February 15th, 2019 is the 122nd anniversary of Florida’s first craft brewery –  The Florida Brewing Company of Ybor City.  The brewery grand opened in 1897 to much fanfare as described in author Mark DeNote’s book The Great Florida Craft Beer Guide.  122 since the opening of the first brewery, Florida’s craft beer community has certainly had its ups and downs, its peaks and its valleys, but today the community is stronger than ever.  Before 1990, you would not need to remove shoes to count the number of Florida breweries whereas today the number is over 300 with over 50 in the greater Tampa Bay area.  Despite this immense growth, Florida’s brewing past is increasingly important as those who have come before have paved the way for so many after them.

In the spirit of brewing tradition and innovation, how many of these beers from Florida’s past have you tried?

Rapp Brewing’s Gose: Pinellas County homebrewer Greg Rapp had a dream of starting a brewery and he built that dream with his gose.  The thing is, when Greg began, few people had heard of a gose.  The style had not undergone the rebirth that happened shortly after Rapp began.  Rapp Brewing Company began with a handful of taps filled with historical styles that few other brewers were passionate about.  Undeterred, Rapp forged on and followed his passion for beer-making.  To this day, you can still taste Rapp’s original gose poured from his original Seminole taproom.

Saint Somewhere Brewing’s Saison Athene: After Florida’s craft breweries fell on tough times and began closing during the early 21st century, beer pilgrim Bob Sylvester had a dream of making Belgian-inspired farmhouse ales in a Tarpon Springs warehouse.  As unlikely as that dream seems, Bob made it work any way he could, including by working a day job after he began producing his beers.  Despite some packaging tweaks, Florida’s first Belgian-inspired farmhouse ales are still available from Saint Somewhere, even though the brewery has moved to its second location.  Made with rosemary, chamomile, and black pepper, this ale has a little of Florida in every bottle.

Titanic Brewpub’s Shipbuilder Oatmeal Stout: One of Florida’s stalwart beer-making operations, Titanic Brewpub has been making craft beer in Coral Gables since 1995.  Just miles from the Atlantic Ocean, this little brewpub was the only name in Miami-made craft beer for a while.  Shipbuilder Oatmeal Stout is one of the oldest recipes for an oatmeal stout still brewed in the Sunshine State.

Orange Blossom Brewing’s Orange Blossom Pilsner:  Originally brewed by Tom Moench in his garage, Orange Blossom Pilsner has the taste of Florida in the can with 2.3 teaspoons of orange blossom honey in each can.  Since 2014, OBP (and all beer by Orange Blossom Brewing) has been brewed at Lakeland’s Brew Hub and is available in distribution throughout the state of Florida.

Intuition Ale Works’s People’s Pale Ale: One of Jacksonville’s first craft breweries, Intuition Ale Works also has the distinction of being Florida’s first craft brewery to can their beer, and the first beer that they canned was People’s Pale Ale.  This hoppy west-coast themed pale ale is still available even though the brewery moved from its original home on King Street in Jacksonville.

Swamp Head Brewery’s Big Nose IPA: Craft beer has come and gone from the city of Gainesville, but Swamp Head Brewery, Gainesville’s first production brewery, made its mark with this 7.3% ABV hoppy nectar that delivers wave after wave of aromatic goodness. Swamp Head Brewery, like many other veteran Florida craft breweries, is now in its second location and distributes Big Nose IPA statewide as part of its core beer lineup.

McGuire’s Irish Red: McGuire’s Irish Pub and Brewery in Pensacola and Destin can lay claim to being the oldest beer-makers (as a brewpub) in the state of Florida.  The pub started in 1977 in an old Pensacola firehouse and grew its reputation for “Feasting, Imbibery, and Debauchery” from there.  The beer that is available in limited distribution and the one that this Irish Pub is famous for is their Irish Red Ale.

Tampa Bay Brewing Company’s Old Elephant Foot: The Doble have always loved brewing beer.  They loved brewing beer when they opened Tampa Bay’s homebrew marts that serviced many aspiring brewers who would later go on to become the state’s brewing elite.  And they did for the love of beer and the community of brewers.  Brew Shack would grow into Tampa Bay Brewing Company and would serve beer in a cozy brewpub in Ybor City and move to Centro Ybor as they grew.  Working and tweaking his own recipes, Tampa Bay Brewing Company’s head brewer Dave Doble fell in love with the blisteringly hoppy beers of the west coast of the United States.  While they were not wildly popular when the Tampa Bay Brewing Company began, palates slowly began to change.  When Old Elephant Foot pours, the beer pours like an ode to hoppy beers that inspired it and the piney citrusy aroma and flavor may have bitterness, but bitterness in the best way possible.

Dunedin Brewery’s Piper’s Pale Ale:  Dunedin Brewery holds the claim of Florida’s oldest production brewery, and their Piper’s Pale Ale was the first hoppy beer many people loved (myself included).  In a Florida that was growing accustomed to pale ales, Piper’s Pale had a great sessionable nature and hoppy aroma without significant bitterness.  Another brewery nestled close to water – this time the Gulf of Mexico – Dunedin Brewery’s quality beer always made a trip to the Gulf side of Pinellas county worthwhile.  It’s a good thing, too, since the city of  Dunedin now has more breweries than Florida did in the 1970s, and Dunedin Brewery has only improved with age, now operating their Douglas Ave brewery and their nearby Antibrewery on a limited basis.

Cigar City Brewing’s Jai Alai IPA:  One of the beers that put Florida craft beer on the map, so much can be said about this mainstay of Florida craft beer, Cigar City Jai Alai.  Named for the Bosque game that used to be ubiquitous in the Southernmost State, Jai Alai’s peach, tangerine, and orange peel aroma is outdone only by the support its caramel-tasting malts give the beer.  Brewmaster Wayne Wambles signature beer, Jai Alai was an underdog in Florida for being 7.5% ABV beer that helped build Cigar City Brewing’s reputation along with its limited-release brother, Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout.  Jai Alai, once limited to Tampa distribution is now available in much of the country and is also exported to several countries.