Beer Review - Celebration IPA

Gertie is Dressed to Celebrate

I had heard the legend!

I knew the hype!

I never had it!

But I had a theory where I could find it!


And BaseLine didn’t let me down!

Sierra Nevada’s “Celebration IPA” is a seasonal holiday treat that is a must-sip for many beer fans. Yet, I've never experienced it, likely because this time of year I’m hunting big Imperial Stouts. But recent beer posts hitting my feed reminded me that this beer is a highly desired yearly winter treat. Some call it the G.O.A.T. While Disney may not have a lot of unicorn beers on tap, I figured that Disney’s Hollywood Studios BaseLine Tap House would likely have it on tap since the seasonal is most often Sierra Nevada. Hoppy Holiday’s my friends, because my hunch was right.

Sierra Nevada’s website describes this Fresh Hop IPA as

“Freshly picked hops, rushed from farm to brewery, fill Celebration IPA with powerful citrus and pine flavors. When you’re on the slopes with friends or building a backyard campfire for the fam, you need a beer as fresh as fallen snow. Pure hops, balanced with rich caramel malt, make this a celebration in every sip.”

When we say fresh hops, typically a brew has hops that have been dried out and stored for for long periods. With fresh hops, they are harvested, processed, chosen, and then driven to the brewery as quickly as possible giving the beer hop flavor straight from the farm. Additionally, instead of using a big bag where some of the hops may not steep in the brew, a torpedo is used to ensure that as much of the hop oil as possible can be added to the mix.

"Celebration IPA" Says Happy Holidays

“Celebration IPA” is a 6.8% ABV with nice 65 IBUs. Those IBUs give it a big piney bitterness that can be tasted throughout the whole sip. The beer color is nice caramel red, with the malt giving almost a hoppy pale ale, I guess that would be an IPA, flavor. This is not a hazy citrus IPA, this is a pine forest. The color and the outdoorsy flavor on the tongue give you a true wintery feel and flavor. It’s a wonderful winter drink for a park that decorates for winter really well.

Who Drinks This? If you like IPA or pale ales, this is your must-drink at BaseLine. If you are a craft beer explorer, looking for great experiences, this is also a beer you need to check off your list. Honestly, Walt Disney World does not have a lot of chase beers unless they are a specialty for the park. I think until the keg kicks, I will be making this my only choice at BaseLine! “Celebration IPA” adds to the already wonderful and rich holiday theming at studios!

Warning - When I ordered I did have to ask as they did not have signage up yet. But I was reassured it was on tap!

Venue Review - Kona Cafe

"Lapu Lapu" at Kona Cafe

When is a specialty beer not special? When you can get it everywhere!

Alright, I have very divided thoughts on Kona Cafe. From a food and availability window, I am pro. From a cocktail window, I am thumbs up. But from a beer window, and this is Between Pints, it’s complicated for me. Kona Cafe offers craft beers that fit the theme of a Polynesian resort, but many that you can find in pretty much any American market.

Kona Cafe in Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There are also a large number of famed cocktails on the menu and “Hawaiian Sourced or Inspired” beers. And I think that phrase is key as we dig in.

The awesome thing I have found about Kona is that I can generally get a reservation without much warning, and enjoy cult Poly treats. For example, at breakfast, you can order Tonga Toast if you don’t want to just quick service it at Captain Cook’s. Lunch and dinner have a variety of sushi rolls and poke bowls which can fulfill the typical Midwesterner's desire to try something exotic without being overly dangerous and adventurous. That’s the same with other items I have enjoyed here, like Pork Belly Noodle Bowl, which is rich and filling but again not overly scary to the typical vacationer pallet. 

Pork Belly Noodle Bowl

The two cult cocktails on the menu are rum-heavy. The “Backscratcher” is a combination of rums, tropic fruit juice, and Jack Daniels. It comes with a wooden backscratcher, which is currently sitting on my desk and is now an essential work tool. But I admit the “Oriental Trading Company” stamp on it instead of Disney branding takes away in the moment. It is juicy and rum-forward, with the whiskey not scaring off the non-whiskey drinker who ordered it. The “Lapu Lapu” is a combination of rum, orgeat, and tropic fruit juices served in a pineapple. The cocktail is sweet and refreshing, but the hollowed-out pineapple puts you perfectly in the mood. When at the Polynesian, there’s a vibe, this is how you match the vibe in a glass.

