Visiting Tampa/St.Pete? LOOK HERE FIRST! Summer 2018 recommendations

Discussion in 'South Atlantic' started by The_FishermanJay, Jun 25, 2018.

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  1. The_FishermanJay

    The_FishermanJay Pundit (936) May 16, 2010 Florida
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    Significant update: I’ve dropped Orlando. I don’t go and consequently don’t have any meaningful insight on what’s happening there. A local advocate should feel free to start a separate Orlando/Disney thread for the goodness going on over that way.

    A preamble of sorts: This is designed to be a resource for travelers to the Tampa/St. Pete area (to avoid endless, oft-repetitive thread posts requesting locals' recommendations). These are the places folks most talk about and generally reflect currently preferred styles.

    Locals, the point of the thread is this: Which handful of the 40 (or more!!) Tampa Bay-area breweries would you want to hit up if you were here from out of town for a night or two? Listing every brewery is pointless.

    Visitors, this thread is a great start for planning a trip to the Tampa Bay area. It's not designed to answer every.single.question you have about every.single.thing going on around here. Most breweries now have at least decent internet and social-media presence (including Untappd); check them out for what is pouring at this exact moment, the beer in their to-go coolers or for upcoming events. You’re an adult; look it up yourself.

    Tampa Bay Area
    (broadly includes Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater)

    The Big Kahunas
    * Cigar City Brewery (Tampa; offers crowlers)
    * Coppertail Brewing (Tampa; now serving Stein & Vine food; offers crowlers)
    * Angry Chair Brewing (Tampa; offers crowlers)
    * 7venth Sun Brewing (Dunedin and Tampa; offers crowlers)
    * Arkane Aleworks (Largo; offers crowlers)
    * Cycle Brewing (St. Petersburg; offers crowlers)
    * Green Bench Brewing (St. Petersburg; also has an on-site sister brand making cider and a beverage that rhymes with “weed”)

    Other Highly Recommended Breweries and Brew Pubs
    * Saint Somewhere Brewing (Tarpon Springs)
    * Tampa Bay Brewing (two locations in Tampa; both are brewpubs)
    * Hidden Springs Ale Works (Tampa)
    * Tampa Beer Works (Brandon)
    * Rapp Brewing (Seminole)

    Highly Recommended Beer Bars
    * The Ale and the Witch (St. Pete)
    * The Independent (Tampa and St. Pete)
    * Willard's (Largo)
    * Hops and Props (St. Pete)

    Highly Recommended Bottle Shops
    * Jug & Bottle (Tampa; *growlers)
    * Hawthorne Bottle Shop (St. Pete)
    * Craft Beer Cellar (Brandon)
    * Luekens (various locations; check website for stock)
    * Total Wine (various locations)

    (A Few) Beer-centric Restaurants
    * Mr. Dunderbaks (Tampa)
    * Datz (Tampa)
    * Stein & Vine (Brandon)
    * Cajun Cafe on Bayou (Pinellas Park)

    The Brewery Bay is a cool resource that allows users to sort breweries in creative ways (e.g., growlers, kid friendly, food).

    Tampa Bay Brew Bus does tours if you'd like someone to curate your local brewery experience. They also have a hop-on/hop-off brewery loop in Tampa on Sundays.
     
    #1 The_FishermanJay, Jun 25, 2018
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  2. The_FishermanJay

    The_FishermanJay Pundit (936) May 16, 2010 Florida
    Trader

    Here are some further, personal notes/answers to questions I answer a lot:

    1. For foodies, the Tampa Bay Times' Top 50 Restaurants is a good guide (but, by all means, have at it if you wanna rely on AngryDrunk rants via Yelp and what-not).
    1a. Visitors tend to ask where to get Cuban food and particularly the eponymous sandwich. Popular suggestions include La Teresita and West Tampa Sandwich Shop (Tampa) and Bodega (St. Pete).
    1b. Mazzaro’s. Just go. (Pro tip: Call in your sandwich order. Save your line-waiting for the bakery. Or the cheese section. Or coffee ...)
    1c. The “food hall” (I call them upscale food courts) concept has arrived. There are two — Hall on Franklin and Armature Works — within walking distance of each other on the north end of downtown Tampa.

