I gigged late Sarurday night with the band back home at Johnny Irish Pub. It was a solid crowd and that place always has a stellar beer selection. Started my night a Rohrbach’s/Iron Smoke Whiskey collab brew that was smokey and delish. It was a late night, a cold late night…followed by a freezing cold early morning.

Sarah D dropped me off to the airport at 4:30am, sadly she could not join me this time as this is a work trip for a major client that we work with. I had to catch a flight to Tampa and hop aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brillance of the Seas. The plan is to go from Tampa to Cayman and Cozumel then back to Tampa. I have never cruised so I am not sure what to expect. This cruise is a full charter, so everyone on the boat is with our group. I will say  is it is going to be HUGE;)

I flew Southwest down to Tampa w my friend/boss Michelle. I really do love Southwest. We got great seat selections and had a whole row to ourselves. I was looking forward to defrosting in Tampa’s warm breeze. Rochester had hit 23 degrees with snow the evening before I left.

We hit Tampa and headed to the Holiday Inn at Rocky Point for a one night stay. After checking in we walked over to the Bahama Breeze for some lunch and a highly-anticipated Cigar City Jai Lai IPA. So good.

The flight was so early and the beer was so good, we needed a nap. We had big plans to go straight to the source that evening and hit up Cigar City brewery.

For dinner we met up with our coworker at a restaurant in the Westin called Aqua. I had Seasame Salmon served with Rice and Kimchi and a different local brew that was key lime flavored. It was awesome, but the service was painfully slow.

 Michelle had never used Uber before, so I sent her a code for a free ride and 4 of us hopped in and headed to Cigar City.

The brewery was not too big but the beer selection was extensive and incredibly appealing. If only the bartender had a better attitude. One of our group asked for something like an Amber and he gave her a 20 min. insulting dissertation about how no one makes Amber anymore. He never even suggested what she might like instead. Ass. And he had a man bun.

Overall every beer was great. I will go back, and hopefully get a different bartender. Maybe one who encourages everyone to enjoy craft beer no matter what they ask for.

Tomorrow we board the ship!