There are plenty of both, of course. A few logistical details could help others and me help you with an "itinerary." On which side of the Bay are you staying? Bringing kids (I ask since there are some in your avatar)? Working around a scheduled event (e.g., a wedding, Rays game)? The Bay area is just spread out enough that one ends up having to pick a few places per day.
The CCB brewpub has literally the best burger i've ever had. Its grassfed beef with plantains.....nom nom nom.
I have fri nite, sat nite and sun am w/o wife and kids. I am in town for a CE conference. Staying at airport Marriott. Thanks for the ideas
I will apologize ahead of time for (undoubtedly) overlooking something obvious and/or omitting someone's favorite place. That said ... Cigar City and Six-Ten Brewing are very close to the airport. Cigar City Brewpub would be a 25- to 30-minute drive depending on traffic but, as suggested above, it's worth the drive. You could make a loop of those three on Friday night (allowing traffic to ease a bit before venturing up to the brewpub). I would suggest hitting the Pinellas side of the Bay on Saturday night (less traffic to deal with). Catch early-ish dinner at Cajun Cafe (see above). Rapp Brewing isn't terribly far from there. You could then take Bryan Dairy Road back out to the interstate (optional stop: Pair O' Dice) and head to St Pete. Cycle Brewing and Green Bench Brewing are within five blocks of each other. 3 Daughters Brewing is in St Pete but a little afield of downtown. Craft-beer bar Ale & Witch is also downtown. It -- in the same vein as Cajun Cafe -- generally has a solid list of local/Florida beers (and a BBQ place across the courtyard). Other restaurants I frequent (avoiding saying "good restaurants" since this is all a matter of personal preference) in St Pete include: Urban Brew & Barbecue, Moon Under Water, Bodega and The Avenue. I'm not sure about St Pete but I don't think alcohol sales in Tampa are allowed before 11 am Sundays. Cigar City opens at 11. I think Southern Brewing (in Seminole Heights) also opens at 11 ... but check their hours. Craft-beer bar The Independent (also in Seminole Heights) has a solid b-fast menu and starts pouring at 11. Ella's Americana Folk Art Cafe has an amazing brunch menu but can be a pain in the ass with the crowds.
+9001 Possibly the best experience I had during Huna weekend. Fantastic local beer and freakin 'gumbo dude. Straight up beer go to Rapp, like, seriously, freaking go to Rapp dude! Do it! And buy a big snifter, easily my favorite snifter, it's huge, sturdy, and the logo is bold and will not be fading any time soon. Also, check out Las Margaritas on Saturday after 5pm to get the smoked pork special. Wait until like 8ish at least to give it more time to make the skin crackly. It's a very small place near CCB next to a Burger King. Easy to miss, best food I had the entire weekend, but no good beer selection.
Greg Rapp will be at the Cajun Cafe Sat afternoon/evening serving his beers for the crawfish festival. I will be in Tampa area Saturday for our home brew club pub crawl. Here is what we are hitting. I put the list together. Cigar City Brewing Cigar City Brew Pub 7venth Sun Brewing Dunedin Brewery Rapp Brewing Company Green Bench Brewing Cycle Brewing
Cycle has a lot of beers on tap now and for the past couple weeks have had barrel aged beers on steadily.
The weekend is over and I was able to hit up most of recommendations. The best beer of the weekend was Barley Mow milk stout. The barrel aged choices at Cycle and their saison were amazing too. Everything was pretty solid all around. Rapp gose is always good but no smoked beer this time around.
I will be making this trip in a couple of months as well. I have an unmarked growler in my possession and was hoping that I could fill it at some of the breweries. Here in Cali a good number of breweries let you fill unmarked growlers or they make you slap a sticker with there logo on your growler. Can anyone tell me if CC, 7th Sun, Rapp, Green Bench or Cycle fill unmarked growlers?
