It started out as a work trip for Beck Wagnon Photography (beckwagnonphotography.com) and the fact that she asked me too come with and help out was more than enough to get me there. It turned into a lot of great beer and some great people and a very nice and casual wedding.
The wedding wasn't scheduled to start until almost 6 pm and we didn't have to be there until 3ish. My wife, the wonderful woman that she is, suggested we hit Tampa a little early and hit up a brewpub for lunch and a brewery tour before the wedding. Needless to say I didn't argue or complain. We started off for lunch at Tampa Bay Brewing (tampabaybrewingcompany.com) where we had the sampler. Samplers sometimes leave me wanting but this was a full sampler of a 9+1 beers and that made me happy. I say it like that because originally they didn't pour the hefeweizen for us since they said it had just been tapped and was pouring very yeasty. They brought it out to us later after they has drained some off but I appreciated that they cared enough about the quality of the product not to just serve us just anything. The hefewiezen is usually my wife's favorite and this time was no exception. Thanks to a few clever questions we got to talk to one of the brewers who had come in that day about yeast and some of their brews. Not an all inclusive conversation by any means but he was knowledgeable and helpful and clearly knew his stuff. I am man enough to admit that as we left I confessed to my wife that I hated that little shit because he couldn't have been more than 25 and was living the dream that is at least a decade off for me. At least he was cool.
After our lunch, which was also quite tasty I might add, we headed over to Cigar City Brewing (www.cigarcitybrewing.com) for the tour and tasting. I have had a couple of their brews before, I enjoyed one of their espresso beers but their Jai Alai IPA is a little much for me. Not bad just not my cup of tea. I must say though that the tour was one of the best I had been on. For $5 you get the tour, a draft pour of one of their beers from the tasting room, and a clean fresh pint glass on your way out the door. Except for the sorority girls who tried to hit on the tour guide the whole experience was excellent. I had specific questions about how they did the coffee infused flavor through aging instead of cold pressing and despite not being a brewer the guide was knowledgeable about their practices and was more than happy to chat away. During the tour I sipped on their pilot batch of a stout which was mighty tasty (I LOVE breweries that do pilot batches) and the misses enjoyed the Florida Cracker Belgian Wit.
After the tour we stopped around the corner at Total Wine and More which carries a lot of specialty brews and specifically a lot of brews that I can't get locally. As I started this post I was finishing off the saison brew from Swamp Head brewing in Gainsville FL. I will say I am not sure it was worth $19 for a 750ml bottle but it was a decent brew. I will be enjoying the rest of my haul over the next few days and will be peppering the internets with more and more as I go.
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