    2. The Tampa Bay area is spread out and traffic often sucks. You'll leave more happy and less stressed if you package your stops in a smaller area (e.g., Tampa or Largo/Dunedin/Tarpon Springs or downtown St. Petersburg) rather than try to hit everything in an afternoon.

    3. Uber and Lyft are things here ... as is an extensive law-enforcement presence. Use the former to avoid the latter.
    3a. Viable public transportation is not a thing here; further, there is a dearth of parking at more than a few of the highly touted breweries.

    4. I try to avoid "mission creep" in this thread. That said ... Calusa (Sarasota, about five minutes west of I-75) is killing it these days. I wouldn’t recommend it to a first-time Tampa visitor but it may make sense for old hands and those who are driving that way anyway.

    I predict that, a year from now, I’ll be adding two new St. Pete breweries and potentially two new Tampa breweries at least to the “Highly recommended ...” list. It remains an exciting time here!
     
    #2 The_FishermanJay, Jun 25, 2018
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  3. MonkeyBread

    MonkeyBread Maven (1,308) Apr 26, 2014 Nevada
    Trader

    Great thread very helpful. Also read through the Winter/Spring 2018 one. I’m staying at the Westin in Sarasota Tues - Thursday. Not a ton of time to get out and sample so looking for somewhere close. Calusa is 18 min drive so that’s appealing. Wondering about anything else in that area, rest seems fairly average like JDubs, Big Top, Good Liquid. Any of these or something else stand out as a good place to go?

    I’ll drink anything. Not a huge sour or saison fan though. Like lagers, ipas, Belgians mostly.

    Thanks for the help!
     
    #3 MonkeyBread, Jun 26, 2018
  4. MonkeyBread

    MonkeyBread Maven (1,308) Apr 26, 2014 Nevada
    Trader

    Sorry one more question, I’m flying into Tampa Intl Airport. It looks like Cigar City has a brewpub in one of the terminals and their tap room is only 5 min from the airport. Any reason to go to the airport spot, does it have a decent selection? Or just take the 5 min drive to the tap room?
     
    #4 MonkeyBread, Jun 26, 2018
  5. scrappacito

    scrappacito Aspirant (242) Apr 30, 2009 Florida

    Take the 5 minute drive to the brewery on Spruce St. lots of draft, bottle and can selection, plus they often have special releases on tap.

    When in Sarasota the best choices IMO are Calusa and Brew Life, located at Beneva and Clark and very close to Calusa.
     
    #5 scrappacito, Jun 26, 2018
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  6. The_FishermanJay

    The_FishermanJay Pundit (936) May 16, 2010 Florida
    Trader

    @MonkeyBread, I’ll answer both questions in one go here:
    1. If you really don’t have that much time to get out while you’re here, I’d stick with Calusa (and especially given your preferred styles).
    1a. If you want to tick another brewery, I’d just hit Brew LIfe Brewing since it’s between the Westin and Calusa.
    1b. If you want to try several local/Florida beers in one stop, my next recommendation would be Mr. Beery’s.
    1c. After that, it’d be a toss-up for me between JDub’s and Darwin Brewing. But I’d stick with Calusa.

    2. Just go to Cigar City’s main brewery, which is — as you correctly wrote — only five minutes from the airport.
    2a. The airport location will have only the core beers plus maybe one seasonal whereas the brewery will have 15-20 of its beers on tap.
    2b. You can only get to the airport location if you’re flying into or out of the airside (primarily Southwest Airlines) where it’s located so the question may be moot, anyway.
    2c. CCB is a verified venue on Untappd so you can see their entire tap, to-go and “cellar” options in real time.

