Tampa Bay Brewing Co.

SetarconeX

Florida

4.47/5  rDev +9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5

What a place! The beer here is absolutely first rate, with a shocking number of different selections. Every beer I tried was top notch, but the way beer is worked into every aspect of the food, from the butter to the ice cream, is the real selling point here.

It's open much later than other sections of Ybor city, so I didn't really run into the parking difficulties other people did. There's a parking garage right down the street. It might cost you a few bucks, but you'll like the beer here so much, you'll probably want to hang out at a few other places in Ybor before driving.

03-07-2005 19:10:39 | More by SetarconeX

Vancer

Illinois

3.13/5  rDev -23.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 2.5 | food: 2 | $$

Visited the T.B. brewery on a golf trip back in 12/04 before I knew about B.A. – could have reviewed many a brew from that night. As you can see, MANY hand crafted brews all set in a homey, comfortable place. The availability of brews will rotate quite a bit. Long bar with friendly bartenders and waitresses. Nice all around menu and good portions. Gumbo / crab cakes are excellent. Would luv to go there again. Their motto: "Beer is Your Friend". How appropriate.

Vbor is a good area, and you can walk down 7th avenue to more clubs; Coyote Ugly, Irish bars, dance clubs etc. After your taste buds go numb from the craft brews, of course.


Update 3/20/06: Revisted with my wife while on vacation. VERY disspointed. Only 6 craft brews on tap, no cross-over brews for the wife, who's not yet into bigger brews. Plastic wrapper in her cheeseburger. Restrooms were a dirty disaster.

Major point reductions, I was embarrassed to have taken her there.

02-02-2005 14:35:58 | More by Vancer

Loki

North Carolina

4.5/5  rDev +9.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5

Atmosphere: Fantastic. Nice dinning area & bar downstairs with some TVs. And a great upstairs with a bar, patio, foosball table(s), dart boards, more TVs and some games I think. Went there two nights - a Friday and a Monday, with obviously the Friday being more lively, but the downstairs was 3/4 on the Monday and seemed very lively as will. Very nice people

Quality: The quality of almost everything was top notch. Their beers were great with the Two Red Eyes, a Double Amber Ale at 8.5%, being my favorite. My only two quality issues are that they served their Stout from a nitro tap and claimed it to be an Imperial Stout at 5.5% ABV. However they corrected this in my eyes by having it on cask on the Monday after the cask of Pale Ale that I had on Friday was obviously finished. Beers where fresh and rotated quickly it seemed. By Monday they were out of two of the beers from Friday, but had two different beers and a different cask on tap by Monday.

Service: Great service both downstairs and upstairs. Different glassware, everything was clean, and fast. Very courteous and nice.

Selection: Great they had choices that ranged from the Hefe to a Dry hopped Double IPA to Porter to a Double Amber and a beer on cask. A better selection at a brew pub would be very, very hard to find.

Food: Only ate there one of the nights, but all three of us had great meals and everything looked great at the other tables as well. All of their bread is made fresh there using their beer. They use their beer in a lot of their food.

All and all a fantastic place that I would easily become a regular at or recommend to any one traveling to Tampa and Historic Yboro (pronounce E bor as I found out) is quite interesting with some other unique places and a great cigar shop.

01-27-2005 21:06:52 | More by Loki

poundboy

Vermont

4.2/5  rDev +2.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4

Located in a converted stable building in downtown Ybor (Tampa's nightclub/tourist/historic cigar making district). Friendly bar type atmosphere with seating for perhaps 40-50 downstairs and pub/balcony upstairs. Brushed steel brewing system takes up front right corner of the place. One of my favorite touches is the sign over the door to the cooling room, which reads "Big A** Cooler"
Beer: Between about 7 to 10 of their own brews on tap at any given time, including one or two that are cask conditioned. They seem to tend towards hoppy beers and stouts, which is just fine with me. The Redeye ale is a favorite of mine. Their sampler, which gives you approx. 3 oz. glasses of each of their beers is also highly recommended. The Barley wine was too much for me, but perhaps you will enjoy it. They also have a great selection of commercial craft brewers on tap. I have seen Dogfish Head, special release Rogues, Lambics, Sierra Nevada, ect.
Food: Very good. Steaks, burgers, seafood, all the traditional stuff. Much of the food has beer in it somewhere. This might sound a bit odd, but I highly recommend the meatloaf, some of the best I have ever had. Also the calzones are excellent and large enough for two people to split. Overall, a bit pricey. Dinner for two with one beer each cost $50 with tip, though we could reduced that by about $10-15 bucks if we had gotten sandwiches instead of entrees.

08-15-2004 23:08:04 | More by poundboy

Waltman

Maine

4.53/5  rDev +10.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 5

The Tampa Bay Brewing Company is the best brewpub in this area of the state hands down. The only thing better than their large assortment of beer brewed on premise is the food!

It is located in an old two story brick building in the Ybor City district. Downstairs has a large copper bar with ample table seating for lunch and dinner. The upstairs provides an even more relaxed enviroment with dart boards, pool table, TVs and a small bar. Also, there is a balcony with seating overlooking 15th Ave (which produces some interesting sites at times).

The beer selection is large - usually with over 10 on tap at any given time - and they tend to be robust and hoppy (you won't find any Budweiser clones here). I highly recommend the California Common - which is a smooth West Coast style lager, the Celebration Ale - another american style pale ale only available at certain times of the year and the Bones Brown Ale - another seasonal selection.

