Continuing from Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6, our tour concludes with virtually every item available reviewed on price and quality.
Last and ummmmmmmmm maybe not least is this year’s Craft Beer Marketplace, which has moved to the Odyssey Building that connects the Test Track area in Future World East with the World Showcase area around Mexico. Historically, Craft Beer has enjoyed its own booth right on the way into World Showcase.
The new area may or may not be less convenient. Last year, I’d pick up a 22-ounce Dogfish Head Namaste in a souvenir cup for $12.25 most days before beginning the trek through World Showcase. This year, you’d have to go a bit out of your way up through Future World East and toward Test Track with your eye on a six-ounce Punkin Ale. This year’s area is an air-conditioned, dedicated space potentially away from the crowds. Depending on the time of day and whether or not I’m in attendance, it has a fun bar feel or a sad retirement home feel.
Hopefully whoever typed up the definition of “craft beer” was not the person that screwed up the name of the Goose Island, which is 312 for the area code of where the beer is produced, rather than some sort of Dr. Strangelove countdown. Also note the odd placement of the wording that each beer comes with snack mix, something that was not offered to me on my first purchase.
Also, food.
The $3.75 House-made country pâté with picked carrots and farmhouse bread that seems to have arrived without the bread. I am not a pâté person and didn’t care much for this mixture of unnamed ground meat and fat minced into a sort of crumbly blob of cold meat fat stuff. I’m not saying don’t order it, I’m just saying expect to be served four decent slabs of pâté.
The $3.50 Muffuletta pinwheels with house-made pickles sounded promising, but the sour, vinegar-y juice from the pickles was soaked up by the pinwheels long before we ordered them, resulting in a soggy mess of brine and tears. Too sour for me.
Eight whole wheat crackers that look and tasted suspiciously like water crackers arrive alongside the Spicy pimento cheese dip for $3.75. The spicy dip is similar/the same as what’s served with the slider from Hops and Barley and has a nice kick to it, helped by the peppers and onions sprinkled on top. It’s not necessarily a compelling dish, but it’s the most edible here and pairs nicely with the beer.
Onto the beer. We’re going to assume the “cost” of the snack mix is $1 and the beer “actually” costs $3.50 each, like most at the other Marketplace beers that don’t arrive avec snacks.
Sierra Nevada Kellerweis
Store price: 11 cents/ounce
Festival price: 58 cents/ounce
ABV: 4.8%
Rarity: Very common
Value: Below average
Like most Sierra Nevada brews, Kellerweis is very good and very available at most grocery stores around the country. Like most hefeweizens, it’s a light beer with banana and clove notes with a crisp aftertaste and no hop bitterness. With the low ABV and ease of access, this would not be my single choice here, but it’s a nice introduction to the style.
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
Store price: 19 cents/ounce
Festival price: 58 cents/ounce
ABV: 7%
Rarity: Seasonal, so it’s only available in the fall and potentially only at nicer grocery stores/specialty stores in the 31 states where they distribute.
Value: Great, relatively speaking
If memory serves, Dogfish Head’s very popular seasonal pumpkin ale enjoys the highest ABV at the festival and is arguably the best beer served at any Marketplace. The flavor is spiced pumpkin with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The flavor profile is not for everyone, but you only have to commit to a 6-ounce cup or as part of a flight, a 4-ounce cup. Try to ignore the obnoxiousness that is the pumpkin craze and give it a whirl.
Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale
Store price: 12 cents/ounce
Festival price: 58 cents/ounce
ABV: 5.5%
Rarity: “Feels” Rare
Value: Average
While it seems like stores stock a lot of Spoetzl’s Shiner varieties, the Wild Hare Pale Ale seems difficult to find. This is a relatively hoppy beer considering the thin mouthfeel with a mildly bitter aftertaste. Pretty average overall.
Abita Purple Haze
Store price: 10 cents/ounce
Festival price: 58 cents/ounce
ABV: 4.2%
Rarity: Very common
Value: Below average
Abita’s fruity purple haze is a good “beer alternative” for someone that doesn’t like the traditional flavor profile of most lagers and ales. It’s a little artificial tasting with a prominent raspberry flavor balanced nicely with the wheat and hops. It’s awfully expensive at the Festival as a 6-pack runs around $7.49 at most grocery stores across the country, but you may have success forcing this one on someone that rolls their eyes whenever you pop open one of those Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout.
Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale
Store price: 13 cents/ounce
Festival price: 58 cents/ounce
ABV: 4.2%
Rarity: Common
Value: Average
Distributed by the monolith that is InBev, Goose Island beer became more prevalent in 2012 after the company purchased Goose Island for 38.8 million. Their Urban Wheat is decent with a mildly sweet aroma and a touch of bitterness in the middle, surrounded by bland grains and wheat. Not outstanding, but you could do a lot worse.
Florida Beer Co. Sunshine State Pils
Store price: 13 cents/ounce
Festival price: 58 cents/ounce
ABV: 5%
Rarity: Rare outside Florida
Value: Average
Virtually nothing good comes out of Florida. This season’s American Horror Story, based around a circus of murderous curiosities is based in Florida, presumably after the producers flew over and saw just what we’re dealing with down here on the way to a more pleasant destination. Anyway, Florida Beer’s version of the German-style pilsner is a good effort from a company that generally puts out beer in different flavors of cough syrup. As is typical from the style, it’s lightly hoppy with a grassy citrus flavor. Prima Pils it is not, but you’re probably not going to find it back home, which means you may want to take the opportunity to see how we suffer.
