LauderAle Brewery

Fort Lauderdale’s LauderAle Brewery

Brett and I are big fans of local breweries. We first discovered LauderAle while we were living in Fort Lauderdale about a year and a half to two years ago. We haven’t been able to make it down to the brewery as often as we’d both like, but we’ve enjoyed each of our visits so far!

The LauderAle brewery is relatively small, although they are in the process of expanding. This past weekend, we were surprised to see that their tap room had been extended to hold almost twice as many picnic tables and benches as last time we had visited. It’s always a good sign when a small brewery has to expand but retains the small-time feel.

The Outdoor Patio

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to appreciate the pretty little outdoor patio LauderAle has this past weekend, since it was raining. However, the brewery’s beer garden is super cute and looks like something right out of Pinterest. They have string lights, tables and benches, and a regular rotation of food trucks.

What We Tried

Unlike other favorite breweries, we don’t have favorites from LauderAle just yet. As much as I love a good staple IPA (read: Sweet Water IPA and Big Nose from Swamp Head), it is fun to try new stuff. Everything I’ve had from LauderAle, even if it wasn’t my favorite style or type, has been good, which makes it easier to break out from the norm.

Hop Mess IPA

Like I said, I love IPAs. Hop Mess was an IPA with a punny name, so I was immediately drawn to it. It’s a relatively low alcohol IPA at 5.3% and lower on the scale of IBUs at 34 (Sweet Water IPA, for comparison, has 65 IBUs). Brett and I both got one of these and we each enjoyed it. Hop Mess has a bunch of different types of hops in it, including Pekko, Caliente, and Cashmere hops. It was pretty fruity, with a light peachy flavor. The beer description from LauderAle helped me put my finger on the bit of mint taste I noticed, as well.

Hop Mess IPA from LauderAle Brewery

Blueberry Imperial Heisenberg Hefeweizen

This hefeweizen — which I didn’t realize was categorized as a hefeweizen until I looked it up just now — packed a bit of a punch. To me, it tasted a bit like a lighter Belgian Tripel. It’s higher on the alcohol content than the typical hefeweizen at 8.8% but doesn’t taste like syrup, which I’ve found can be the case with higher alcohol fruit beers sometimes. Low on bitters — 12 IBU — this draft was smooth, but a bit heavy. The blueberry flavor was nice, but became more understated in light of some spice additions. Overall, it was good, but not my cup of tea.

Blueberry Imperial Heisenberg from LauderAle Brewery

LauderAle Lite Lager

LauderAle Lite is a crowd pleasing lager. I went with this as my second beer because I was getting a bit full and had never tried it before. It’s low alcohol — just 4% — and mild. For a lite beer, it’s not bland, though; this lager had definite notes of honey and hops. Where some lagers can be pretty watery, this option is relatively robust and satisfying. Overall, it really seemed to focus on being just plain refreshing, which is always a great feature in a summer beer.

Christine Csencsitz with LauderAle Lite from LauderAle Brewery

Bonus Feature: Dog Meet Ups

Another perk of LauderAle Brewery — they sometimes host dog meet up events!

Now, we may not have a dog of our own, but Brett and I sure do appreciate the dog-friendly atmosphere most breweries tend to have. We weren’t lucky enough to see any this past time we visited LauderAle — the weather was pretty dreary and wet.

However, once before, we stumbled in on a King Charles Spaniel meet up group and it was glorious. There must have been twenty or so of these little dogs bouncing around and playing. So cute!

At the FemAle Brew Fest, we spoke with one of the LauderAle reps who said that these kinds of events happen there a lot, so why not try your luck? It could be a dog meet up day!