St. Petersburg’s Green Bench Brewing was announced as a semifinalist for a James Beard Award (the Oscars of the food world) in the Outstanding Bar Category for their Webb’s City Cellar.
It is a season of celebration in St. Petersburg! After the Sunshine City’s first brewery, Cycle Brewing, celebrated their 10th Anniversary, right behind them is Green Bench Brewing celebrating 10 years in craft beer.
St. Petersburg’s Green Bench Brewing is working a new version of their Bench Life American Lager into their seasonal lineup – this new edition called Lime Life includes the addition of lime to the classic core lager.
Tampa Bay craft beer – some of the best breweries lie beyond the Bay Area’s bridges.
Now anyone who has ever visited Tampa Bay knows that there is far more to the area than just Hillsborough County. The City of Tampa is just one part of the many counties that call Tampa Bay home, and Tampa’s craft breweries are only one part of the mosaic of craft beer in the area.
For those who may be staying in town for only a day or don’t have much time to look for beer, check out our article about Ten Tampa beers to look for.
For those who may be staying in town longer or are seeking adventure outside of Hillsborough county, there is so much more to Tampa’s craft beer scene than just the namesake city.
Rapp Brewing Company Gose (Gose; 4.5% ABV; Year-round Availability): One of the breweries that helped lead the rebirth of this slightly sour salted wheat beer, Rapp Gose is a classic German-inspired beer from this small family-owned brewery in the tiny hamlet of Seminole in Pinellas County. Visit Rapp for the gose, but stay for any number of the traditional or avant garde beers on tap.
Calusa Brewing Citronius Big IPA (New England IPA; 8.8% ABV; Limited Availability): One of the best brewers of New England-style IPA in the Sunshine State, Calusa Brewing is nestled away in an industrial plaza in the city of Sarasota. Citronius Big, like the non-imperial version, often sells out quickly, so best to check with the brewery or their social media before making the trek to the southern reaches of the Tampa Bay area. If you are lucky enough to score some, you’ll know just what you’re in for when you open the can and the big Citra hop burst fills the room.
Cycle Brewing Any Imperial Stout Available (Varying ABV; Varying Availability): St. Petersburg’s first craft brewery to open in the city limits, Cycle Brewing’s tasting room looks like a nondescript storefront from the outside, but on the inside it’s anything but. It’s tough to keep up with exactly which barrel-aged imperial stouts head brewer Doug Dozark has released lately, but chances are they will be available by the bottle (if there are non on draft, which is rare). Dozark made his reputation by experimenting with single-origin coffee in stouts as well as sourcing vanilla from single countries, allowing drinkers to seek the nuanced differences between beers. Also one of the most prolific barrel-agers in the Bay area, Cycle is cloud nine for any seeker of stouts.
Green Bench Brewing Random Reality Shift (Foeder-Fermented & BA Imperial Mixed Culture Golden Ale w/ Balaton Cherry; Limited Availability; 10.1% ABV): St. Petersburg’s Green Bench Brewing has a foeder program that consistently turns out some of the most unique wild and mixed-culture fermented beers in Florida. After releasing the beers, Green Bench then serves them in a one-of-a-kind have-to-see-it-to-believe-it facility called Webb’s City Cellars right next to the original brewery. The beer, Random Reality Shift, was released at the end of January – this “Imperial Mixed Culture, Foeder Fermented & Wine Barrel Aged, Golden Ale Refermented on Balaton Cherries.”
Escape Brewing The Other West Coast IPA (IPA; 7.2% ABV; Year-round Beer): An IPA-lovers IPA! Don’t be fooled by this otherwise ordinary-looking IPA made in Trinity, Florida. The Other West Coast is everything that is awesome about the West Coast IPA – bursts of tropical fruit and embers of stone from emanate from this gem of an IPA. Served on draft or in 16oz cans, this is one West Coast you won’t soon forget.