    You can buy beach-/hotel pool-/boat-/flight home-ready cans at both CCB and Calusa (though Calusa stock generally is more limited than CCB’s). Safe travels!
     
    #6 The_FishermanJay, Jun 26, 2018
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  7. MonkeyBread

    MonkeyBread Maven (1,308) Apr 26, 2014 Nevada
    Trader

    Thanks guys for the advice. As a debrief ended up doing the following:

    Calusa: got here only 20 min before closing when I could get away from work but the bar tender was awesome and let me stay after close, very knowledgeable on beer and chatted to her about craft in Tampa for a bit. Had the best ESB I’ve tasted, Ravenhold, a couple quality IPAs, Focus which I got a 4 pack of, Adjective Noun, sadly they had sold out of 4 packs great beer although I’d love to taste it minus the tangerine peel that was a tad overpowering and The Crossing, first Brut IPA I’ve had which was unique and excellent. Their brown ale Dissonance was superb with a great coffee flavor complemented by light cinnamon. Flappy Jacks as a big stout with a superb nose of maple syrup was a highlight too. Very glad I made the 20 min trek.

    Cigar City - went to the brewery which has an excellent set up of multiple bars, efficient to go and growler options. Cool bartender and workers there talking about every topic possible. Good beers, everything to style and quality. Highlights were port barrel barley wine, Pants Pants Pants DIPA, chocolate chip oatmeal raisin brown ale. Spent a while here and enjoyed every minute. Glad I saved limited bag space for the last stop though...

    Angry Chair - holy shit. What are they doing with their milk stouts they taste so good? Never had anything like it. Completely blew me away and first time I’ve rated a beer a max score. 5 second rule and rocky road were insane. Tasted like a rice pudding creme nut brûlée on crack. Every dark beer was off the charts. Only Woke was somewhat back down to earth as still a superb beer but was similar to things I’ve had at Mikkeller, Modern Times, FW. I don’t know what their secret is, can’t be healthy for you, don’t care though. One of the most aromatic English barley wines I’ve had too, which if they put similar adjuncts in as they do their stouts would be amazing. Ipas were quality too although I’d say on a level with Cigar City and slightly trailing Calusa. Hard to stand out compared to those stouts.

    Really friendly staff. I arrived 15 min before opening in pouring rain. They were nice enough to let me go into the brewery area with some shelter from the rain until they opened. Had an unannounced release I guess so I picked up a bottle of Sloth Loves Coffee and a Crowler of 5 Second Rule. Incredible stuff.
     
    #7 MonkeyBread, Jun 29, 2018
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  8. The_FishermanJay

    The_FishermanJay Pundit (936) May 16, 2010 Florida
    Trader

    #nailedit, @MonkeyBread! Glad you had a fun trip! Safe travels home.
     
    #8 The_FishermanJay, Jun 29, 2018
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  9. nolanz14

    nolanz14 Pundit (827) Aug 31, 2009 Massachusetts
    Trader

    I just got back from 3 weeks of work and vacation in the Tampa area. I visited 5 breweries in all and some were new and some were not. Thought I would give an update.

    1) Arkane Aleworks - had some of the best sours I've ever had. Really enjoyed Super Magic Carpet Rye'd and Gimmie Shelter. Hoppy stuff was better than decent and Coconut Devistation was solid. Cool vibe with trivia and food truck out back.

    2) Crooked Thumb - just because this place was close. I've been here before and their beers haven't gotten much better. Not much of a fan.

    3) Southern Lights - decent enough hoppy stuff. Really tough little spot located in a tiny strip mall with very limilited parking. Bartender saw myTrillium shirt and proceeded to show me his NE hops in the cooler. I'd go back again.

    4) 7venth Sun - Great hops and solid saisons. Freak Your Tiki sour and Coffee Run milk stout were both very good as well. I see a lot more breweries in Dunedin I need to try next trip.

