Florida's craft beer and spirits revival.
If stereotypes are to be believed, Florida-man is happiest with a budget beer in his hand, while Florida-woman favors anything with a large pour and an umbrella in it.
While sales of boat beer and two-liter plastic bottles of supermarket vodka may give some credence to this claim, there are swarms of craft breweries and distilleries springing up along the Gulf Coast to provide the more discerning tippler with something different.
Driving from Tampa to Pensacola along the Northwest Florida Coast, there are literally hundreds of craft bars, breweries and distilleries to visit and taste the artisan beers, rums, vodkas, tequilas, and gins on offer. This is a sample of some of the best from a recent ramble along the coast.
Tampa was home to some of Florida's most fearsome rum-soaked pirates and buccaneers, and the spirit is still going strong in the city today. One of my favorites is Mutiny – a peppery, spicy rum – produced by 82° West Distillery, named for the line of longitude that passes through the heart of Tampa Bay. The distillery is open for visits and is settled in the hip and funky Seminole Heights neighborhood. But why limit the fun? Frequent visitors and lovers of rum can invest in the distillery, and for $500, they can get a silver doubloon, which affords them one ration of rum every day, forever. Bargain!
Beer is big business in Tampa too. America's oldest operating brewery, Yuengling, has a base here, but my port of call was at Cigar City Brewing in the Ybor City district. Their award-winning Jai Alai brew is well known to craft-beer fans nationwide, but on a brewery visit, you get to sample some other tasty suds too, including the Double IPA Floridaman and a personal favorite, Margarita Gose, a salty German beer flavored with lime and orange zest that sports the impressive tagline – Refreshingly Tart.
Heading north, hugging the coast to avoid the Interstate, the next stop is Marker 48 Brewery in Weeki Wachee, a town where it looks like alligator wrestling might still be a thing. This friendly bar taproom offers a rotating mix of 25 different beers, ciders, and sangrias – all made in-house. They also have a beer garden with guest food trucks, and a mix of spicy BBQ with a flight of Hazy IPA, Weise, Blueberry Lager and a Mermaid's Milk Stout, making it well worth the detour.
As we head towards the Big Bend and the Forgotten Coast, a wild and undeveloped piece of old, old Florida, I suspect there are any number of "moonshine" distilleries hidden amongst the farm buildings and barns visible from the road, but perhaps unsurprisingly, there are no signs inviting nosey outsiders in to sample the wares.
So, instead, we swing back inland towards Gainesville, home of University of Florida, where we find Swamp Head Brewing. Badging itself as Florida's Brewery, this operation is both Florida First and serious about sustainability. The beers include ingredients and flavors native to Florida, with spices and botanicals coming from the brewery's own beer garden. Since so many of the ingredients that go into making your favorite beer never make it to the glass, they also recycle, reuse, and reclaim their hot water and yeast and send the spent grain to local cattle farmers – the more you drink, the more you are helping.
The brewery sits on a large lot with picnic tables in an open-air garden with a pond. It is the perfect spot to sample the Field Trip Amber Ales. These surprisingly quaffable beers are inspired by an American school lunch staple – the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The Field Trip range includes beers that have a sweet and nutty finish. You can choose from blackberry, grape or marshmallow flavors.
As we near Tallahassee, Florida's state capital, the craft breweries start to re-emerge. While there are many downtown breweries, tap rooms, and brewpubs, I opted for Lake Tribe Brewery, a few minutes from the I-10 west of Tallahassee and in the glamorous locale of an industrial park. This no-frills brewery welcomes visitors and has a selection of ales and lagers, and a taproom that hosts informal events on weekend nights. I sampled the Tiger Shark, a frightening blood-red ale, flavored with hibiscus and blackberry with a sour bite.
Detouring from the highways and interstates again, we followed the coast road instead and parked opposite Oyster City Brewing in the picture-perfect fishing town of Apalachicola. This brewery has a number of award-winning brews in its repertoire, including the Mill Pond Dirty, brewed to be paired with sunshine and the core industry in Apalachicola – oysters. It is a lightly hopped ale, with an easy finish, which makes it perfectly drinkable while sitting all afternoon on the stools in the brewery tap.
This brewery is at the heart of its community. This is perhaps what everyone dreams of creating when they talk of setting up a craft brewery. Whenever I have stopped by, locals and tourists rub shoulders, swap stories, and encourage each other to sample new brews and pairings. Housed in a low slung, corner unit with a wrap-around shaded porch, it sits in the middle of downtown.
Heading west into the tourist hotspots of Panama City Beach, Scenic Highway 30A, and Destin, there are a number of breweries offering tours and tastings. History Class Brewing Company in downtown historic Panama City is worth a visit, if only to show support for the regeneration efforts they are spearheading in the storm damaged district.
Our next stop was Distillery 98, a plush operation in a business park that offers food trucks and live music. I was lucky enough to stop by when Indian food truck Curry in a Hurry was there and head bartender Zack was mixing their Dune Laker vodka with coconut, lime, basil and cucumber to create a signature drink, the Lotus Drop. Delicious combinations.
With near-neighbors Grayton Beer Company and Idyllhounds Brewery also located along the same lane, they are anchoring a craft revival in Walton County for tourists and locals alike. Grayton Beer Company produces the wildly popular 30A Beach Blonde Ale and a sessionable 30A IPA.
The final stop on our journey was Pensacola Bay Brewery. This is a favorite haunt, not only because they brew a huge selection of great tasting American IPAs, pale ales and lagers, but they often carry their Extra Special Bitter, a taste of Old England in their classic spit and sawdust style bar.
Craft breweries – and increasingly craft distilleries – are blossoming in Florida. With a fast-growing population, a youthful and diverse demographic, and millions of visitors to its beaches, cities and theme parks from around the world, could it be that this sun-kissed part of the Gulf Coast will one day rival Wisconsin or Kentucky as the drinks capital of the USA?
Originally published in Beach Happy Magazine, Issue 6 (Fall 2021). Story by Martin Liptrot. Distillery 98 photography courtesy of Distillery 98.
