aspects with caramel and butterscotch. Light smoke and smoldering wood from a campfire the morning after. Most likely how they came up with the name. Jasmine, chai tea, sandalwood, leather, tobacco, pine resin and toasted bread finish out the aromas. To taste you have hints of vanilla, honey, toffee from the caramel nose, blueberries and black cherries. It was also very smoky with a long sweet yet spicy finish.
The second table had a selection of whiskey from WhislePig offering their 10 year straight rye, and 12-year old world selections. WhistlePig produces a 100-proof, straight rye whiskey, aged for at least ten years through a unique double-barrel process. WhistlePig released their first product in 2010, earning 96 points from Wine Enthusiast, their highest rating ever for a rye whiskey, as well as accolades from The Wall Street Journal, GQ, Forbes, Maxim, Imbibe Magazine, and many others. As Master Distiller Dave Pickerell notes, WhistlePig embodies the perfect combination of proof, purity, and age — hitting “the sweet spot” in all three categories. In short: more rye, all the proof, and the perfect age.
In 2014, Dave Pickerell began a unique experiment on the best techniques of the Old World – particularly Scottish whiskies. They paired bonds of 12-year-old rye with premium European oak casks, mainly Madeira, Sauternes, Port, Cognac, and Sherry. After a series of single finish releases, the 12 Year Old World is the product that highlights their distinctive flavors to create an exceptionally balanced spirit. This was by far my favorite whisky tasting of that night, but at well over $100.00 per bottle, it would be awhile before I was ready buy.
As the sun started to go down there was heavy cloud cover so it wasn’t perfect but still nice. Being that it was still winter, even a paradise island in the Keys can get cold especially when the wind starts to blow. Neither of us had a lite jacket or sweater, and my fiancé was talking with a few other ladies who had the same complaints that we had. Not enough food or wine, plus too crowded and too cold. Not worth the price we paid. In the building next to the dock, on the second floor, they had a separate event for the wine festival that we were not allowed to attend. So as the night progressed we decided to go up and take a look. Boy oh boy, they had a lot more food and a lot more selections of wine then what we had down below. Funny enough we ran into some people who were part of that event and they had paid nearly $150 per person, and they came down to our dockside event because they said the offerings of food and wine were pathetic for the price they paid.
Their food offering were nicely platted and garnished, versus our buffet, and their selections included a beet salad with whipped goat cheese and frisee, crab cakes with apricot jam, corn fritters in spicy tomato sauce, and a few others.
Other wine selections they had were some known names like Chalk Hill, a member of the Niven Family Wine Estates called Zocker which was grown in Santa Maria Valley, and True Myth Winery from Edna Valley in California’s Central Coast Region.
We didn’t last long up there as people from that party were leaving so we ended up with a group going down to the Hyatt poolside bar and buying some drinks from them. Compared to the previous night, this event was a great disappointment, but we had two more events on the list that we had purchased, and a lot more Key West activities before the weekend was over.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
The main event of the day was scheduled to start at 3pm so with lots of time on our hands, my fiancé and I continued our tour of the island which included a street market, selling fine arts and other knick knacks, although we did purchased a beautiful wooden serving tray shaped in the state of Florida, that we use for parties and other special events. We also took a tour of the Ernest Hemingway House, then went up to the northern part of the island where the cruise ships dock, walking around Mallory Square, which was a tourist trap paradise with gift shops, museums, markets, and anything else you can possible think of. From there we moved back closer to Duval Street as it was early afternoon, and the cruise ships had docked, so it was wall to wall people.
We stopped in at Ernest Hemingway’s old hang out called Captain Tony’s Saloon which when Hemingway was there, it was called Sloppy Joe’s. Captain Tony’s is a landmark attraction and bar for Key West, with license plates and bra’s hanging everywhere. In its history the building used to be the city morgue in the 1850s. It has been a cigar factory, bordello, and a gay club, until it became the original Sloppy Joe’s in 1933. Ernest Hemingway began spending most of his time there and even recommended the name to the owner Joe Russell. Russell and Hemingway were close friends for twelve years. In 1937 Russell moved Sloppy Joes to a new location, and the building was left vacant. In 1958, Captain Tony Tarracino, a local charter boat captain, purchased the bar and renamed it Captain Tony’s Saloon. It is also where Jimmy Buffett got his start in Key West in the early ’70s, and was often paid in tequila. Buffett immortalized the bar and Tarracino himself, in his song “Last Mango in Paris”. Captain tony was even the city Mayor for a time.
From there it was on to the new Sloppy Joe’s Bar now located around the corner from Captain Tony’s on Duval Street proper. The move was over an increase of rent at the original location that Joe refused to pay, so he moved the bar, paying $2,500.00 for it in 1937. You can also check out their live web cam of Duval Street and the bar to see what’s going on. This was also the first time that I tried some Conch Fritters. There available on many menu’s throughout Florida, but since they are known as being a Key West delicacy, I had to try them here. Hemingway left Key West in 1939 and Joe Russell died of a heart attack in 1941.
