Tour the Tampa Beer Scene with Brew Bus Brewing #Unlocktampabay

Greetings, Great Beer Now fans and followers! This is the third in a multi- part series of blog posts relating to the Great Beer Now Cigars and Sunsets Beer Tour, which took place in Tampa, Florida. I explored Tampa’s exploding craft beer scene and made many discoveries along the way while also getting reacquainted with breweries and beers I have grown to love.  Open a can or bottle of your favorite beer, light up a good Cuban cigar, and follow along on my journey through this Gulf Coast paradise.  Cheers!

In the current world of craft beer in which we live, breweries face extremely stiff competition. This is especially true in larger metropolitan areas where craft beer fans have a multitude of brewery options and there is a relatively short distance from one to the next. Because of this, breweries need to do something to distinguish themselves and one brewery in the Tampa, Florida area that has definitely set itself apart is Brew Bus Brewing,  located at 4101 N. Florida Ave.,  in Tampa.

Starting Your Trip

Brew Bus Brewing traces its origins back to 2011 when co- founder Anthony Derby came to the realization that brewery hopping necessitated a reliable form of transportation. Something was needed that would make it easy and safe to visit multiple breweries without worry or fuss and Brew Bus Brewing was born.

This craft brewery brews beer of its own and packages in cans for take- home consumption. Look behind the main bar and you will find about 20 taps of beer, including Brew Bus and Florida Avenue labels. The latter is also owned by Brew Bus, so when you sum everything up, you have a very nice selection of house beers from which to choose.

Brew Bus Brewing has a large interior complete with games, televisions for sports viewing, and an outdoor patio. If you get the munchies, never fear- they have their own kitchen, too. The parking lot is nice and large also, so there need not be any worry that you will come up short on a place to store your vehicle.

Hop on the Bus Gus

Brew Bus Brewing’s top selling point is, of course, its bus transportation service. Hop aboard and you will be taken on a ride from brewery to brewery with options to visit distilleries, wineries, restaurants, and beer bars, too. There are different tours offered on different days of the week, but if you want the widest and most varied experience possible, then you want to do the Local Loop Tour. The agenda could change from time to time, but these are the present stops on the Local Loop Tour:

1. Brew Bus Brewing
2. Hidden Springs Ale Works
3. Franklin Manor
4. