A long time ago, a brewer told me that it’s incredibly difficult to source rum barrels. It’s very easy to find barrel aged rum, but in terms of getting those barrels once they’re done, that is hard.
Most rum distillers are based in the Caribbean, and apparently when they finish with the barrels, they are turned into furniture. Cool looking, to be sure, but a travesty when it comes to all the deliciousness those barrels still hold.
I apologize for sitting on this review for so long; life gets in the way sometimes.
But that’s the nice thing about crowlers (one of many); they can sit a few days longer than the average growler fill. So, after visitng Orlando’s Ten10 Brewing, the one beer I didn’t try and wanted to was Havakow (Milk Stout, 6.5% ABV), their version of the classic milk stout style.
Yes, it is 3 Daughters Cider and not 3 Daughters Brewing just deciding to start making cider. Of course, 3 Daughters Brewing really did just decide to start making cider, but the companies are separate.
They have to be. Florida law prohibits the same company from making beer and wine, and cider – being fermented fruit juice – is considered a wine. To start their cider making operation, 3 Daughters had to build a partition in their St. Pete facility, separating the cidery from the brewery and making a company that is, in essence, a wholly owned subsidiary of the brewery.
Bradenton, Florida. It’s situated on the Gulf Coast, just north of Sarasota, and south of the Sunshine Skyway bridge and St. Pete. Originally known as Bradentown, it was named for local settler Dr. Joseph Braden.
Several notables call Bradenton home, including Snooty, who until his untimely death a few days ago was the world’s oldest manatee living in captivity. It’s where Tropicana’s juice production facility resides, and where the Pittsburgh Pirates hold spring training. Their facility, LECOM Park, is also home to the minor league Bradenton Marauders.
Looking for a brewpub whose name reflects the size and color of the building in which it’s housed? Bingo.
Literally. Big Blue Brewing – which is big and blue and brews – used to be the home of Cape Coral Bingo. The old sign is in the brewery, while the numbers board is over by the restrooms, still working and still calling out numbers.
Pinellas Ale Works is one of those breweries that is sort of instantly endearing. The facility is really cool, the beer names are cute, and the beers themselves are pretty good.
Really good, in fact. It was a shame that I couldn’t stay (inside joke) for longer, but I did grab a few things for the road. One of those was a nice bomber of Coffee & Vanilla Bean Porter (Porter, 7.5% ABV).
As in really current. Go now current.
But it’s always a delight to go to 3 Daughters in St. Pete. The team there is always warm and welcoming, with incredibly kind and personable people like Jackie available to people like me to ask a ton of questions to. Heck, Jackie made sure my daughter got her juice box before my wife and I got our beers. Things like that make a dad happy.
Florida Avenue Brewing and Brew Bus Brewing weren’t always the same. In fact, the merger is still pretty recent.
Opened by founder Bruce Talcot as Cold Storage Brewing in 2010 in the shell of a former grocery store along – you guessed it – Florida Avenue in Tampa, the company changed their name to Florida Avenue in 2013. Beers were brewed on site and distributed in bottles, later cans.
