The Sunshine State is a beer lover’s paradise. Tampa, and the surrounding area, offers miles of hops filed exploration. It’s sometimes hard to pick exactly which brewery to visit, but a new ranking released by Thrillist may make your next brewery escape a bit easier. The site recently rated the 10 best breweries in the state of Florida and our own Cigar City Brewing came in at number 9. Pinellas Ale Works, a neighboring brewery in St. Petersburg, also made the top 10.
Reporter Laine Doss’s beer picks at Cigar City are Jai Alai IPA, and Florida Cracker Belgian-Style Wheat Ale. “This Tampa brewery is Florida’s standard bearer for good beer,” writes Doss. “The brewery is so popular, it has satellite locations at the Amalie Arena and Tampa International Airport.”
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“For all its glory, you might think Cigar City (named for Tampa’s once-thriving cigar-making industry) was founded decades ago, but in reality, it started making beer in 2009. The brewery also proudly boasts that it is vegan-friendly,” finishes Doss in his writeup.
Cigar City Brewing’s ales and lagers bring to mind the sun and citrus for which Florida is known, while taking cues from the cigar industry upon which Tampa was built. Behind all of Cigar City Brewing’s liquid is the philosophy that quality is achieved by giving first rate ingredients to first rate people in a space where they are free to pursue their passion.
You can see the full list online.
Cigar City Brewing is located at 3924 West Spruce Street
See our reporter Bob’s guide to the best breweries in Tampa.
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