Magic Hat Dream Machine IPL
Store price: 11 cents/ounce
Festival price: 58 cents/ounce
ABV: 5.7%
Rarity: Relatively common
Value: Below average
At least it’s not #9. Magic Hat’s IPL is a decent “India pale lager” with pine-y hops and a crisp, tangy aftertaste. While absolutely forgettable, the ABV is a bit higher than others and it’s a relatively straightforward beer.
Terrapin Rye Pale Ale (Not Pictured)
Store price: 14 cents/ounce
Festival price: 58 cents/ounce
ABV: 5.3%
Rarity: Common in the south and up the east coast, but rare elsewhere
Value: Good
A personal favorite, Terrapin’s Rye Pale Ale is a citrus-y American pale ale balanced nicely with the sharp, spiciness of the rye. It’s not for everyone, but it’s worth a taste as one of the better examples of the style.
Continuing the world’s best coverage of the Canada Cart, we return to see that they’ve exchanged the Cherry Ephemere for Apple Ephemere and added the wines on tap to the menu.
Apple enjoys a hefty dose of green caramel apples up front with a slightly tart, bread-y finish, ultimately coming in at 5.5% ABV. It’s quite good and quite rare on draft, though both La Fin and the Pistoles are more complex with 9% ABVs.
In related news, Disney may have dropped Maelstrom, but they replaced Bud Light with Iceland’s Einstok White Ale. This is the only location in the United States that offers it on draft.
$8.50 buys you 16 ounces of 5.2% Icelandic White, an excellent witbier that dwarfs the likes of Blue Moon and Hoegaarden on taste and quality. It’s still not Norwegian, but it’s one of the best and most interesting beers now available in World Showcase. Einstok’s Dopplebock will be the exclusive winter beer available all over Hollywood Studios once the Osborne Lights start up next month as well.
The bottle conditioned version is more yeast-y, but anyone that enjoys beer should add the draft to their World Showcase shortlist.
Thanks for the great tour around the fest, and an update on the best cart in the World. Did they decrease the size of the Unibroues? I thought I remembered them costing $10.25, now down to $9.50. Or maybe I just thought I should be paying more.
Nice to see Eugene represented by Acrobat, although it’s made by King Estate, which is a far superior pinot and I believe available in various places around the World.
Standard beer sizing is 16-ounces these days. And the price actually did come down since they dropped down to 16 from 20: https://i2.wp.com/easywdw.com/reports11/jfgaasds159.jpg
More proof that Canada Cart is Best Cart.
That location is awful. The only reason to trek over there is to get out of bad weather.
Wonder how much The Gambrinus Company paid to get Shiner in there. There are so many better Texas beers than Shiner. I wouldn’t put Shiner in the craft category either.
Let’s not forget they actually used to serve Blue Moon here… https://www.easywdw.com/reports5/ytrhniuks23.jpg
Which grocery stores in Orlando can you find Dogfish Head Punkin Ale? We going to be in the area next and hope to pick some up before coming back home.
Thanks!
I’d try the ABC store near Downtown Disney:
ABC Fine Wine & Spirits – Lake Buena Vista
11951 S. Apopka-Vineland Rd.
Orlando, FL 32836
407-239-0775
http://www.abcfws.com/custserv/locate_store.cmd
Millennia Mall Total Wine has a large selection and is pretty easy to get to.
not only is the location awful, but I’m disappointed that they’re actually using that building – that place was my go-to bathroom at Epcot because it was well air conditioned and the lack of anything in there meant it was hardly used and thus clean and line-free.
“Crumbly blob of cold meat fat stuff”
blech!
Anything to get into the Odyssey building, close my eyes, and imagine World of Motion, Horizons, and Body Wars are close by…
Here’s to living in the past.
Looks like the pumpkin is as close as I’ll get to a “dark” beer. So much for variety is the spice of life.
Are the St Ambroise beers (Canada) any good? I’ve been on a quest to try the Cherry Ephemere, but they had apple when I visited last year.
St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout is amazing as is the Apricot Wheat. They are among my favourite winter and summer beers respectively.
Apple Ephemere draft added to Canada Cart. That’s all I needed to hear because my alcohol purchases at Epcot fully consist of the Canada beer cart. No need for anything else.
Just realized they dropped Cherry…not cool.
You can also do a lot worse then the St. Ambroise Pumpkin Ale, by far the best Pumpkin beer we have available in Ontario liquor stores.
I had the Einstok, which is a big step for me as I like IPA’s and stout’s when I enjoy an adult beverage. I was impressed. I have had beers from around the world due to my travels and thought the Einstok was very good.
If you are ever in the midwest and like IPA’s I would suggest hitting up Founders Brewery. They have a great triple IPA called Devil Dancer. It is awesome. I found a pub here in Indianapolis that serves it from the tap which makes it that much better.