On
Friday, September
18 I went to
Rapp Brewing in Seminole, Florida.
 |
| Here's their Lovely Sign! |
This is my first entry in my Florida brewery review series,
and I couldn’t have made a better choice.
Rapp Brewing is a small established brewery in Florida who
was
ranked one of Florida’s best
breweries in 2013 by
RateBeer.com. They have also received multiple awards
for their Gose and Munich Dunkel.
The brewery is separated into three parts: the taproom, an
open warehouse sitting area, and a game room. The game room is also connected
to the open warehouse, and towards the back of both rooms their brewing
operation is set up.
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| `This Picture was taken from the Rapp Brewing Website |
The taproom is an excellent but small space, and walking
into the warehouse area opens up even more places to drink. My friends and I sat
in the warehouse next to a window looking into the taproom. Above our heads large
industrial fans circulated the air. The walls around us were an uncomfortable
off white, but there were plenty of things to do to distract us from the color.
Near us, towards the back room was shelving unit full of boards games, and in
the other warehouse game room we could play darts, foosball, and corn hole.
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| This is the warehouse seating room, complemented by my glorious posse! |
I sampled the DIPA dry hopped with mosaic which has a 10.9% alcohol
volume. That is one of the strongest DIPA’s I’ve ever tried. DIPA stands for
Double Indian Pale Ale, and if you’re not huge hops fan, the DIPA probably
sounds like monstrous drink.
Yet, I have to say that I was floored by the fact that Rapp’s
DIPA did not have that overpowering taste of hops. When I spoke to one of the
brewers about the taste, he attributed the lack of striking hops taste to the
12 lbs of sugar they use to brew it.
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| This is one beautiful DIPA! |
There was a food truck called
Fork in the Road outside of
Rapp brewing. Tasha, who along with Jake run the food truck, let me sample a
bit of their
Smoked Chipotle Chili. This chili was vegan, and crafted with Rapp’s
Smoked Porter. The Chili was
delicious, and I didn’t even miss the meat!
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| Fork in the Road Food Truck with Tasha and Jake! |
Rapp brewing is very proud of their German influence, and it
is apparent by their dedication to original German recipes. They also source
many of their grains from Germany, aside from a few bags of American grains
which they use for some American standard beers.
A good example of Rapp’s dedication to original German
recipes is their Gose.
The Gose is a 1,000 year old German recipe, and is in
large part the centerpiece for the new sour beer trend. Gose’s sour taste stems
from the
inclusion of coriander and salt water in the brewing process. I will
be doing a full write up on my opinion of Rapp Brewing’s Gose in an
upcomingpost.
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| Big cup on the left is the Gose! |
Rapp’s employees were incredibly kind to me, and when I told
them that this was one of the first breweries I wanted to cover they asked me
if I wanted a tour of their private brewing area.
I answered with an enthusiastic Yes!
I was led by one of their brewers, a man named Chris Seney.
Chris told me he has been working with Rapp for three months, and that he began
his career crafting brews at home.
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| This is Chris, he's busy at the moment. |
The experience was enlightening, to say the least. Chris
walked me through their brewing process step-by-step. Rapp Brewing has a two
barrel system which can be small when compared to some of the larger breweries
in the area. Yet, the two barrel system does not keep them from crafting a
variety of beer. On the night I went to the brewery they were serving 20
different kinds.
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| The two barrels on the right are what consists of a Two Barrel System! |
The variety that Rapp has can be attributed to their
fermentation process. They use smaller plastic barrels which are set on wheels
for easy transportation. The plastic barrels are smaller than their metal
counterparts, and can be placed in more confined places. Rapp also has over 20
different strands of yeast, and an abundant variety of hops.
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| These are plastic, and easy to move. |
In the past Rapp brewing has crafted over 90 different
varieties of beer, and they are consistently looking to craft new entries to
their lineup.
Rapp has plans to expand their barroom, and to do so they
want to close off the tabled portion of the warehouse, so that more people can
enjoy drinking in the AC. Their current plans of expansion do not include
increasing their brewing space, and since distribution is not currently on the
table they do not need to expand that part of the brewery, yet.
While touring the back, Chris had me taste the grains that
Rapp brewing uses to craft their beer. I had never previously sampled grains.
The experience was really interesting. Chris said that grains make up a large
part of the taste for the beer. This was very apparent after I took a handful
of grain to munch on. Grain actually tastes pretty good, and there is a lot of
variety in the flavor.
I sampled a smooth caramel grain, and a very bitter
chocolate one that helped to explain the taste of stouts.
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| These are the grains. They can be eaten. I ate them. |
I could fill an essay with things I learned at Rapp Brewery,
and their kindness and professionalism will have me coming back. It can be
difficult to get up the courage to tell people that I am a beer blogger, but
Rapp Brewing made it easy. I can now with all my senses intact suggest to any
of my friends that they should give this place a shot.
Raise your glasses and have a great day!
