VIsiting Gainesville

@HoppierGator

 

I'd check out First Magnitude as well. I've been impressed with some of their barrel aged beers on draft, particularly their barleywine. Gator Beverage is my usual go to place for bottles. It's a smaller bottle shop but they do a good job for the size of the place. Go Gators @NoleBeerNoleFun

 

There’s also a new kid in town, Cypress and Grove brewery. They are located in an old icehouse, you can find them online and on Facebook. Great vibe, always a food truck and the beer is very good, they’re expanding their lineup constantly. Tipple’s Brews and Crafty Bastards are also good bottle shops.

 

Just here to second the recommendations by @HoppierGator

first mag has been churning out some great goses, like this:

• Saltwater Intrusion Tropical Tide Gose w/ Guava, Mango & Pineapple

Big space, indoors and out, normally a food truck on site as well. And definitely Gator Beverage for cans/bottles. dont judge a book by its cover; it might not look like much from the outside, but the selection is always good. Swamphead is definitely worth it, they may just be pretty busy tomorrow since they do a Football Friday event before every home game, so the crowd might be larger than normal.

 

I'm in Gainesville for work and previously have been to Swamphead and been to Tipples and Gators a few times and both are great stores, but its been since Nov 2017 since I've been in town so looking for some recent updates from the locals or recent beer nerd travelers. Some questions:

Anything else noteworthy in the 20 mile radius from Gainesville for breweries pumping out top brews aside from Swamphead, Cypress and Grove or First Mag?

Can I find the big stout/porters from Funky Bhuddas at the stores (Last Snow, Morning Wood etc)

Is Toppling Goliath now distributing in the area? King Sue available? Not interested in Pseudo...had that many times.

 

i'd say for the first question, no nothing within a 20 mile radius of town but there is a good brewery in Ocala, Infinite, and you can find some of their stuff on shelves in bottles and cans. swamphead is cranking out a ton of different/new beers and normally has a lot of different stuff in cans at the brewery.

you can find the Funky Buddha stouts/porters in stores definitely at Gator Bev and ABCs and the Total Wine on Archer Road. TG is not distributing in Gainesville yet.

 

Great updates. Thank you! I'll be hitting up Gators for sure, and probably will try to talk my work guy into going to First Magnitude. The Drift English beer they make has peeked my interest and I hear its a nice venue according to my reps. that live in Gainesville.

 

First mag would be my pick, around the corner is a beer bar called Hop Top Lounge, probably the best selection of taps in town and isn’t overrun by big boys, menu is on untappd. Same strip mall is a convenience store up front that has bottles and everything anyone else will have in town and is in between first mag and Swamp head. Stick to those two, Cypress and Grove has a nice spot but beer imo is meh.

 

I just stopped in town on the way to Tampa. Swamphead and FM were definitely the largest operations and both had great beers along with some I glad were in tasters. We decided to give Blackadder a try as well and every beer we tried of theirs nailed the style. Thing is, they dont make the new sexy styles so it may not be for everyone. I was very glad I went, so I thought it was worth a mention.

 

When I stopped at Gator's beverage last Thursday, I scored some Funky Bhudda's "Morning Wood" (there are still a few bottles left) and "The Love Below". I never made it out to any of the breweries this trip, but at Gator's I did pick up a sixer of First Mag's "The Drift" English Dark Mild. I wasn't overly impressed with that beer for the style (despite winning Gold at 2018 GABF) and looking at BA review/scores aren't that high either. Just ok. At a restaurant in in Gainesville, I ordered a pint of Swamphead's Big Nose IPA which I thought was solid for a more standard classic American IPA.

Last time I was in Gainesville about a year ago, I tried 72 Pale Ale from First Mag. and didn't care for that one at all. Maybe First Mag. isn't my taste (or I've just been missing their good ones from my limited sample size).

BlackAdder seems like the place to go. Check out their high-level guest tap list further down (and their taps beer style options are quite respectable as well.

https://www.blackadderbrewing.com/tap-list

 

i'll also give a shout out to Blackadder. they do a wide variety of styles, normally about 10-12 of their own beers on tap, and as @GatorBeerNerd said not necessarily the new sexy styles, but what they make they hit the style. they also have a good variety of guest taps (maybe 15 or more), and its normally a laid back atmosphere.