I’m fortunate to live in one of the best beer cities in America.  Yes, I’m biased, but I really feel like the Tampa Bay area can stand up to many of the other great beer towns across the country.  There’s a ton of diversity, experimentation, and plenty of crushable beers.

It’s always hard to pick favorites but the internet loves lists.  And so do I.  This actually took me a ton of time and I switched the order a half dozen times.   I also reserve the right to update my rankings over time as breweries come and go and get better or worse.  I’m going to rank these primarily on quality of beers, but I’d imagine the quality of the taproom may have some influence as well.

Here goes nothing:

1. Magnanimous Brewing – Tampa

Magnanimous opened in 2020 and has already moved to the top of my list.  Their hazy IPAs are as good as anywhere up north and they make great stouts and sours as well.  They always have something in the cooler to take home as well.  

2.  Angry Chair Brewing – Seminole Heights

Angry Chair surprised me as the #1 on my own list.  I had to push past my irritation that they don’t can their beers and their bottles are ridiculously tough to get (they did start selling online instead of 4 hour lines for beer releases, so maybe things will get easier).  However, I couldn’t get past the overall high quality of every beer that they release.  I’ve never had a bad beer there.  Their Spacegrass IPA is really solid and was a bit hazy before that seemed to be a thing.  The stouts and porters steal the show, though.

3. Arkane Aleworks – Largo

Relatively new to the scene (started in 2016), Arkane has made a name for themselves as the most innovative brewery in the Tampa Bay area.  There’s nothing they don’t brew and nothing they haven’t brewed with.  Their annual Sour Beer Day festivals have over 40 different sours on tap to try.  Their stouts with their Dessert Eagle base are consistently good, and just recently they found their way with some great IPAs like the NE DIPA Outta Space.  Their taplist is always changing so you can always expect to find something new.

4. Cigar City Brewing – Tampa

It’s hard to put Cigar City this low considering it’s the granddaddy of Tampa breweries.  They consistently brew amazing beers despite their status as the big guy in town.  The classic Jai Alai IPA is the perfect mass produced IPA and the Hunahpu stouts brewed for their namesake festival are consistently amazing.  But Cigar City just isn’t as innovative as the smaller breweries, and that drops them down below the first two in my book.

5. Cycle Brewing – St Petersburg

Cycle is the king of stouts in Tampa Bay.  It’s their bread and butter and they do it really, really well.  Unfortunately their IPAs lack the star power to match those stouts and that leaves the overall brewery down at #4 on this list.

 

Honorable Mentions

Barriehaus Beer Co – Primarily makes German style beers.

Coppertail Brewing – Solid beers, but no standouts.  Probably the best taproom in Tampa, too.

Hidden Springs Ale Works – They make a lot of great beer, but they also make a lot of average beer.  The hits outnumber the misses and at least they are trying to make interesting beers.

Late Start Brewing – They are located in the Channelside District and while it shares its space with the Pour House which takes away from the brewery vibe, they really do make fantastic beers.  I’m a big fan of their stouts as well.

Woven Water – Fairly new to the Tampa scene (2020), they make a lot of solid beers and could move into the top 5 after I try enough of their beers.