Mailbag Monday – Mostly World Showcase Edition

June 2nd, 2014 by The Beers and Ears Crew in Mailbag Monday

Mailbag Monday is going strong!

Special thanks to @ThemeParkBeer for letting us know we didn’t have KRNR (the booth outside Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster) on our list!

As always, let us know if something is missing or wrong in our beer lists! Pictures and/or specifics are a great help.

Also, thanks to our friends at Eating WDW for mentioning last week’s Ten Best Places at Walt Disney World to Drink Beer in their Mouse Bites roundup!

Now, on with the mailbag!

First question comes from Joline via Facebook!

Tusker’s not usually a beer served in Epcot. Currently Tusker is limited to Animal Kingdom and Animal Kingdom Lodge. We suppose it could fit into Morocco since Morocco is in Africa, as is Tusker (although different parts). It would also fit in at the Coolpost but Disney seems to have no interest in making the beer there interesting.

Your mention of Food and Wine leads us right into our next question from Kristopher.

We don’t know much about the beer at the 2014 Epcot Food and Wine Festival yet. Usually the menus are released some random day and soon after we’ll post a rundown. However, we do know of two: the Farm Fresh Market will have Orlando Brewing I-4 IPA and Uinta Brewing Baba Black Lager. Both are organic beers to fit that “farm fresh” theme.

Speaking of organic, we had this question come in via email by someone who wished to remain anonymous.

I saw an article about beers I should stop drinking because of genetically modified organisims (GMOs) and other ingredients. Is this real? Should I stop drinking Guinness?

We’re not experts on these things, but we’ve seen an article recently too. However, we also found this article which is well sourced (and mentions a different article than the one we’ve seen) and contains interviews with brewers including the brewmaster from Stone. We’d invite you to read both linked above and make your own conclusions. Since you’re asking for our opinion, we’re not very worried about it.

Kyle asks:

No, we weren’t paying attention to it previously, but we did have a chance to look through the list. It’s a good list as far as these things go, but it’s tough to take too much stock in them. Saint Arnold’s Lawnmower is #62 on the list, for example. Lawnmower isn’t that great of a beer in Scott’s opinion (he reviewed it and called it “nothing extraordinary”) and they could have put better Saint Arnold beers on there if they really were looking to include them. Yet it’s listed higher than Ballast Point Sculpin, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Avery Uncle Jacob’s Stout, to name a few. These lists can be argued all day and night, especially when they’re so broad as to be 100 beers you should drink.

Ken sent us a message on Twitter:

What are you top 3 beers you’d love to see in…say World Showcase?

The easiest way to improve World Showcase is to look at the countries where the beer selection isn’t that great. First, Japan. Japan’s filled with Sapporo and Kirin, with the single exception being Ginga Kogen hidden in the sake bar in the back of Mitsukoshi. Why not bring in some of the Hitachino Nest beers? Todd English’s bluezoo has the White Ale, so we don’t see why Epcot can’t have it.

Since Morocco is stretching the definition of beers it carries with Spice Road Table’s Mediterranean selection (and Morocco also has Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat simply because of Tangerine Café), why not expand France’s limited beer selection to Belgium? We’ve gone over the Belgium booth ad nauseum (and probably will again when the Food and Wine Festival menus come out), but how about a Rodenbach Grand Cru Flemish Red to go with a meal at Les Chefs de France?

Finally, Norway is perhaps the biggest offender in World Showcase because the beer it serves isn’t even from Norway! Ditch the Carlsberg and put in some Nøgne Ø taps! Maybe their blonde for the warm weather at the least and a rotating tap?

Questions for us? Email, Twitter, Facebook, and G+ are all are good choices in getting them to us and we’ll answer them here!

---

You may be interested in:

Mailbag Monday – Replacements and Changes Edition

crawlDisney: Beers Around the World (Showcase)

Mailbag Monday – Is Nancy Reagan Alive Edition

Mailbag Monday – Gluten-Free Edition

Ten Best Places at Walt Disney World to Drink Beer – May 2014 Edition