On Saturday night I went on a date (which isn’t the point of this post) and was looking for somewhere “in the middle” that we could meet. I asked some friends for a couple suggestions in the Winter Park area. A friend suggested Taps in Winter Park, FL. She said it was half beer place and half wine bar. It sounded like the perfect place, so we made plans to meet there.
Taps is located in Winter Park Village where a Barney’s Coffee (or was it a Starbucks?) used to be. The whole place is glass which makes it feel a lot bigger than it really was. I arrived a few minutes before my date (parking was a MESS that night and it was raining) so I peeked inside. It really WAS half beer place and half wine bar. The beer side was where the actual bar was and was full of high top tables. The wall behind the bar was filled with hundreds of beer bottles – it was pretty cool. The wine side was a little more lounge like. There were regular tables and plenty of couches. Oh, and they had those nifty do it yourself wine machines. You know what I’m talking about right? All the trendy wine bars have them these days.
When my date arrived we decided to sit on the beer side. They have an INSANE beer/wine/drink list along with a food menu. They have about 20 or so beers on tap at any given time plus a ton of bottled beer, wine, and of course any sort of liquor you could want. I felt pretty spiffy when I was actually able to suggest a beer to my date (Orange Blossom Pilsner) and he actually liked it. I think the story about the OBP Scion XB with a tap coming out the side sold him on it. Thanks Pints & Paws for giving this non-beer drinking girl a tiny bit of knowledge about one of our “local” beers. I was happy because they had a few “Meghan friendly” beers on tap and didn’t have to be a girl and order wine.
This is where I’m supposed to tell you about this killer popcorn that we ordered. Yup, popcorn. But of course I didn’t take a picture of the popcorn or the description on the menu. And the menu I find online doesn’t even mention the popcorn. Let’s just say there was cheese involved and it was totally worth the slightly high price tag. I think they should have given us twice the amount for that price, but it was delicious regardless.
One of my favorite things about Taps was that even though it was a Saturday night and it was crowded, it wasn’t super loud. I always worry about going to bars when I actually want to carry on a conversation with someone, but Taps worked out perfectly. We both enjoyed the beer and the atmosphere and will definitely be back again. (Oh, and it helped that they were right across from Menchie’s so that we were able to end our night with some awesome frozen yogurt.) Next time I would actually like to try some of their food though. Everything that we saw coming out of the kitchen looked and smelled amazing. I guess that is one of the benefits of sitting near the kitchen?