    5) Cycle Brewing - I saved the best for last and had a limited amount of time here. Perfect time to visit right after their 5th anniversary with a lot of BA stuff available. I had two abosolutely phenominal BA stouts - Rocky Road DOS and Rare DOS w/ Hazelnut. The Hazelnut was probably one of the best beers I've had in a long time. I also grabbed a bottle of Cocodamia to go and haven't had that yet.
     
    #9 nolanz14, Aug 22, 2018
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  10. FrankenMiller

    FrankenMiller Savant (1,194) Mar 5, 2014 Florida
    Trader

    You were at 7th Sun and didn't drive the 2 minutes to Angry Chair. You sir missed out on one of the best breweries in FL.
     
    #10 FrankenMiller, Aug 28, 2018
  11. nolanz14

    nolanz14 Pundit (827) Aug 31, 2009 Massachusetts
    Trader

    1) I think it's longer than 2 mins
    2) I have 3 kids and couldn't fit everything into the trip
    3) It's on my list and I will be back
     
    #11 nolanz14, Aug 28, 2018
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  12. The_FishermanJay

    The_FishermanJay Pundit (936) May 16, 2010 Florida
    Trader

    Arkane, Largo; Crooked Thumb, Safety Harbor; Southern Lights, Clearwater; and Cycle, St Pete. I'd say @nolanz14 did a nice job visiting some cool spots and, based on that list, he went to the original Dunedin location of 7venth Sun ... which is a damn sight farther than two minutes from Angry Chair.
     
    #12 The_FishermanJay, Aug 28, 2018
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  13. FrankenMiller

    FrankenMiller Savant (1,194) Mar 5, 2014 Florida
    Trader

    I assumed you were in Tampa 7th Sun as you Said CCB.
     
    #13 FrankenMiller, Aug 28, 2018
  14. flabeer

    flabeer Crusader (424) May 22, 2007 Florida

    #14 flabeer, Sep 2, 2018
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  15. johnny_chimpo

    johnny_chimpo Initiate (0) May 29, 2015 Washington
    Trader

    Thank you for this list! I'm coming to Tampa / St Pete early next month and this is very helpful!
     
    #15 johnny_chimpo, Sep 6, 2018
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  16. The_FishermanJay

    The_FishermanJay Pundit (936) May 16, 2010 Florida
    Trader

    Thank YOU for taking the time to find this thread and read it (vs. posting a "Any have any ideas of what I should do/drink in Tampa?" post)!! Hope you have a fun time while you're here. Cheers!
     
    #16 The_FishermanJay, Sep 7, 2018
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  17. firecrotch23

    firecrotch23 Aspirant (265) Mar 4, 2011 Pennsylvania

    I’ll be staying in Clearwater Beach this Friday through Monday without a car. Does anyone have suggestions on where to get good beer to go?

    Been searching around but haven’t seen any decent options.

    Thanks!!
     
    #17 firecrotch23, Sep 12, 2018
  18. NoleBeerNoleFun

    NoleBeerNoleFun Initiate (0) Aug 17, 2015 Florida
    Trader

    Take an Uber to 7th Sun as they have lots of cans to go...or take it to the new Leukens as they have a huge Selection and a Crowler Station...probably a 15 dollar Uber Ride...if you have time just take a Uber to 7th Sun and you have 7 Breweries..a Distillery and lots of great Restaurants with Craft Beer Options all in Walking Distance like Hogfish,,Clear Sky..and Olde Bay Cafe
     
    #18 NoleBeerNoleFun, Sep 12, 2018
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  19. odsbodkins

    odsbodkins Initiate (0) Jan 3, 2010 Georgia

    This. The new Leukens is nice.

    For a place to go have good beer while out at the beach then North Beach Pub is a good spot.
     
    #19 odsbodkins, Sep 12, 2018
  20. firecrotch23

    firecrotch23 Aspirant (265) Mar 4, 2011 Pennsylvania

    Awesome, I have some time on saturday so making the trip to 7th Sun seems like a good plan. Want to hit up North Besch too. appreciate the help!
     
    #20 firecrotch23, Sep 12, 2018
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