Tampa Bay breweries infuse flavors and feels of the Sunshine State into award-winning beers
Water, malt, hops — the recipe is nearly the same everywhere. These are the tangibles of the basic craft beer recipe. The 57 breweries calling the gulf coast home live and breathe them day in and out. Ask any one of them, however, and they will tell say that ingredients are not the secret to a great beer, but the intangibles are — passion, flavor and history. These qualities, along with a little bit of sunshine, create the perfect recipe for the breweries of Greater Tampa Bay.
The craft brewery craze may be a somewhat recent phenomenon, but Greater Tampa Bay had a love for craft beer long before the industry took off in the 2010s. The river of beer flowing through the bay area stretches back even before prohibition — which did not really take effect in the Tampa area, by the way.
Vicente Martinez-Ybor was a man of many trades, known as the founding father of Ybor City and the entrepreneur behind the Tampa suburb’s massive Cuban cigar industry. Martinez-Ybor laid the groundwork for the many breweries who call the Tampa area home today. He founded Florida’s first-ever brewing company, Florida Brewing Company, in 1897. It was the state’s only brewery until 1913.
More than 100 years later, the craft beer scene in Greater Tampa Bay is overflowing with success that would surely make Martinez-Ybor proud.
So, take a peek inside. Grab a seat. Take a sip. Crack open a cold one and taste a little about what makes local breweries extraordinarily unique.
7th Sun Brewing, a staple of Dunedin, has been in the area for nearly a decade. As only the second brewery ever established in Dunedin, it can be described as a local trendsetter.
This female-owned and operated stop has 27 taps and features its most popular brew, graffiti orange. This wheat beer has a crisp, fruity flavor with notes of vanilla, and it can also be found in many restaurants and stores.
7th Sun also has a newer location in the Seminole Heights neighborhood of Tampa, which was converted from an old roller-skating rink. A discerning eye may be able to spot the remnants of the old haunt. With bold flavors, cozy tasting rooms and, perhaps most importantly, a lot of spunk, 7th Sun is history in the making.
Tampa Bay Brewing Company embodies the charm of Florida. Citrus-y, fruit-forward, juicy, sour, tangy flavors exude fresh air and sunshine. The brewery’s two taprooms are in the Westchase area and historic Ybor City, and they feature food menus as well.
Brews such as quat contain locally sourced Florida kumquats, while reef donkey, their well-known American pale ale, give off the scents of lemon and lime with each sip. With live music, 24 rotating taps and plenty of outdoor patio space, Tampa Bay Brewing Company has every right to name themselves after the area it serves best.
Any local could easily point out that Ybor City is synonymous with one thing — cigars. However, nowadays it might be two things — cigars and Cigar City Brewing. The brewery, founded in 2007 and opening officially in 2009, had a goal of introducing the world to the unique history of Tampa and its rich culture.
With 24 taps, three locations and numerous awards from the Best American Beer Competition and U.S. Beer Tasting Championships, it is safe to say that Cigar City Brewing is fulfilling its mission. CCB is famous for its renowned jai alai IPA, a citrus beer with hints of caramel, as well as seasonal favorites such as the space pope IPA, a fruity beer with melon and passionfruit. Between focuses on high-quality ingredients, high-quality processes and high-quality people, CCB keeps the Tampa and Ybor tradition alive and well.
Tampa cannot claim all of the craft brewery glory. Enter 3 Daughters Brewing, based proudly out of St. Petersburg since 2013. One of the largest independent breweries in Florida, 3 Daughters keeps the options abundant with 40 active taps, hard cider, wine, sangria and hard seltzer beverages. Its ever-changing tasting room is filled with different flavors, ensuring no two visits are the same. 3 Daughters hosts live music, trivia nights, gameboards and not a single TV, to encourage interaction between guests. Try some of the brewery’s year-round favorites, including Bimini twist IPA, beach blonde ale and stern light oatmeal stout. That makes three down, only 37 more to go.
For beer lovers with a “Passion for Craftin’,” as the motto goes, Soggy Bottom Brewing Company in Dunedin is just the right place. Sporting a post-prohibition atmosphere and an impressive list of flavorful brews, Soggy Bottom contributes a unique style to the rich culture of Dunedin breweries.
Of its more than 20 beers on tap, some Soggy Bottom favorites include the toasted coconut porter, the dark Norfolk brown and a citrus-forward lemon wheat shandy. Soggy Bottom also hosts a number of guest beers on tap in an effort to connect the brewing community and share personal favorites. With a large taproom, live music and film screening events and an excellent location in the heart of downtown Dunedin, Soggy Bottom Brewing Company is a passion project perfected.
Mad Beach Craft Brewing Company gives new meaning to the words, fusion and tropical. Experimentation is the name of the game for this brewery, located in the midst of gulf beaches in Madeira. The brewers work alongside an in-house chef to create out-of-this-world flavor combinations.
Mad Beach Craft Brewing has such favorites as the donut shop coffee-flavored stout, the sweet kozy kolsch and the tropical legen dairy pineapple sour ale, which features rum-soaked vanilla bean flavor. What truly makes this brewery special is its charitable donation policy, which accepts requests and gives to charities representing marine conservation and education initiatives for adults and children. So, give back to the community while enjoying a fruity, tropical brew and end the beach day with a trip to this brewery.
Few breweries share the history of Greater Tampa Bay better and more profoundly than Green Bench Brewing Company. Named for the iconic green benches that once lined the streets of St. Petersburg in the early 1900s, this microbrewery, the first to call St. Pete home, strives to recognize the past while working toward a better present.
During the height of segregation, these benches were off-limits to Black Americans. This painful piece of history is acknowledged by this Black-owned brewery and has been converted into a force for unity. Green Bench Brewing features more than 15 beers on tap, including bench life American-style lager, postcard pils pilsner and springtime for hefe German-style hefeweizen. It offers seltzers and ciders and is one of the few locations in the area to brew mead.
Between taproom tours, an open, airy beer garden and a testing laboratory onsite, Green Bench takes what they do seriously while also knowing how to have fun.
Brighter Days Brewing Company is an up-and-coming hotspot in historic Tarpon Springs. Located directly off the scenic Pinellas Trail, Brighter Days offers a relaxing reprieve from the sun with its 900-square-foot patio and indoor tasting room.
Brews with names like summertime magic fruited sour and everlasting love hazy pale ale paint the picture of what Brighter Days Brewing has come to represent — time and space to focus on the positives and enjoy the moment. With live music, a private event space, and the infusion of the rich culture from the Tarpon Springs area, Brighter Days Brewing, while a relative newcomer, is bound to be a staple of Tampa Bay and a definite stop on the beer trail.
Head to Coppertail Brewing in Ybor City for some night swim porter, or Tampa Beer Works for some juicy IPAs. Stop by 81 Bay Brewing Company for lawn games, live music and no bad vibes.
Journey over to Wild Rover Brewery for open mic night or Unrefined Brewing for happy hour. Take a furry friend to Two Shepherds Taproom, where dogs are allowed inside and can frolic with friends outside in the onsite dog park.
The Tampa Bay area is a thriving and ever-growing place for craft beer, with fresh faces and old favorites opening new locations every year. The recipe for beer may be simple enough, but a unique flavor, as the enthusiast might find, is much more complex.
By Ryan Walsh