Soooooo, “Hawaiian Sourced or Inspired” beers is how the menu lists them. Two breweries really serve as the cornerstone of this beer menu. Kona Brewing Co. offers ”Longboard Island Lager,” “Big Wave Golden Ale,” and “Hanalei Island IPA”, which I feel you can find pretty much anywhere in U.S. markets. In fact, in many places, I feel they are pushed up against the macro beers instead of the craft due to their heavy distribution. But despite that wide distribution, they are still a craft brewery, in 2024 listed as the 32nd largest craft brewery by size and 42nd largest producer including macro beers. Part of the reason it could be found nearly everywhere is they were using Anheuser-Busch distribution through the Craft Brew Alliance, which Bud owned. Craft Brew Alliance breweries not in Hawaii but on the mainland were brewing Kona beers for all locations that were not in Hawaii. Anheuser-Busch has been leaving the craft beer business and sold off Craft Beer Alliance. And Kona became the property of PV Brewing Partners of…Kansas City! So all this history shows that while Kona is a craft brand, it’s also honesty more inspired by Hawaii than a product of Hawaii if you are drinking it in Florida. If you want Hawaiian-brewed Kona, you need to visit the tap room in Hawaii to increase the probability of Hawaiian brewed not just Hawaiian recipes. 

"Pineapple Mana Wheat"

Oh, yeah, there are two major breweries on this sourced and inspired list. Maui Brewing Co. is Hawaii’s largest craft brewery and the one that has traditionally had less distribution on the mainland. In 2024, it was the #26 producing craft brewery and #36 overall. They offer, “Coconut Hiwa Porter” and “Pineapple Mana Wheat” on the sourced and inspired menu. In 2022, they were only distributing to 26 states. But they are also a growing concern too with purchasing Modern Times in California. They have also been known to contract brew on the mainland to get product closer to drinkers. I had the “Pineapple Mana Wheat” which is a 5.5%, 18 IBU fruited wheat beer. It has a light wheaty beer flavor with some dry not as sweet pineapple. It was easy to drink, but maybe not as juicy as I had hoped thinking it would contend with a cocktail. I’ve also had the “Coconut Hiwa” which my data tells me from 6 years ago that I liked! What am I doing that I’ve not had this more? It’s likely the beer I grab next time at Kona Cafe if I skip a cocktail.

A Georgia beer, Terrapin’s “Luau Krunkles Passionfruit-Orange-Gauva IPA”, sounds like POG juice to me, finishes out the inspired selections. There is also a list of additional beers on draft that include the usual suspects like Yuengling’s “Amber Lager” and Cigar City’s “Jai Alai.” So if you want more of the usual suspects than inspired, you have options.

Pineapple-Coconut Bread Pudding

Who Drinks Here? For those who want to find good food fast, book reservations here. Maybe Ohana never had spots open up. While dining, you will have to wait till the end to get my personal must-have, Pineapple-Coconut Bread Pudding. If you order a beer, you likely are not in a cocktail mood. But you still want to match the vibe so you grab a Maui Brewing Co. beer for the fruit flavors that help you stay in that Polynesian mood while on your vacation. Sit back, enjoy your cocktail and beer and forget for an hour the craziness of a Disney vacation.

Beer Review - Black Velvet Blend

A Freshly Drawn Pint of "Black Velvet"

Real beer talk!

I love the Rose & Crown Pub. The theming and service are fantastic. But the taps are generally all imports that can be found in most liquor stores and many grocery stores in the United States. It’s a selection lacks adventure.

With that truth in front of us, when I want something different or challenging I can’t just order a regular pint. Instead, I look to the blends, where the beertenders expertly combine two beers. I recently was feeling a little adventurous and ordered the blend which felt the most challenging, the darkest beer on tap with the sweetest offering you could pour into a pint.

“Black Velvet” is a combination of “Guinness Stout” and “Strongbow Hard Cider.” The two are very traditional English pub offerings with “Strongbow” often serving as a key ingredient in English blends. With “Strongbow” think boozy apple juice, a bottle I first enjoyed on a train from London to Cambridge. I really thought out of everything on the menu, this had the best chance of being weird by smashing the dark malty brew with the fruity light liquid.

And weird it was not. Honestly, the “Strongbow” overtook the first sips, even with the “Guinness” layer on top. The first sip was really a big apple fruity punch of flavor. As the pint went down, it kept sweet flavors, but the “Guinness” with its creamy mouth feel balanced out the sweetness and honestly made it very mellow as a sipper. I really really liked it. It was a great reminder that despite its dark color, “Guinness” is a super approachable ale. The flavor was more natural and fruity than many fruit-infused stouts that I have sampled in the past. “Black Velvet” is a nice way to try out stouts.

An Adventurous Lunch!

 

Now it was lunchtime, and I paired my “Black Velvet” with a bag of Jelly Babies I grabbed in the Sportsman’s Shoppe. I will admit I am a bit of a nerd and I had seen Jelly Babies on TV quite a bit on an English-imported TV show as a kid. For those who know, is it officially part of the Disney family now! The Jelly Babies felt hollow as I bit into them and they collapsed on a gel that I did not expect. They were soft chewy gummy candy that was super sweet. And as a pairing, sweet complimented sweet. I may not have gotten buzzed from the beer but I did get a sugar high. I will admit, I could not finish the bag. I also am not likely to create this pairing again.  

Who Drinks This? We all should be looking for pints at the Rose & Crown Pub. Those who drink this are looking for a challenging but surprising pint. The results for those happy drinkers who select “Black Velvet” will be a sweet fruity glass, that shouldn’t be paired with candy!