Best Craft in Florida

Really depends on style for me. Cycle Crank blows everything in the Florida IPA market out of the water. It's just not close, and on par with some of the great stuff coming out of Vermont these days.

For stouts, nobody seems to come close to CCB, though I've yet to have Cycle's BA stuff.

And for porter? Funky Buddha seems to have this one locked down. MBCP really lived up to hype and more for
Me. CCB makes some amazing ones as well, but their porters are so thick they're really just imperial stouts.

Still waiting for that top tier DIPA from our state. Rickshaw didn't do it for me: too sweet and too flat. May have been a bad batch.

 

I visited Florida last year and did about 6 breweries and for me hands down Rapp. Every single beer I tried was good. I was especially blown away by the Chocolate Peanut butter stout. I would say Cigar City is a close 2nd. I just like that Rapp was overall more solid on a bigger aray of styles.

 

Funky Buddha and Cigar City are the the top. Although I love supporting my local bar and their kegged creations.

 

Loved Funky Buddha and Cigar City, of those i've tried. Due South had a few good ones at last year's EBF (the orange creamsicle was SO good). Always wanted to try Peg's Cantina but i believe they're draft only?

 

I just moved to Florida in December and so far CCB is my "go to" primarily since I can get several styles pretty fresh - especially Jai Alai - at my local Publix. We're still kind of settling in and doing so work on the house but once that's all squared away I'll be venturing out and checking out what others have to offer. I like this thread since it will give me ideas of who else to check out.

 

I will chime in I moved to Florida last July and have been to about 10 breweries hands down Funky Buddha is the best but I was very impressed by Angry Chair in Tampa everything they did was great I also liked MIA brewing in Doral.....think its in Doral. CCB for me has a few fantastic brews but Angry Chair and MIA were better for variety of styles

 

In terms of pure quality I would put 3 sons on the list as well, although quantity is the issue (have only got to sample the beers on a few occasions)....CCB would be my favorite FL brewery (with the obvious choice of Hunahpu being favorite beer), but FB is a close second with having so many spot on flavored beers

 

It all depends on what beer I'm looking for...

porters - Funky Buddha
pale ales - cycle
gose - Rapp
stouts - CCB
ba stouts - Cylce is 1a & CCB is 1b

Also, the list of breweries coming along with great beers is promising.

 

For all around beers and experience, CCB is tops. Their stouts are just top notch and their one off treatments of some of the core brands are great. Cycle has the best IPA's and pales, and as it was said earlier, it's not close. JWB has the best Berliners followed closely by cycle, just wish they'd do more! Love me some MBCP and LS, and some of the one off berliners have been nice, but FB everyday lineup is not on par with CCB or Cycle or JWB, IMO. Haven't been to Rapp yet, so I will defer. So, in order of preference, 1a. CCB 1b. Cycle 2. JWB 3. FB.

 

How does one obtain a Crowler of mexican standoff? Had it a month back and would love it again! Cheers

 

The real question is with Tampa/St Pete having so many great breweries and SFL not far behind, why the hell can't we get someone in Orlando to open a place that can brew quality beer to join this list?

 

I ask why a CA brewery hasn't tried making a chili/cinnamon stout yet. My bet is on a Black Tuesday variant this year though for the BT release party. Pls god

 

Another Crank fan, its easily my favorite Florida beer. Rapps Choc PB stout and Choc hazelnut porter are fantastic as well.

Not mentioned yet is Coppertail, who has a good IPA (Free Dive), and they also do some good Florida Weiss beers, as does Three Palms. I'm really digging the fruity Berliners that a lot of FL breweries are doing now.

 

Wakefield in the 305.

 

Cycle, superior IPAs great stouts

CCB obviously.

Seventh sun, saisons and assorted weirdness.

Swamp head deserves a mention too, solid beers all around, with some occasional standouts.

I continue to be surprised Rapp shows up in these conversations. Their beer is good, but not on the level of the others mentioned above.

 

"Schizandra" Bourbon-barrel Belgian Quad w/ cherries by Hourglass Brewing, Saturday, May 16 release. LONGWOOD. Bring your tongues and mouves and lets hope it doesn't suck.

 

I bolded my candied favorites:

Angry Chair for #1 quality micro craft, go on dates here.
Cigar City for #1 all-around whale maker macro-craft and a superior club membership and general bottle releases and canning schedules. Go with your mul---- friends.
Cycle for #1 BA stouts and IPAs. Unbeatable, at the moment. Good for dates and whales and hobos asking what you're standing in line for.
Three Palms for #2 micro quality and a refrigerator full of crowlers. Randy is a bad dude and they have a refrigerator full of crowlers. They also have a refrigerator full of crowlers.
CCB Brewpub for #3 micro quality, they were putting out great stuff as of Tim Ogden.
Green Bench has great sours and their first BA RIS w/ cherries was superb, there next batch was terrible so they are on the fence but the taproom is the best on the West Coast, really rad and it adjust to the weather.
Funky Buddha has the best porters like dude said above.
Coppertail looks cool now and beers are OK. Logo & artwork is great so TO BE CONTINUED..
Rapp has good beers and many styles, nothing stands out besides OMG, which is too rare for such a tiny place and it's in a humongous storage unit. Always about ten regulars there.
Orlando Brewing is the worst brewery in Central Florida and it's organic.