Arkane Ale Works Gimme Swelter (Florida Berliner Weisse; 3.4% ABV; Limited Availability): The lowest ABV beer on the list, Arkane Ale Works of Largo specializes in a little of every kind of beer, and Gimme Swelter is one of the brewery’s calling cards. This mango and habanero Florida-style Berliner Weisse is light in body and alcohol but huge in flavor. Bursts of tropical mango and citrusy habanero surge with every sip, making Swelter sweeter than most fruit-inspired Berliner weisses.
Dunedin Brewery Red Head Red (Amber Ale; 5.6% ABV: Year-round Availability): One of the oldest of OG craft breweries in Florida, Dunedin Brewery in Pinellas County has been making their signature red ale for over a decade. Balancing the flavors of caramel, toffee, and orchard fruit with a noticeable and distinguished hop presence, Red Head Red Ale is one to enjoy with the brewery’s bratwurst or cheese curds or to take home in a crowler or cans.
Woodwright Brewery Hefeweizen (Hefeweizen; 5.9% ABV; Year-round Availability): Just like Dunderbrau in Tampa proper, Woodwright has made their name seeing to all of the details of beers from the traditional German and European heritage. From the homey and wood-rich heart of their brewery and tasting room, all of Woodwright’s beers go well with the Florida lifestyle, but none so much as their beautiful banana and clove-rich hefeweizen.
Gulfport Brewery + Eatery Restless Hearts (Imperial Stout; 11.0% ABV; Limited Availability): Every so often a craft brewery in the Tampa area gets chosen to work with the legendary Bern’s Steak House to craft a special beer to age in their private-select spirits barrels. Recently, Gulfport Brewery + Eatery head brewer Jason Toft got to do just that and he made Restless Hearts Imperial Stout, “an 11% Rye Imperial Stout aged nearly a year in a Bern’s Select Knob Creek 120 barrel. Featuring the same percentage of rye that is in the Knob Creek mash, this rich, dark ale features notes of dark fruit, toasted bread, spicy rye, vanilla, and oak from the barrel aging.” This beer will be available in limited quantities at both Gulfport Brewery + Eats and Bern’s Steak House.
Brew Hub Brewing Rome City IPA (Session IPA; 5.8% ABV; Year-round Availability): Combining the hefty hops of a traditional IPA with the light body of a session beer, Lakeland’s Brew Hub Rome City IPA is perfect for bringing hops to any party (Super Bowl or otherwise). This award-winning session beer is available in all counties of the Bay area and is one of the best kept secrets of Tampa Bay craft beer.
The different corners of Tampa Bay’s craft beer scene all combine to make the complete mosaic of one of the finest arrangement of breweries in the United States. No matter which brewery you have time to visit, enjoy the visit and follow us at Florida Beer News for all of the news and stories coming out of the Sunshine State.
Green Bench Brewing was one of the first craft breweries to open in Saint Petersburg, and that was a mere three years ago. Now the brewery has just released details of their Third Anniversary Extravaganza, which coincides with a few other events they are also hosting.
From Green Bench Brewing:
Can you BELIEVE it?! Three years, you guys. A lot of you have been loyal friends of ours since day one, and have seen us change and progress over time. We want to celebrate YOU, and how far we’ve come together at our 3 year anniversary gig! If you haven’t been to any of our anniversary parties, then you’re in for a treat because we do it up right.
As per usual, we have 10489 things going on this day, so we’ll break it down:
1) We will be opening an hour early
2) We’re hosting the St. Pete Indie Market fall kickoff! Come visit your favorite vendors, and restock on your local goodies that you’ve been jonesing for
3) We’re releasing Sauvage Pomme (Brett farmhouse ale with Michigan Apple Cider)
4) We’re releasing The Golden Apple (mead)- our first ever bottle release from our Cider & Mead program!
5) Live music will be going off around 5:30
6) There will be a ton of drink specials, and other surprises and treats for you throughout the day JUST because we love youWe will be partying ALL day, and we know a lot of you will also be joining us the same day for Zwanze madness, so we will obviously be poppin’ bottles and hangin’ out all over the dang place. This is a family friendly event as always, and we cannot wait to celebrate with hundreds of our closest friends!
