(This post has been in the queue for a while, and I need to complete it before moving to my previews of the Qualifiers and the CCL. I plan on adding a couple new features to the blog, such as reviews of restaurants I visit during my travels and soccer-related books, as well as making belated additions to the blogroll. Stay tuned.)
I spent my 4th of July weekend in the Destin/Ft.Walton Beach area, where I lived for 2 1/2 years before I moved to Tucson last year. (Has it really been a year? Wow!) On the 4th I drove to Panama City Beach for the festivities and I ended up at Pier Park, which is a new indoor/outdoor shopping area between US Highway 98 and Scenic Highway 98. The center contains a number of large department stores and high-end shops and restaurants and it's close to the pier and the surrounding resort condos. I passed by the Hofbrau Beer Garden and was intrigued, so I went in.
I have to say that it was quite a place. It looks like one of those Bavarian beer halls that you might see during Oktoberfest, with the high flat ceiling, long wooden tables and bench seating, a guy singing German folk and drinking songs (and on this day, American patriotic songs) with a girl playing the accordion, servers in traditional German attire, and lots of German beer. On Fridays they were giving away free beer in plastic cups from one of the tapped kegs, and the last person to get beer from the keg receives free beer for the remainder of the night. I made a fine effort, but I gave up after four beers. I was going to get a wheat beer in one of those half-liter flasks, but who can argue with free beer?
The restaurant serves traditional Bavarian food, from pretzels to sausages to sandwiches, and some other pub food in between. I had a burger which was a blend of beef and pork, and it was very tasty. I heard good things about the sausages, which were accompanied with lots of sauerkraut.
The beer hall wasn't as packed as I thought it would be on the Fourth of July, but they have live bands performing during the week which fill the place up. Most of the patrons were either active or retired members of the military, which you might expect in a region that has Navy and Air Force installations nearby (and Eglin Air Force Base within a 75 minute drive). One guy sitting next to me asked, "So, were you stationed in Germany, too?" 
On the wall there was a big screen TV displaying the German version of Deutsche Welle, and at the bar there was a TV tuned to Fox Soccer Channel (which was showing a Barcelona friendly. I did spot a guy wearing a Bastian Schweinsteiger jersey (the German national team shirt), which drew a high five from the band singer. I'd like to imagine that they attract a crowd for Bundesliga or EPL matches in the area, which would be greatly welcome -- when I lived there, bars weren't soccer-hostile, but most of the time you were definitely the only one interested in watching a soccer game.
It is a surprise seeing a restaurant like this on the Redneck Riviera, but I've learned after living there that a lot of things about that region will surprise you. I enjoyed my time there, and as I told the restaurant manager on my way out, I will be back for a return visit.