Florida Brewery Tour

You are in for a treat. Dbear, guest blogger and Columbia, Maryland Pint Night member, writes about his recent trip to Florida.  Cheers!  Warren

On our annual trip to Sarasota for Orioles Spring Training, we try to add some beer to our baseball. This year we hit the jackpot by getting to go to 3 breweries and 1 brewpub.

The first day we had a 6:05 game in Fort Meyers and a designated driver. Before the game, we killed time at Bury Me Brewing. Bury Me was an unexpected gem in a strip mall. They had many beers on tap, so I started with a SMASH beer which turns out is their most popular beer. Lots of mosaic in this tasty brew. Next in honor of our Maryland brewery trip advisor  I had a flight comprised of the Habanero IPA, Mortale Tea with Earl Grey, 6 Foot Down oatmeal stout, and La Mort Belgian wit.  All delicious.

Next, we visited Sarasota Brewing, where we tried flights of the entire lineup. An added bonus was we were there on trivia night. Although we answered most of the hard questions we were easily stumped by Disney questions.

After another game, we headed to Growlers Pub in Sarasota with an extensive lineup. The highlight was Cigar Cities Marshall Zhukov Imperial stout.  A prelude to an upcoming brewery.

On another Orioles road trip to Bradenton, we hit up Motorworks where they have the largest and most impressive beer garden in Florida. Several corn hole setups with bocce ball, a stage and multilevel seating in a beautiful garden and a 5-minute walk to McKechnie Field. Motorworks was named Florida’s best large brewery. Motorworks has an extensive lineup.   I had the French Saison. All beers are served in the correct glassware, too. My wife Peggy had the hefeweizen. Both were delicious. Our server brought us several samples to try as well. All were excellent across the board. Feeling homesick while it was snowing in Maryland, we enjoyed Maryland crab wontons from a local food truck Laughing Crab with real Maryland roots. To boot, our server handles the food truck order making this very convenient.

Finally, as we headed out via Tampa we hit up Cigar City. This has been on our list for years but the timing of our flight and the brewery hours have not worked out. This time it did. I feel at home visiting a brewery that I have become familiar with their beers over the years. Besides the laid back ambiance of the place, it was dog-friendly and has a few dogs listed on staff. This day we saw Egg who wandered freely around the brewery. Other patrons brought their dogs which were a big hit with Peggy. Being at Cigar City I had to start with a brewery fresh Jai Alai. Peggy, of course, had a flight, White Oak Jai Alai, Puppy’s Breath Porter, Tocobaga Red Ale and Maduro brown Ale. Next off to the tour with our Texas guide Seth. First beer on the tour was Jai Alai in brew house 1. Then off to packaging for more Maduro. The cool thing in packaging was the Arrogant Bastard logo the employees placed on the canning line since it works too well and does not do under fills or other filling defects like the older one thus much less employee beer. Then off to brew house 2 for a Florida Cracker Belgian whit.  It was a perfect way to end our trip for spring training before heading home.