Cazuela's is a very interesting brewery; it's not everyday you come across a Mexican Grill / Brewery. The atmosphere was very fun and open, the brewery was located behind the bar and very easy to see, and the patio was huge and very, very nice on such a nice day. The menu was very full and had a lot of options including some seafood cocktails and many parable selections. The beer options were also widely varied and plentiful; our first flight consisted of the following:
Acapulco Gold
Agave American Hefeweizen
Piedra Del Fuego (Stoned Cream Ale)
Festival Marzen
Chupacabra American IPA
Papa-Cabra Double IPA
The Acapulco Gold was a very good, crisp beer...very easy to drink and really good flavor to it. The smell and taste were both pretty sweet and the wheat flavor really came through on this beer. This is a very good beer to pair with Mexican food and would pair very well with any of their seafood offerings.
The Agave Hefe was a little disappointing; the aroma and taste were both a little too strongly floral and perfumey. The color wasn't nearly hazy enough for a style that should be mostly unfiltered, and the flavor just wasn't very good.
The Piedra Del Fuego was a cream ale and had some interesting flavors. It was even more sweet than the Alcapulco Gold, but also had a tangy flavor that just wasn't right for a cream ale. Overall not a bad beer, but definitely not one of Cazuela's best.
The Festival Marzen was a good fest beer, very drinkable and light with a clear German-style flavor to it. This beer wasn't very full of flavor, but that's a good thing for a fest beer. Although this is a German style beer, it would also pair very well with the menu.
The Chupacabra IPA was disappointing to say the least. The hop flavor was very present, but there was a dirty (actual dirt like our yard) taste that just overtook the beer. Not the worst IPA we've ever had (We'll get to that one...), but definitely not even close to the best.
The Papa-Cabra on the other hand was a good DIPA, not a great DIPA, but good. It was smooth and hoppy-flavored and drank as it should. DIPAs are typically less hoppy tasting than an IPA and have more of a creamy flavor, and this one was just that.
The second flight included quite a few of the high-alcohol content beers, and some of the seemingly experimental beers:
Calabasa Pumpkin
Panama Red
Inebriator Double Bock
Beer for My Horses: Oatmeal Stout
Atom Beer: Dortmunder Dark Sour
Primo Spruced Brown
The Calabasa Pumpkin, although very out of season for the style, was a very welcome seasonal to this flight. The smell was absolutely what you would look for in a pumpkin ale, and the taste was delightfully delicious. It's hard to judge a beer so far out of season like this because there isn't another to compare it to right now, but that could be part of the reason it was so good in the middle of May.
The Panama Red, unlike the Calabasa Pumpkin, very much lacked in flavor. It was red in color, and it tasted like a red, but there just wasn't enough taste to it. Like a few of the beers so far, there was no aroma and that really transcended to the flavor of the beer.
The Inebriator Double Bock smelled very strong of alcohol and tasted the same, much as the name would indicate. The beer was very smooth and had a slightly smokey flavor, but the alcohol taste was the most prominent.
The Beer for My Horses was a decent stout, but not creamy enough to be an oatmeal stout. The flavor was very meaty and slightly smokey, but no signs of oatmeal. Overall a good stout, just not a good oatmeal stout.
The Atom Beer was categorized as a Dortmunder Dark Sour which basically means the beer was brewed with Noble Hops and had a sour yet smokey flavor. For the style it was a good beer, but even our palates aren't there yet. This is an extreme style that is one that would be sought out in particular, not exactly a porch-sitting beer.
The Primo Spruced Brown was absolutely awful, to be Brewtally-Honest. There was nothing brown about this beer other than the color. It tasted of black licorice and Windex. Just terrible.
There was also a bonus beer, hooray bonus beer! Or so we thought... it was a prickly pear sour! The prickly pear flavor was very present and good but the beer was very, very sour. The pretty pink color is very misleading, but we were warned about just how sour this sour was.
Megan's overall opinion: I love the venue and the patio is great. The food was very good and the selection on the menu was exactly what I wanted from a Mexican grill. The beers were pretty 50/50, I really liked half and really didn't like the other half. My favorite beers were the Acapulco Gold and the Marzen, both were really easy to drink and great to pair with my lunch and enjoy on the patio. My least favorite was the brown, it was not a good beer and definitely not a good brown.
Randy's overall opinion: Probably the best patio in the city. The food is good and they are starting to step it up on the beers as well. STARTING I SAID. Right now they are half and half. I did really like the Pumpkin Spice but that could be because it is out of season and I forgot how much I really like pumpkin beers. Also liked the Acapulco Gold. IT IS the season for that kind of crisp beer. The Marzen was good as well, my third choice.
So ok.... the brown, prickly pear sour, and dark sour all fall into the WTF category for me. No secret I don't like sours. No secret I have not found a good brown. No secret I do not like beers that I have to guess what in the world I am drinking. I suppose for "Style" it maybe was close, but for drinking.... no way.
I like this place and appreciate the beers they are coming out with (last time we went they only had about 6) but there is still some refinement to be done for sure. I guess with a large menu you can try and experiment with a few but that better mean you keep the good ones good. Would I come back? Absolutely. This place is worth the trip for the overall experience. Although it's not a Friday night venue, it is a good afternoon lunch place.
http://cazuelasmexicangrill.com/
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