<MUSIC INFO>
Kristopher James will be starting off from 5-6, then Donna Lu will take over from 6-7:30, and Dropin Pickup will cap off our evening!
Green Bench Brewing is located at 1133 Baum Avenue North in Saint Petersburg.
Foeder for Thought, hosted by Green Bench Brewing Company, has been selling tickets for over a week now, and the taplist and details are now available, as are tickets.
From Green Bench Brewing:
Foeder for Thought is a celebration of oak fermentation. This is one of the most unique and intimate festivals during Tampa Bay Beer Week offering beer to sample from across the country. Tickets are on sale now. If you purchase tickets before the event they’re $60 (day of tickets, if available, are $70). Tickets are limited.
On Friday, March 11th (the day before Hunahpu’s Day 2016) from 5pm till close we’ll be offering unlimited samples of oak fermented craft beer on draft and in bottle format. We’ll have a food truck on site, and music spinning all night, featuring beers from: Jester King Brewery, Almanac Beer Co, New Belgium, Jolly Pumpkin, Fonta Flora, Side Project Brewing, Crooked Stave, Wicked Weed and many more! A schedule of special tapping times and a full list of beers will be available as we get closer to the event.
In addition, we’ll have owners and brewers from across the U.S. in attendance for special Q&A sessions each hour. Don’t miss out!
Foeder for Thought was an event built around education. Every year we see more and more locals appreciating Oak Fermented Farmhouse Ales/Wild/Sour brands and we like to think that events like Foeder for Thought are helping that cause. Each year we try and push the complexity of the tap list and the depth of the education aspect so that every year you’re learning something new. This year we’re setting up a live, hourly interview/Q&A with the owners/brewers of some of the featured breweries, hosted by Marco of The Craft Commander.
Below is a current (additions might be made in the coming days) list of beers and schedule for our 3rd Annual Foeder for Thought festival. Just like previous years there will be beers on tap in the brewery, beers on tap on a draft van, and a bottle station. These will be available from the start of the festival (5PM) until they run out. We’ve also included a schedule of our timed tappings throughout the night. These tappings are the highlighted beers of the festival that support the live interviews and Q&As with some of the best breweries in the world. Here’s how it’s going to work:
Show up at 5PM so that you can get your glass and start tasting some of the beers in the tasting room, draft van, and bottles. At 5:30 get ready to drink some Cantillon Gueze and Drei Fonteinen Oude Kriek. At 6 get some samples of Yazoo’s featured tappings and head to the stage in the beer garden, because at 6:15 we’ll be starting a live interview with Brandon Jones from Yazoo. He, and the other guest speakers, will give you a backstory of his brewery and brewing experience, the beers that he brought, and you’ll have an opportunity to ask him any questions about his beers that you’d like. This stops at 6:45 when we’ll announce where you can get the next highlighted tapping. At 7 we’ll tap Almanac’s beers, so get samples and head over to the stage to listen to Jessie Friedman discuss all things sour beer at Almanac in San Fran. At 8 we’ll be tapping a beautiful Jester King collab with Live Oak brewing called Foudreweizen, and we have brewer Sean Spiller available for the live interview/Q&A. At 9 you’ll be able to grab samples of Fonta Flora’s brands and at 9:15 listen my homie Todd Boera discuss what he’s making up in the mountains. At 10 we’ll be tapping Side Project’s Biere du Pays Blend 3, an incredible mixed culture Saison from one of my favorite producers in the country. Cory King will be on stage to talk all things Side Project. Lastly, at 11:30 we’re going to have Cantillon’s Rose de Gambrinus, which is a Framboise (Raspberry Lambic), and Drei Fonteinen’s Hommage (Lambic aged on Raspberries and Sour Cherries) and Drei Fonteinen’s Intense Red (Kriek).
