My better half Angie and I spent the end of April getting married, so of course we had to celebrate heading into May with a honeymoon, and on that honeymoon, there were plenty of new brewery adventures.
We decided to head to West Central Florida for our honeymoon, for the perfect mix of beach time and plentiful breweries. We spent much of our time in Clearwater and St. Petersburg – the “Gulp Coast” – but we also ventured to Tampa to visit a few breweries I had on my beer bucket list.
Tampa
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| Coppertail Brewing Company |
We started our week at Coppertail Brewing Company in Tampa’s Ybor neighborhood, in part because they were open during lunch, had a great food menu, and also came highly recommended from a previous trip I had taken to Florida. Coppertail didn’t disappoint and was a clear highlight of our trip. Their food menu is reminiscent of upscale pub food, and they have tots which make them an immediate winner in our book. The space is large and open, with a large bar, outdoor patio, and loft space for private events. They’ve got an industrial feel with exposed pipes, etc.
The beer was also delicious and varied. This was my first exposure to the Florida Weisse – basically fruited Berliner Weisee beers, and they nailed this style. I really enjoyed their Guava Pastelitos (guava, raspberry, vanilla), Kiwi Florida Weisse, and Obey Your Thirst (lemon and lime). They also had standout IPAs including Free Dive and Kiko Santiago.
Cigar City is one of the best-known breweries in the country and was a must-stop on our list.Their tasting room actually features two bars – separated by a merch center in the middle. The front bar is more of a dive feeling, complete with plenty of coolers stocked with their beer to-go. The rear tasting room is more open and light, with a large bar and lots of large high-top tables repurposed out of barrels. They also have a large space focused around their tours, which are about 45 minutes long and feature an education portion as well as beer, of course. They’ve actually recently announced that they’re renovating their taproom to make it even better throughout 2019.
Their beer is unquestionably some of the best in not only Florida, but the country, and they have a few Great American Beer Fest medals to prove it. Their tasting room features their staples like Jai Alai (IPA) and Maduro (brown ale), but there are also some fun exclusives, like Tallin to Tampa, a nice fruity peppery black IPA that was brewed in collaboration with Pohjala in Estonia. We also loved their Margarita Gose and Trouser Gallery New England IPA.
We actually made a stop to Tampa Bay Brewing Company before Cigar City because of their food menu, which was solid. They are located in Ybor in a neat development just steps from the streetcar on a brick street. We sat on their covered outdoor patio, which has its own bar, and never actually even went inside the main brewery itself. They make their own version of the Florida Weisse, which was as enjoyable as the Last Days of Summer sour with mango and peach.
Clearwater
Our first stop in Clearwater was Southern Lights Brewing Company, one of the few breweries located in Clearwater proper right along one of the main roads headed toward the beach. The space was a little hard to find since they had removed their sign, and we actually found out after we visited here that they announced earlier in May that they are planning to relocate in the near future. We actually visited on one of the last days there and they only had a few of their own beers, which makes sense as the space has been re-purposed into a taproom. It should be interesting to see what’s in store for the future of Southern Lights.
Arkane Aleworks was our second stop, because the recommendation was that this Largo brewery had a good selection of sours, IPAs, and dark beers. It’s located in a shopping center with a large bar, picnic tables, and small outdoor patio. We tried a handful of their sours and IPAs, and the standout was Cobbler’s Knob, a blueberry cobbler sour that tasted exactly like a fruit pastry. They were also named Florida’s Best Small Brewery in 2018.
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| Cat of Crooked Thumb – Vader |
Crooked Thumb Brewery was a unique stop, as it’s tucked down a dead-end street in Safety Harbor. They had one of the best and most inviting spaces, with as much room outside as inside. They even have a handful of brew cats that live at the brewery and have their own Instagram account. Again we focused on their sours and IPAs, but their Cloud City saison was also a standout here.
The only brewery located on Clearwater Beach, Clearwater Social Brewing Company is on the second level of a strip center. The brewery was a little dark and dingy in a huge contrast from the bright and clean beach. It was definitely a confusing space that seemed to focus on guest taps as much as their own offerings. They also feature a full liquor bar and wine list.
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| Beaker tasters at Grindhaus |
When traveling the goal is always to find the diamond in the rough breweries that don’t get a ton of hype, and we found exactly that with Grindhaus Brew Lab. The brewery is located in an industrial park and is definitely no-frills. But their beer is experimental and almost all of it works. All of their beers are movie-themed, and there are always movies playing in the brewery (Star Wars and Spaceballs were the picks the day we were there). We tried unique beers with names like Franchise Wars (jalapeno tomatillo Berliner Weisse), Gatsby (raspberry brut rose), Oh Beehive! (honey cream ale), The Fog (New England IPA), Night of the Pumpkin (pumpkin stout), and It’s A Trappe! (Belgian Triple with sweet mead and Belgian yeasts). To encourage experimentation and sampling, all of the beers were served in small beakers of 5-10 ounces. Grindhaus also featured a homebrew supply store.
