I was raised in Connecticut, and recently moved back, so a lot of my tastings will be from the Northeastern USA. However, I had been living in Tampa Bay since 2009 and now consider it home. With that, I’m sitting in Tampa International about to get on my way back to New England.

I managed to get to three breweries while down here, one that embodies the old American brewery spirit and two that embody the craft beer revolution that we all have come to love.

I, along with my mom, started out touring the Tampa Yeungling brewery in the University district of Tampa. It was a free tour, and we were accompanied by a Delta pilot and his fiancé. I learned a ton about Yeungling and their moral codes, and it made me a fan of the oldest brewery in the USA. Family owned, the Yeungling owners refuse to pass anything down to their younger generations. The kids must make a conscious choice to buy in with their own money and want to be a part of it. Also, they refuse to allow any brew house not under their ownership and control make Yeungling products, and that is why they are only in 15 states. Not to worry if you are in a Yeungling-less state (like me), they recently built two new brew houses to increase capacity and distribution to more states in the south and the northeast, the most recent being Massachusetts. They let us your the lab as well, and we were able to ask the head chemist in Tampa direct questions to which he happily provided answers. The pilot asked a great question about how difficult it is to maintain consistency with the two different water sources (the Tampa brewery has a well directly to the Florida aquifer). He said it was easy, and let us taste the water out of the well, which is much better than the city water I am accustomed to. Overall a great tour and very informative. Hopefully I will make my to Pottsville, PA to see the original brew house.

My mom and I then took a drive out to beautiful Plant City, where many of you may get your strawberries and other fruits/veggies from. There is a great winery there called Keel and Curley, set on Keel Farms, a blueberry farm. I had been there before, exactly one year ago, and the wine was very good. They showed us the blueberry fields and the barn they make the wine in, and afterwards we sampled 8 of their wines for a bargain sum. As you can guess they made blueberry wine from their crop, a blackberry wine, grape wines made from imported grapes, and some creative blends. My personal favorites are the dry blueberry, tangerine blend, and the wild berry Pinot Noir. Late in 2013 they opened up a new microbrewery called Two Henry’s Brewery. Named for the railroad tycoons who helped shape and develop Florida, their beers ranged from a lager to a chocolate stout to an IPA. I will attach a picture of their tasting flight. The stout and porter were pretty good, highlighting the roasty coffee and chocolate flavors I love in those styles. Their IPA was ok, it was pretty bitter and lacked a little flavor normally achieved through dry-hopping. The lager had the right amount of malty flavor, and reminded me of Blue Point toasted lager. The black IPA was good, combining the hoppy flavor with a touch of coffee notes. Lastly, their pale ale was nice and refreshing, great for a hot Florida day. I’d say my favorite was the stout, my least the IPA. Overall a pretty good lineup from a brand new brewery.

Finally, later that day I ventured over to Cigar City Brewery, the well-known heavyweight of the Tampa beer scene. I have had their beer many times (sometimes too many times) before, and love their Jai Alai. I may be a bit biased as this is the brewery I looked to when I first got into craft beer. I haven’t experienced most of their beers, however, so I naturally tried everything. The bar was lacking in enough space for the after-work crowd, but my friend and I were able to secure a couple stools at a table. The bartenders weren’t as friendly as I’d like to report, and put a damper on the experience. I first had a go at the Jai Alai aged in white oak barrels, and I thought the oaky flavor complimented the beer nicely. After that, a few beers stick out in my mind. The first is the Good Morning, Mekong imperial coffee porter. Delicious is the only to describe it with big, sweet coffee flavor. The second is only because of its name: Florida Man DIPA. It was good, but you’ve got to love the name; it’s 9.3% ABV. The Tony Jannus was available at the brewery, which is a surprise because the last time I was in Tampa it was limited to Tampa International. Named for the pilot of the first commercial flight in history from St. Pete to Tampa, the Tony Jannus is a pale ale with flowery and fruity notes. Good beer, and Cigar City originally brewed, fermented, kegged, and served it at their TPA location. It had been a TPA tradition whenever I fly. Finally, I liked the Bench Beer, a lime pale ale. I’m a big fan of lime, and this beer did a good job at incorporating Florida Keys flavor into a Florida beer. My only criticism is that the lime was a tad overpowering, but overall it was enjoyable.

To end the night, a few buddies and I headed to our favorite spot, The Dubliner, off of South Howard in Tampa. $6 liters of any beer on draft, which includes Sam seasonal, Blue Moon, Shipyard Blueberry,among others, and if you’re lucky they may include New Belgium’s Fat Tire. Shout out to Woody for some fantastic live music while you’re there.

Loved my trip back to Tampa and I finally got to tap into the budding craft beer industry there amidst the week of endless sunshine I had. I am wrapping this post up drinking one of my favorites, Hopped on the High Seas by Cigar City.

Cheers!