The hope is to provide you all with some of the best beers in the world, and as much information and knowledge about these brands as possible. It would be impossible to do this if it weren’t for the extremely talented and knowledgable Marco of The Craft Commander. He’ll be conducting the interviews with our guests. You’re going to love him.
I hope to see you there.
– Khris
Schedule w/ Tappings:
5:00 PM – Doors Open
5:30 PM – Cantillon Classic Gueuze (draft)
5:30 PM – Drei Fonteinen Oude Kriek (bottles)
6:00 PM – Yazoo Brett Saison (Rye Saison w/ 2 Brett strains)
6:00 PM – Yazoo Deux Rouges (Flanders Red)
6:15 PM – Yazoo’s Brandon Jones live interview/Q&A w/ Marco of Craft Commander
7:00 PM – Almanac Valley of the Heart’s Delight (Sour Blonde w/ foraged Apricots, Dates, and Mulberries)
7:00 PM – Almanac Farmer’s Reserver Blackberry (Sour Blonde w/ Blackberries)
7:15 PM – Almanac’s Jessie Friedman live interview/Q&A w/ Marco of Craft Commander
8:00 PM – Jester King Foudreweizen (Live Oak Brewing Collab – Foeder fermented mixed culture Hefeweizen)
8:15 PM – Jester King’s Sean Spiller live interview/Q&A w/ Marco of Craft Commander
9:00 PM – Fonta Flora Funk Fuzz (Oak fermented Appalachian Wild Ale w/ NC Grain, NC Peaches, and NC Nectarines)
9:00 PM – Fonta Flora Razzmatazz Vol. 1 (Oak fermented Appalachian Wild Ale w/ NC Grain and NC Raspberries)
9:15 PM – Fonta Flora’s Todd Boera live interview/Q&A w/ Marco of Craft Commander
10:00 PM – Side Project Biere du Pays Blend 3 (Chardonnay BA mixed culture Saison)
10:15 PM – Side Project’s Cory King live interview/Q&A w/ Marco of Craft Commander
11:30 PM – Cantillon Rose de Gamrbinus (draft)
11:30 PM – Drei Fonteinen Hommage
11:30 PM – Drei Fonteinen Intense Red
12:00 AM – Doors Close
Inside Taps:
GB Saison de Banc Vert (Foeder fermented Saison)
GB Saison de Banc Noir (Foeder fermented Dark Saison)
GB Rye Saison (Foeder fermented Rye Saison)
GB Beemo (Foeder fermented Hoppy Table Saison)
GB Florida Poster Girls (Foeder fermented, Chardonnay BA Brett Saison)
GB Shopping Cart Cowboys (Golden Sour w/ Grapefruit)
GB Lot 2 (Sour Stout Bourbon BA w/ Blackberrie & Blueberry)
GB Parallax (Dark Sour Bourbon BA w/ Raspberries)
GB Les Grisettes (Brett Farmhouse Ale)
GB Apple Brandy BA Sour Stout
New Belgium Le Terroir (Foeder fermented Dry Hopped Golden Sour)
New Belgium Nitro Oscar Worthy Coffee (Foeder fermented Dark Sour aged on Coffee)
Jolly Pumpkin Gratzer (Smoked Sour Ale)
Jolly Pumpkin Hoppy Mild Sour (Foeder fermented Hoppy Amber Wild Sour)
Crooked Stave Silly Cybies (Foeder fermented Dark Sour w/ Raspberries)
Crooked Stave Motif (Foeder fermented Sherry BA Dark Sour)
GB Mead & Cider Oak Aged Abricot
GB Mead & Cider New England Cider
GB Mead & Cider Imperial Perry
Ritterguts Gose
Wild at Heart (Sour Mild)
7venth Sun Gin BA Soul Cleaver (Gin BA Tart Farmhouse)
Odd Breed Dry Hopped Wild Ale
Outside Taps:
Central State Funky House (Mixed Fermentation Rustic Blonde Ale)
Central State Are We Doing This Right (Off Color Collab – Brown Farmhouse w/Honey and Black Tea)
Brewski Kathakwa Coffee Berliner
Brewski Passionate Beating (Berliner w/ beetroot and passionfruit)
Stillwater Gose Gone Wild (Brett Gose with Citra and Amarillo)
Stillwater Tenacity (Brett Farmhouse IPA)
Coppertail Cherry Frank (Foeder fermented Sour Blonde w/ Cherries)
Coppertail TBBW Berliner (Passionfruit & Guava)
Coppertail Lemonade Berliner
Bottles:
GB Sauvage Blanc (Trinity Collab – Brett Farmhouse w/ Chardonnay Grape Must & Nelson hops)