Sea Dog Brewing Company is an off-shoot of Maine’s Shipyard Brewing, and they have a handful of brewpubs across Florida, including the Safety Harbor location that we visited. They’ve been around since the early 1990s, and unfortunately this seems like a format that is a little past its time with a sanitized feel and beer that’s just OK.
Dunedin
Just a few miles north of Clearwater, Dunedin is a small little town with seven craft breweries, including Florida’s first craft brewery, Dunedin Brewery. That was a our first stop on what we planned as a full day of breweries in Dunedin. Not only do they have a large selection of beers, Dunedin has a full food menu with two distinct different taprooms – a smaller, more intimate spot, and a larger open space with their brewing equipment in the back, high top tables, a large bar, and a stage for live performances. It’s a nice blend of laid back with a Scottish touch as a note to the town’s heritage.
Here we tried a couple of lighter options, including Work // Party Berliner Weisse and Apricot Peach Ale. Dunedin was a nice centrally located spot to start our day with a nice walking tour with so many breweries within about a half square mile.
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| Flight at Cueni Brewing Company |
Cueni Brewing Company is a small space but had some of the best beers we tried in the Sunshine State. After finding out that the owners are native Ohioans, we actually got to chat up one of the owners who was behind the bar on a busy Saturday afternoon. Their taproom has an industrial feel with a mid-sized bar and a handful of low-top tables. Their beers vary from traditional styles (German Pils) to some fun things (Buzzed Blonde coffee ale), and we were able to try the last leftover (Curious Gourd Pumpkin Ale) from their halfway to Halloween party that we just missed.
Dunedin House of Beer Brewing is as much taproom as it is brewery, with 40 offerings available on tap and just a handful being brewed in house. Their two standouts are their Mango Hefeweizen and Peanut Butter Blonde, although I also enjoyed the Apple Pie Blonde.
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| Multi-tier flight at 7venth Sun |
7venth Sun Brewery is the furthest brewery north in Dunedin, and they have a tiny tasting room
featuring a bar with just a couple of seats, but they make up for it with plenty of outdoor space. The dog-friendly taproom is home to some standout sours and goses, including When Life Gives You Lemons (sour) and I Can Always Escape (sour brett saison with kiwi). It was also home to one of the cooler flight handles I’ve seen in awhile.
Woodwright Brewing Company is part brewery, part woodworking shop and was packed when we showed up mid-afternoon. It seemed like the beer takes a bit of the backseat to the woodworking, but this was definitely a unique stop on our trip.
Another nod to the city’s Scottish heritage, Caledonia Brewing is located in an old printing company building, with exposed brick and an cool, inviting feel. They mostly focus on traditional styles, and we enjoyed the Ooh La La Saison and Swheat Thunder Cherry Wheat.
St. Petersburg
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| Outdoor space at Green Bench Brewing |
When looking for recommendations for breweries to visit, Green Bench Brewing Co kept popping up as a place we should check out. And it turned out to be a memorable stop. After a flight we realized we were pretty hungry, so we asked a bartender and ended up grabbing some delicious Cuban sandwiches from across the street. Their building is a near-century old garage just around the corner from Tropicana Field, and it’s located in a gentrifying neighborhood where it clearly serves as a centerpiece with it’s large outdoor patio and grassy area. Green Bench is dog-friendly and gets its name from the benches that line the streets of downtown St. Pete. The beer was also top-notch, including their classic Green Bench IPA, Turbid 7 New England IPA, and FLIPA: Strawberry Shortcake farmhouse IPA. Their Skyway Hazy DIPA was also a standout of the trip. They also have a nice cider selection.
3 Daughters Brewing is located in an artsy warehouse in downtown St. Pete, giving one of the larger distributing breweries in the area plenty of space to operate. We tried a New England IPA and coffee blonde, but their beer didn’t really stand out.
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| Dog mural at PAW |
Pinellas Ale Works, also known as PAW, is not only dog-friendly, it’s a dog-themed beer complete with a large outdoor mural of dachshunds. We had a fun experience here playing Bandingo (song-themed bingo) and enjoyed their pup-themed beers, from Puppy Love (New England IPA), Peanut Butter Pup (stout), Chocolate Covered Razz (stout), Doberman (brown ale), and Sit (red ale).
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