Beer Travels: Hopjacks - Pensacola, FL

Alright, long overdue it's a return to Pensacola, with a post all about the awesome beer bar that is Hopjacks.  Well, it's actually a small chain with a couple of locations in Pensacola and another in Mobile, AL but Jay and I, after a nice visit to the Pensacola Bay Brewery, made the short walk up Pensacola's main drag to Hopjacks.  Hopjacks was recommended to us as the best place in town to grab a craft beer, but it also was a pretty large restaurant specializing in pizza!  We weren't in the mood for a full meal though, so we bellied up to the bar and started with the beer.

The first thing I noticed as we sat down was the impressive wall of taps at the end of the bar.  112 taps is what they claim, and with them all squeezed together on the wall of the walk-in cooler it was pretty impressive.  

Now that's a lot of taps!  I liked how they grouped them together by brewery for the most part, and there were even more to the left of the picture.  The first one that caught my eye was a Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA on tap.  Whoa, on tap?  I had tried it once before in the bottle and reviewed it since also from the bottle but this was my first time having it on tap.  From there I moved on to a Southern Tier Back Burner Barleywine.  I wish Southern Tier would find their way down to Louisiana, but despite the name they are actually from New York.  After that I stuck with New York and ordered a Hoptical Illusion from Blue Point Brewing.  Not a bad IPA at all!  We also tried the Belgian Fries (fried in duck fat, yum!) and some of the Creamy Brie, Bacon & Artichoke Dip.  We weren't really hungry but sometime you need a little food with the beers and these both hit the spot.

The Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA!

The next night the whole crew decided they wanted to go out downtown and catch Trombone Shorty who was conveniently playing a show next door to Hopjacks.  So, go back again?  Hell yeah we did.  This time I grabbed a Toxic Sludge Black IPA from Blue Point and an Unearthly IPA from Southern Tier.  Two more New York beers?  I guess so, but we can't get them in Louisiana and both impressed.  We also split up some pizzas, and I can definitely say I'd eat there again if I'm ever back in Pensacola.  They were a little on the pricey side, but big and tasty.

All in all, a really nice place with good food and a fantastic beer selection.  If you're a craft beer fan visiting Pensacola, this should be the first (and maybe second and third) stop you make.