GB Backpack (Cigar City Collab – Brett Pale Ale)
GB Monsieur Ed (St. Somewhere Collab – Foeder fermented Saison w/ horse feed and Brett)
New Belgium Transatlantic Kriek 2015
New Belgium La Folie 2015 (Foeder fermented Dark Sour)
Jester King Mad Meg (Farmhouse Provision)
Trinity Menacing Kumquat (Kumquat Saison)
Trinity One Ear Naked Saison (Classic Belgian Saison)
Trinity Red Swingline (Sour IPA)
Trinity Koelorado (Spontaneous Sour)
Odd Breed Biere de Garde
Green Bench Brewing is located at 1133 Baum Avenue North in Saint Petersburg. Foeder For Thought is today, Friday, March 11th, 2016. The trouble starts at 5pm.
Saint Petersburg’s Green Bench Brewing Company has made a name for themselves in “The Burg,” and in their recent newsletter announced that they have made some changes, expansions, bottles, and cans for the beer drinking public in the Tampa Bay area.
From Green Bench Brewing’s newsletter:
At the end of October we completed an expansion of our brewing facility that included the additions of a new glycol chiller, three new 30 BBL fermenters, one 60 BBL brite tank, and most exciting of all one 90 hecotliter oak foeder. This essentially doubles our capacity and will allow us to both brew more of our core brand beers and expand our oak fermented farmhouse brands in both bottle and keg formats.
In the first quarter we’re going to release our next two Webb’s City Cellar Series beers simultaneously.
Webb’s City Cellar Series Lot 2 – 8.2% ABV
All patrons of Webb’s City could park for free in one of several numbered lots. Doc Webb would use the space to house some of his many attractions, including The Famous Flying Zacchinis. To help direct traffic and watch the cars each lot promised to have eyes in the sky at all times. Lot 2 is a Sour Stout, brewed with Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus, aged in Four Roses Bourbon barrels on over a pound and a half per gallon of Blackberries and Blueberries for ten months.Webb’s City Cellar Series Shopping Cart Cowboys – 5.3% ABV
Never passing up an opportunity to draw a crowd, Doc Webb dressed his staff into cowboy costumes to collect shopping carts in the parking lot, encouraging them all to lasso the carts from customers. Shopping Cart Cowboys is a Golden Sour Ale brewed with Lactobacillus and two strains of Brettanomyces that was aged in White Wine barrels with Grapefruit.Lastly, we’ve been running several tests to prepare for year round branded sour beers that will eventually not be one off brands. The first branded sour beer will be released within the next couple of months:
Parallax – 7% ABV
Parallaxis, or “alteration,” refers to the noticeable difference in position, shape, and motion of objects from separate lines of sight. Our base Dark Sour, Wilbur, which is traditionally aged in wine barrels, has a rich and resolute, chocolate-like flavor, and a brilliantly balanced acidity. Parallax is a slight alteration of Wilbur, brewed with two strains of Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus, Parallax was aged in Bourbon barrels on over a pound per gallon of Raspberries.
Finally, the brewery is getting cannier:
As this new year kicks off, we’re also excited to announce that we’ll be releasing our first canned products into the Tampa Bay marketplace the week of January 11th. Be sure to look for our Sunshine City, Happy Hermit Pale and Green Bench IPA wherever great craft beer is sold!