The quality of the food indeed outperforms their beer (which in its own right is very good). In fact, this brewpub was featured on the Food Network in 2003. TBBC incorporates their beers in almost every dish - some of my favorites include their french onion soup made with their own porter, Fish n' Chips, Tabasco Stout and Honey glazed Salmon and their pizzas which have light and airy crusts and inventive toppings.

The Tampa Bay Brewing Company is a must for any beer enthusiast visiting the area.

05-26-2004 19:19:09 | More by Waltman

Shaw

Florida

4.03/5  rDev -1.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

2007 update:

My wife and I stopped by here after a concert at the Forum. I had the excellent Warthog Weizen and she had the root beer. We shared an order of quesadillas, which were also good. And I had a sample of their Two Redeyes Ale, a double version of their excellent Red Eye Ale. This new ale was really, really good. Too bad I was driving or I would have had more than 4 ounces.

The new place is quite nice and my wife thought it was a lot better than their old location.

---

I would go here a lot more if I didn't live 50 miles south! This is a great brewpub, especially for Florida. Their brews are in league with some West Coast brewers.

With wood-trim interiors and very high ceilings, this place had a good atmosphere even as it can accommodate a large crowd. There were several TVs over the bar, something I don't like but hey, it takes all kinds. Thanks to a recent law, there is no smoking inside.

A sampler of all 11 of their brews (including two cask-conditioned) plus their root beer is $10. Not bad considering they are all average to very good, with their Wild Warthog hefeweizen, porter, IPA, and amber ales as standouts.

Our server was quite proud of himself and kept trying to be "cute" with us. He was prompt, but a little of his smart-ass attitude (wouldn't give us his name -- ha ha) went a long way.

I had the grilled chicken and spinach salad, which was quite good. Their food is a step above the regular pub fare, with several dishes prepared with their beers. If you're in the Tampa Bay area and looking for a brewpub, I recommend the Tampa Bay Brewing Co.

04-25-2004 04:39:49 | More by Shaw

Mitchster

Michigan

3.65/5  rDev -11%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 4

A nice stop while in Ybor City. The beers here are average to very good with a few stand out examples (the Wit and Hefe-Weizen are very good). The service was just OK, as the bartender gave me a hard time for wanting my 12 beer selections in the sampler 4 at a time (I always prefer this so they don't go flat and I can comment on their head retention, etc). The food was very good. I shared a Calzone and Bangers-n-mash with some friends. The atmosphere is slightly rustic and food time was average. Be warned, the parking police in Ybor City are Nazi's.

03-25-2004 01:18:27 | More by Mitchster

AtLagerHeads

Ohio

4.25/5  rDev +3.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4

One warning - don't go here on Friday or Saturday after 4 p.m. or so. Ybor City is largely an entertainment district and on those nights the on-stteet parking is illegal and the peripheral parking quite expensive, unless you're willing to walk for few blocks.

But any other time, be pleased to go here. A two floor arrangement is designed to accomodate huge crowds, with bars both up and down. Games are available up for the kiddies or the gaming crowd. Originally a stable, this is large pub, not exactly initmate, but certainly homey feeling because of its unique heritage and character. The eating areas down are elevated and separated by railing from the huge bar. Up is more open and less comfortable - more for mixing I'd say.

The beer selection is big, of good quality and reasonably priced with frequent special. Good food accents the drinking experience. Truly a fun place for a brew or two.

03-18-2004 03:10:20 | More by AtLagerHeads

ecoboy

Rhode Island

3.93/5  rDev -4.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4

A brewpub with 12 of their own on tap, and a dozen worthy out-of-towners also available on draft. Together with New World Brewery around the corner and up two blocks, this brewpub should make Ybor City a BA magnet.

Two levels of food, beer, brewing equipment, TV's, games, glass, wood and style. No surprises. The decor rests firmly between the hey-it's-just-a-pub and bring-Grandma-and-she-won't-be-put-off. Visited twice, once for after-dinner drinks and once for lunch and enjoyed the lunch vibe on a weekday very much. Football is so big in Florida, I would suggest avoiding for any non-sports fan when the Bucs (or Florida or Miami or ...) are playing. Bartender was wearing a Doug Johnson uni for Monday Night Football, if that tells you something. Service was ready to answer questions and I even saw the brewer come out and talk to some vacationing beer fans.

Very full menu of fine choices that cover a. expected pub food b. expected Florida food (Cubans, Grouper) and some c. fine dining (mmmm. coconut shrimp.) Beers ranged from disappointingly just OK (pale, scotch) to outstanding (hey guys, keep making the Wedding Celebration!) to scary (Moose Killer was avoided both visits. Check out the abv on that monster!)

11-29-2003 18:30:04 | More by ecoboy

postmodern68

Florida

4/5  rDev -2.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3

I can't believe such a good brewpub exists in Florida! I visited in October 2002...they had about 8 of their own brews on tap, with two on cask. They also had about 18 or so other beers on tap -- mainly imports. My bartender was quite attentive, and saw the confusion on my face -- it was like a kid in a candy shoppe. He led me to the Elephant's Foot IPA, which is probably their signature brew. It went well with my chicken entree, and really complimented my cup of spicy sausage gumbo. I was there during their Oktoberfest celebration...good German accordian music, and lederhosen abounded. A must-hit place if you're in the Tampa Bay area and needing good beer.

01-25-2003 21:27:08 | More by postmodern68