Tampa Bay Brewing is centrally located in the old part of town, and they offer both a wide selection of food and beer. It was hot today (Africa hot) and I was sweating just walking there from my car, but I was pleased to see that I could sample each of their beers to go with my cubano sandwich. The beer was good, but not great (although I really liked their Berliner Weiss). I did get to meet the brewer and he gave me a taste of the Oktoberfest that he has been working on. It was a nice stop for food, but I was really looking forward to my next destination, Cigar City Brewery.
Cigar
City has recently hit the beer scene by storm, and is now available in the
Philly and NYC markets. The brewery was
bustling with activity, cleaning up for an open house that was taking place the
following day. They had a selection of
their bottled beers, as well as ~16 beers on tap. I was thankful for the samplers, and some of
my favorites were their Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (a brown ale that smelled like
raisin cookies), their Humidor Tocobaga Red Ale on cask (aged in Spanish cedar
wood), and their Hot Blooded Foreign Stout (had hints of licorice in the
finish). The place was great, and I got
a few more bottles (Black Whole – described as a dubbel /porter hybrid and
their Imperial Milk Porter – a Baltic porter brewed with lactose sugar and aged
in Stranahan whiskey barrels) to take home (what is the weight limit for
checked baggage?). It was a successful
early afternoon, so I made my way to the hotel and took a much deserved nap).
Tampa
was only part of my adventure, so I headed down to Sarasota and stopped in at
the Cock n’ Bull, highly recommended by Beer Advocate. The wait staff was great, very friendly, and
offered tastes of their different draft beers.
I had the Abita Select Honey Rye on draft, and then followed it up with a
bottle of Dugges Nevermind the Bollox!, an Imperial IPA from Sweden. The stop was worthwhile, but not exactly one
of the top 5 bars in the USA. They had
free music later on in the evening, but since that wasn’t my thing I headed
over to Mr. Beery’s. 
Mr.
Beery is a bar on Long Island, and I was told that this location wasn’t
affiliated, even though the places had almost the exact same vibe. They had a room set up with a big screen TV
and couches for sports, pool tables and dart lanes, and a decent draft
selection. I tried the Sierra Nevada
Torpedo on cask, and a Swamphead Smoke Signal on draft. I met some locals who were impressed with my beer
book, and chatted about the different Man vs. Food locations that were
nearby. I decided on my next location,
and went out to the coast for dinner.
The
Salty Dog on City Island was right on the water, and since it was approaching
sunset I knew I was in for a treat. I
was about beered out by this point, so I stuck with a bottomless glass of
unsweetened ice tea (not a hard choice since their beer selection was
limited). And even though they had a
wonderful array of seafood on the menu, I got the loaded salty dog for dinner
in honor of my newest favorite TV show (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z-b0VPl8s8). The salty dog was a ¼ lb hot dog that was
deep fried beer batter, and then loaded with all their toppings (4 different
cheeses, sauerkraut, onions, bacon, and mushrooms). It was so heavy, and to be honest I couldn’t
finish even this basic treat. But I got
to sit by the water and reflect on the day, and decided it was worth this
little excursion to the Gulf side of FL.
I wrapped up the evening by driving up the beach,
walking in the beautiful sand, and testing the water. It was gorgeous, like a giant bathtub with
spectacular views. I was getting
homesick, and was anxious to get home.
But I had another stop on my journey, and another ½ day to go before my
flight. - 5795/11305
"Beer is the answer, but I can’t remember the
question." – Tampa Bay Brewing Slogan
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