Fort Myers

I was down there last year and it's an absolute craft wasteland. Good luck!

 

Not much to be had, but a couple of things:

Point Ybel Brewing - getting better all the time but nothing that will knock your socks off
Fort Myers Brewing - have really upped their game the past 6 mos. Their OYA DIPA is an all Citra phenom!
World of Beer - Bar with lots of taps and bottles(check dates)
House of Brewz - Bar with insane amount of taps but few winners
Brass Tap - Bar with lots of taps and bottles(also check dates)

 

TW will have the best selection of bottles, but their customer service is awful. The breweries are average, although I haven't been to momentum yet (bonita springs) might be worth the trip.....My go to place is hurricanes at coconut point. Always has something good on tap and the staff is top notch. Plus, the wings are great!

 

How are you getting to Fort Myers? Driving or flying? And if flying, into what airport? Your answers to those questions will help shape my answers to your questions.

 

Here's my $.02.
The breweries mentioned above all have great beer.
Point Ybel - try the Black Mangrove. It is my favorite beer and they always have one offs or different treatments of beers.
Fort Myers Brewing - OYA, High 5, RIS...all stellar and getting better and better each batch. They just did a red ipa with CCB last weekend and it should be ready in a few weeks.
Momentums New IPA is excellent as well as their Imperial Red...their stout is no slouch either.

Point Ybel had the number one beer (collab) of the year! Colliding Galaxies and Fort Myers Brewing is getting major kudos on their OYA and High 5. It bugs me when people say the local craft beer in SWFL is just average or ok. It's much better than that!

Stillwater Grille, World of Beer, House of Brewz and the newly opened Brass Tap always have a great selection of beers as well...
Total Wine is the bottle shop.
There are some pretty good craft beer bars in Naples as well.

 

[QUOTE="Barhoppin13, post: 3227977, member: 757705"
The breweries mentioned above all have great beer. It bugs me when people say the local craft beer in SWFL is just average or ok. It's much better than that. [/QUOTE]

I appreciate the fact that swfl finally has a couple breweries, but to say we have great beer is a stretch. They have some good beer, not great beer. I'll reserve all of my criticism until I have fmbc's imperial stout, which I've heard is good, but have not had. But if I want great beer, I'll make the trip to Ccb, cycle, or fb.

 

I appreciate the fact that swfl finally has a couple breweries, but to say we have great beer is a stretch. They have some good beer, not great beer. I'll reserve all of my criticism until I have fmbc's imperial stout, which I've heard is good, but have not had. But if I want great beer, I'll make the trip to Ccb, cycle, or fb.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I was really hoping to be blown away by all the one-off FMBC beers at their Winterfest, but I very underwhelmed. I was really impressed by was the oaked cacao RIS, but the regular RIS was good at best.

 

FMB's expansion includes a barrel aging room.
These local breweries are making huge strides and its sad that we don't have more people supporting and promoting our growing beer industry...smh

 

Putting average beer in a barrel gets you average barrel aged beer. I would love to support local breweries, make better beer and I will.

 

I keep trying to support them by giving them a go every once in awhile. I just haven't found anything to keep me coming back regularly(exception OYA). Am I supposed to spend my hard earned money on beer that I don't care for just because it's local?

 

Was at the brass tap in estero this weekend. They had enjoy by, fort Myers brewing oya, funky Buddha nib smuggler porter and some other nice drafts. They'll fill growlers too. Momentum in Bonita making some nice beers also.

 

You guys are right...you win.
Let me know if fellas want to meet up, I'll be happy to buy you beer.
Cheers

 

This thread applies to me as I will be spending 4-5 days before Hunahpu day at the GF's parents extra condo in Naples. Can vouch for the Naples Beach Brewery (a bit of a hike from Ft. Myers but...) and Will's very VERY solid beer, I've had much less impressive beer in bottles from breweries with 10+ state distro.

 

Gotcha. I would have suggested stops along the way if you were driving down or flying into TIA. Since you're not, I'll defer to my Southwest Florida advocates on the best local draft places. I will second the notion of hitting up Total Wine, which should have a decent selection of the Florida breweries in distribution.

 

Your best bets:

Craft Beer:

Point Ybel Brewing - San Carlos Blvd on the way to Fort Myers Beach - my favorite local brewery - always a good selection of beer with a very friendly/knowledgeable staff

Stillwater Grille - at the corner of Cypress Lake (Daniels changes names west of 41) and McGregor - solid food and best beer selection in the area - 48 beers on draft

Momentum Brewhouse - about 20 minutes south of Fort Myers in Bonita Springs off Bonita Beach Road - very good brewery that opened last fall

Fort Myers Brewing - close to JetBlue in the industrial park near Comcast in Gateway - another good local brewery that is improving all the time

Naples Beach Brewing - a bit of a drive down to Naples, but it's worth checking out if you're in the area on a Friday/Saturday - very well made craft beer

Old Soul Brewing - off 41 near Page Field/Edison Mall - up and coming brewery that opened a few months ago - my experience has been hit or miss, but worth checking out

World of Beer - Bell Tower Shoppes at the corner of Daniels and 41 - always have a large number of beers on tap and in bottles - service is typically poor, but is a decent place to watch sports

Total Wine - the only real bottle shop worth mentioning - service typically sucks, but the selection is very good - watch out for bottling/best by dates as some things sit around far too long

Restaurants:

11:Eleven Cafe - San Carlos Blvd on the way to Fort Myers Beach in the same plaza as Point Ybel Brewing - amazing little cafe specializing in grilled cheese sandwiches

Stillwater Grille - see info above

Fat Katz - near JetBlue Park on Daniels just west of I-75 - has excellent casual dining with a solid craft beer selection

Nice Guys Pizza - College Parkway bridge to Cape Coral - really good pizza with a good craft beer selection

Nevermind Awesome Bar & Eatery - right down the street from nice guys - delicious sandwiches of which my favorite is the pork belly grilled cheese

Zushi Zushi/House of Brewz - Fort Myers Beach - decent sushi place with a very good beer selection. This House of Brewz is MUCH better than the one at Gulf Coast Town Center

 

Fort Myers Brewing just won gold today for High 5 and their Chocolate Stout. They also won Silver for their Kolsh...I'm proud of those guys!

 

I gotta say, I revisited Point Ybel this weekend, and was impressed by a couple of their beers. The Dwarf Galaxy sour was a fantastic simple sour. If they would age this in oak barrels and give it some fruit additions, there is no doubt in my mind that this would stand up to the big boys from De Garde, JK, ect. The double dry hopped IPA was pretty darn good as well. The flagships aren't world class, but they're solid. Props to Point Ybel, they have gotten significantly better.

 

@Gtreid

Go back and try Point of Intrest when they release it at Ybel. That's their new 8% Imperial Sour IPA they did with 7th Sun. I had a behind the scenes sample Sunday and It is the best sour I've ever had. They will have that beer at 7thSuns hangover day this Sunday and their double IPA Megahops will be on tap at CCB Friday night before Hunaphu Day. That's one delicious DIPA! Both will be available in the tap room this week and next week.
And I've also samples their stout that's sitting in a Jack Daniels barrel....it's an unfrigging real imperial stout! They're releaseing that on St Patrick's Day.

And FTMBrew also won a gold for OYA so that's 3 GOLD's and a SILVER for the SWFL Beer scene! We're doing things here...and our beer is above average.

(My shameless plug for my tour business)
www.swflbrewerytours.com come check it out!