It was 3:00 pm as we left Sloppy Joes entering back onto Duval Street to start the next event called the Key West Food and Wine Festival's "Duval Uncorked" UnDone. Participating businesses would host wine tastings as you walk up and down the street.
One day before each event started we received a reminder email from a web base server event ticketing software site called ShowClix which only mentioned the event as far as time, and locations. The Casa Marina and the Hyatt reminders were to the point telling you where to go with the address and a Google map. This ShowClix reminder did have a Google map of Key West but the only thing it said was Duval Street, Various locations Key West, FL 33040, starting at 3pm. Even the official advertising poster for the event did not give a location starting point.
Now when I purchased all the tickets months before, the email we got had great details about where the event was supposed to start which was at the Southernmost Point Guesthouse, and from Sloppy Joe’s, it was at the opposite end of the street. The tickets included a 3 ounce taste of wine in over 20 locations and a complimentary "UNDONE" logo glass as you stroll down Duval Street. Since we were going off the email sent the day before or day of, we started walking down the street looking for festival signs in front of businesses but couldn’t find anything. We stopped into a wine shop, and they had no idea as they were not part of the festival.
As time went by and we continued to walk south stopping in at a few businesses asking if they had some information on the event. When they looked at the fliers and brochures, it mentioned the name but no starting location either. We passed by the street where we stayed and still nothing, until we saw some people on the opposite side of the street with the festival lanyards and wine glasses going from shop to shop, so we knew we were getting closer. We came upon a small business that sold wine, beers, and cigars called The Cork and Stogie Dave the owner was very helpful as he was one of the businesses participants and told us where it was all starting and where to go. He then invited us back to his shop for a tasting.
We finally made it down to the Southernmost Point Guesthouse by about 4pm, and everyone was packing up. There were no tables set up for tasting or any other information, and no more complimentary glasses with logo’s. We finally ran into someone that worked with the festival and requested to get our money back from the event which was $75.00 per person. After the night before being a great disappointment, the lack of advertising and information on this event, plus breaking down one hour after it started, when it was scheduled to last for three, put the nail into the coffin for us and how we felt about this entire festival. This was a major turn around from the opening night event which was fantastic.
We made our way back up to the Cork and Stogie, enjoying a few glasses of wine and conversation before we went to eat dinner at a restaurant we saw on our first night walking to the Casa Marina called Ambrosia, a Japanese sushi restaurant. Their sushi rolls and hot Ginjyo Sake were excellent. Since we had an additional $150.00 from the festival refund we enjoyed a nice dinner, then prepared for our next scheduled event that evening at the Key West Theater where the band JOHNNYSWIM was playing. My fiancé saw them on a show called Live From Daryl’s House with John Oats and Daryl Hall a few months before, and when she learned that they would be in Key West, we bought tickets. Johnnyswim is a husband and wife team that were just fantastic. The venue theater was small with about thirty tables, with a bar. On our way to the event the clouds opened up, so we were drenched, and the venue had a very good working air conditioning, making for a shivering half and hour before my clothes were dry.
JOHNNYSWIM
It was a great day for touring Key West from food, concerts, wine at Cork and Stogie, and would have been perfect if the festival would not have had two straight days of great disappointment. Hopefully the final event which was scheduled for the next day would make up for the past two events.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Shipyard Sunday Funday and Tap Takeover at the Rum Row Bar of the Gates Hotel started at 12pm till 4pm. This was yet another example of bad information being sent, not by ShowClix as they just passed the information that was given. This was bad information on the festival operators yet again, as the email mentioned the location and time, but when we purchased the tickets we assumed that it was another wine event, and by the name it sounded like it was near to, or on a dock to the water with a ship. It was not. The hotel was on the opposite end of the island, and the event was a beer tasting with some sliders. But before I get into detail about the event which ended up being okay, we had other adventures before arriving at the tasting.
We took a tour of the Little White House, which was a house built in the 1890s but was given its name when President Harry Truman came down in 1946 to enjoy a winter getaway from the stress of Washington D.C. The tour was very informative, and we found out that it is still an active Presidential residence where if the President or staff wished, could use at anytime. Truman used the house not only for vacation but for official events as well.
After that, we rented a golf cart and drove around the island going to places where tourists didn’t go, plus stopped by a few of the beaches enjoying lunch at a local dive and running into the roosters and chickens. We had heard them over the past few days but never really saw them until we did this drive. The roosters are all over the island and are protected. They walk into restaurants, shops, and bars, and they cannot be stopped or irritated unless you want to be fined by the police.
