Visiting family in Lakeland, FL and was wondering if there are any breweries, bottle shops/liquor stores, and bars worth going to? I’ve been to Brewhub a few years ago and wasn’t impressed. I prefer NEIPA’s, sours, stouts, etc like everyone these days. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Craft & Kitchen is worth a try, especially for lunch. It's the new name for Beer Revolution. Same owner: Mike. I've carried out many a bottle over the years. Check out his tap list to see if it suits you. It sits just north of the Polk Parkway on Florida Ave, not too far south of downtown. Cheers! https://www.cklakeland.com/
I live in Lakeland. Swan Brewing is worth a look, really cool spot, their house brewed beers are decent, and they have lots of guest taps. Brew Hub's house beers have been steadily improving now to the point where they're mostly great. If you want NEIPAs and sours they have several good ones on now (Maximum Comfort, Solar Pressure, Drank). Grab whatever Groupon they have on. Craft + Kitchen and Cob & Pen are the best beer centric food places in the area. Craft + Kitchen and Grapevine Liquors are the two spots for bottles. Grapevine has less turnover, which is good when you're looking for the stuff that goes fast (mostly Toppling Goliath haze), and there's some real dusty stout gems on the shelf there. Wouldn't buy anything hoppy without a date though. Winter Haven is worth the approx 30 minute trip, they have a good brewery in Grove Roots, a self-serve taproom that just opened last month, Union Taproom, as well as some great (less beer centric) places to eat, and a real cool whiskey bar right by Grove Roots if that's something you're into.
I’ll check out that Swan Brewing and possibly revisit Brew Hub. I was actually at Grapevine yesterday and they do have some surprising finds there. Found some decent NEIPA’s within a month of canning and some great stouts. I recall going there a few years ago and not finding much. Maybe different owners. I’ll look into those others a well. Somewhat familiar with Winter Haven since my nieces go to school there. I’m hoping to convince the wife to go to Tampa so we can hit up Angry Chair and a few others and maybe also drive to St Petersburg to hit up Cycle. Thank you for your recommendations!
Angry Chair actually has bottles of El Cucuy in the fridge right now. It’s not a good one in my opinion, but it is a stout and from AC so could be a decent souvenir if you can make the trip.
If you can make it to Winter Haven Grove Roots is definitely worth the trip. The beer is ok but they really do a great job with the family/community vibe. I’ve seen 100+ people there on a Wednesday night.
