I had a great weekend in Tampa. Hit up Peg's, loved it! Hit up Rapp, loved it! Hit up the Cajun Cafe on the Bayou....amazing! Found some cuban place next to a BK, man it was awesome! Went to the brewpub, got a growler of Peanut Allergy, left it in New Port Richey condo my parents have and let me stay at. I checked out Pair O Dice as well, it was ok. IPA was great. Anyways, I have to go to Kissimme (sp?) this weekend to build a computer for my grandma. My uncle is paying me, and I'm definitely going to New Port Richey to get my growler of Peanut Allergy on Saturday. Are there any other places around worth checking out? I've looked at some suggestions, but they all seem to be for the places I listed above, plus some bottle shops. If not I just plan on hitting up the CCB tasting room and rapp and the cajun cafe, hopefully I can get some more Gavino. Might even just skip the tasting room in favor of Peg's. (Nothing at all to do with huna day, just like the smaller environment better, but if I can land a gavino...)
If your going to Cajun Cafe for food I would recommend going to Cycle instead of Peg's. If you go to Cycle you will have more of a selection of beer plus you could buy growlers. Peg's is great but if I wasnt going there to eat I would just go to Cycle.
Southern Brewing and Winemaking is definitely worth a stop in Tampa. They're close to CCB (northeast about 12mins away). They're a homebrew shop, but they also serve their own brews (about 20ish at a time) with a full range of styles. Well done spot, food trucks on weekends, indoor and outdoor seating.
New Port Richey is north of Tampa. If you took the Veterans south then Big Storm and Wild Rover would both be small detours. Both make solid beer and Wild Rover is one of the smaller and more intimate breweries in town.
Awesome, thanks for the suggestions guys! Cait, thanks for the offer but I'm not lookin to trade for any, managed to grab two, figured if they had more in the tasting room i'd grab another couple.
Mapping this out, hell yeah! Wild Rover is right by the condo, I hope they do growlers! I've got a solid route now that doesn't involve going all the way on the island to rapp. Kissimme to CCB, then to Wild Rover, Big Storm, then Condo. Just need a nice place to eat nearby and I'll avoid making the trip super long....but that cajun cafe may well be worth the drive. Actually that cuban place by BK around CCB was awesome, can't remember the damn name though.
So I checked out the two small breweries. Wild Rover was nice but it was towards the end of the day. I only had one beer of theirs and feel like I need to have some more before making a judgement, but they were decent. I went to Big Storm the next day, it was awesome. Had 3 beers, all were fantastic. The atmosphere was great, and the bartender was knowledgeable. I was surprised to see so-so ratings when I checked in the beers, but it turns out they recently nailed down some temperature issues due to bad gauge calibration. Check out this place if you haven't! It's hard to put it into words but I feel like the place embodies the spirit of the local small brewery. CCB is nice for sure, but this place has the little brewery charm in spades.
There are a few people in our bottleshare group who are El Cats. I'd bet someone would work something out with you.