I also found a local Key West resident that was like minded to my Libertarianism, and very rare for this island filled with Liberal supporters....
We got back, jumped into a cab and got to the hotel about an hour after the event started at the Gates Hotel, to discover yet again that the times set up for these events were way off, and everyone had been served, and some people were starting to leave. So three for three bad events not only nailed the coffin shut for this event but buried it deep enough to never warrant a retry in the future.
This event which cost $40.00 per person was a flight of beers from the Shipyard Brewing Company based out of Portland, Maine, and the tasting accompanied food pairings of sliders catered by The Blind Pig Food Truck attached to the hotel. Live poolside music was also advertised, but nope! We got a few seats at the Rum Row Bar, and the sales rep for Shipyard was very helpful, and even though the tastings were done, he set us both up with the flights of beers, and the Food Truck cooked off more sliders for us to have with the tastings, so between the great customer service and hospitality of the bar staff of the hotel and Blind Pig, it helped turn around what was to become a negative three of four events for the Key West Food and Wine Festival. Now I’m happy to say that this event was good, but still the nail is in the coffin and won’t be coming out anytime soon.
The four beers being tasted from the Shipyard were the sunfish, watermelon, export, and red IPA. The IPA is available from January to March and the malt style is pale, crystal, CaraMunich II, Munich, and Chocolate with citra, Hallertau Blanc Hops with 5.9% ABV. With the sliders offered it went great with the short rib, bacon jam, gorgonzola on King’s Hawaiian bread. This beer was also my favorite of the tastings.
The Export is their flagship beer, full-bodied beer with a hint of sweetness up front, a subtle and distinctive hop taste, and a very clean finish. It is offered year round with a malt style of 2-Row British Pale Ale, Crystal, and Wheat with Cascade and Willamette hops and 5.1% ABV. This beer went really good with the buttermilk fried chicken slider, with american cheese, ranch slaw on a potato bun.
The watermelon or Melonhead beer is available seasonly from March to July and has a malt style of Pale Ale, Whole Wheat, and Munich Light with Willamette and Saphir hops and 4.4% ABV, and very lady friendly lite beer. It was okay but I preferred the IPA. It went well with the Blackened Mahi Mahi BLT slider with jalapeño aioli on a brioche bun. The final flight line up was the sunfish which went well with the braised pork slider, cooked with red Cuban mojo onions, cider BBQ sauce, aged white cheddar on pretzel bread.
As a bonus we were given a can of the Monkey First IPA offered year round and is very edgy, aggressive and unique in style. This beer is brilliant copper in color and exploding with flavorful hop character but able to maintain a beautiful balance. With 6.9% ABV it also packed a little punch.
The sales rep then switched us over to another brewing company for our final tasting where we had a wild blueberry wheat ale from the Sea Dog Brewing Company also based out of Portland, Maine. With 4.6%ABV with a nutty quench of wheat ale, and delicate aromatics of fruit and nuts made it an interesting beer to drink.
The day was now coming to a close, and we had dinner at the Nine One Five restaurant on Duval Street which Dave at Cork and Stogie had recommended to us. The atmosphere was nice and the food was good but unfortunately our server was horrible, and he catered to friends of his at a neighboring table leaving us and the table next to us with a severe lacking of customer service. This did bring my rating for the restaurant down a bit, but overall they still get good marks for everything else. It also started to rain while we sat on their patio which made the meal even more interesting to say the least.
The weekend was wonderful even though there were hick-ups with the festival events. When you look at the island as a whole, and all the wonderful things to do, then it was worth the trip and more. I would go back again with my fiancé, and of course by that time she will be my wife, and we will hit some areas that we didn’t get to see, and eat at a few other restaurants that caught our eye. We drove out the following morning to begin our eight hour trip back up to Tampa and St. Petersburg. We may want to fly next time.
I am based out of St. Petersburg, Florida working in the food service industry for the past twenty years, and am currently with the American Embassy as the Executive Chef in Basra, Iraq. Formally I have worked with groups contracting in Afghanistan, Dubai, and Antarctica, also working in restaurants in and around Atlanta prior to the wars. I have also owned a catering company and served proudly in the United States Army Food Service Program. The idea for the Wine, Dine, and Play started in late 2012 after a trip to Jordan, when I was asked by friends to write down the experiences from a few Jordanian restaurants, plus the wine from the region that I tasted, and locations of interest such as Petra, and the culture. Since that time, over 200 articles have been written on restaurants, including fifteen from the worlds top 100 lists of San Pellegrino and the Elite Travelers Guide; exotic world locations such as Dubai, Petra, Victoria Falls, and South African Safari’s; food recipes & Grand Food Dictionaries; country cuisines such as Afghan and Peruvian; and of course wine from vineyards in California, Oregon, the Carolina’s, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia
Who is John Galt?
“Culinary perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things,
But in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”
-Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661)
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