Venice, FL area? breweries, bottle shops, releases?

I grew up in that area and there really isn't much by way of craft beer. No breweries to speak of. There is JDubs and Big Top in Sarasota about 20 minutes north. I have only had the can offerings from JDubs and they weren't much to write home about. Luckily Cigar City seasonal offerings tend to stay on the shelves at ABC down there for longer than in most areas of Florida so you could be in luck. A few bars on the island should have fresh cigar city on tap such as Old Venice Pub and Tap and Cork. Best bet would be to take a day to travel north about 45 minutes to an hour and hit all the great breweries in the Tampa Bay area.

 

Plenty of decent places to grab bottles nearby in Sarasota: TW on 41, TW on University, ABC on Clark and ABC on Bee Ridge. There is also an ABC in Venice that should have a decent selection. For breweries, keep an eye on Calusa Brewing, which plans to open by the end of the year in Sarasota on Clark Rd. Obviously will remain to be seen, but I am expecting good things based on some initial reports of their test batches. It should definitely have been open a few months by June.

 

Things continue changing so quickly, I'd recommend hitting us up here in April or May! You won't want for good beer on your trip. Cheers!

 

My dad just had surgery @ the Venice hospital and Island Time Spirits was right across the street. They have a "bar" where you can drink on premise, a few beers were available but had a ton of wine and hard stuff you could try onsite. The walk in in the back had a great selection of to go beers, better than ABC and Sarasota Wine in Venice. All their ipa's were fresh and had 3 or 4 seasonal CCB beers. Everyone working there were real cool, we even cracked a few bottles and hung out drinking with the JDub's distributer. This will be my go to for bottles when I visit the family in Venice.

 

Looking to resurrect this thread for my own trip to Venice area next week. Anything new pop up since the info above was posted? Is the map on beerinflorida.com pretty accurate and up to date? Any other good maps out there?

Thanks,
Nelson

 

Island Times Spirits has really stepped their bottle selection up. Probably one of the better bottle shops I have been to in Florida. I have been in there a few times since my last post.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. The cooler was kind of a mess, but the employee that helped me knew his stuff and helped me find some good beer.