#FloridaBeerFriday: Twist of Cane From Tomoka Brewing Co.

Every week, we take a look at a craft beer brewed in Florida. Follow #FloridaBeerFriday for more reviews of Sunshine State brews. Get out there and #DrinkLocal.

This week, we're taking a look at a recently available canned offering called Twist of Cane from a brewery new to the production game, Tomoka Brewing Co.

The original brewery, founded in 2013 by brewers (and husband-and-wife team) Pete Szunyogh and Jen Hawkins, is located up the coast in Ormond Beach, a few miles north of Daytona Beach. Soon they opened a second, larger brewery in Port Orange, which is where they run their production line. They're both food lovers and run kitchens at both establishments. With the name of this beer, they must also be Danzig fans.

From the can, Twist of Cane is touted as a double IPA, coming in at 8.6 percent alcohol by volume and laden with 75 IBUs. It also has fresh-pressed Florida sugar cane added, which will have boosted the ABV and hopefully some of the flavor as well.
It pours a reddish-orange, clear, and with a mountain of rocky foam. This produces a lovely-looking and sticky crown. The aromas are almost Belgian-like, with the sugar aspects shining through amid some banana, hay, grass, and evergreen. Flavors are strong with hop bitterness, mostly woody, at times medicinal, with a lingering aftertaste of pine and cedar. The body is fuller, which leaves the impression of malt sweetness, of which it has some touches of character.

Overall, it's an unconventional DIPA from what I've experienced, carving its own path through the style and taking its ideas forward.  

Twist of Cane is available in cans fashioned together as a four-pack for around $10 at most decent beer stores in South Florida.

Tomoka Brewing Co. is located at 4647 S. Clyde Morris Blvd., Port Orange. Call 386-256-4979, or visit tomokabrewingco.com.

Doug Fairall is a craft-beer blogger who focuses on Florida beers. He is a Certified Beer Server and has been a homebrewer since 2009. For beer things in your Twitter feed, follow him @DougFairall and find the latest beer pics on Clean Plate's Instagram.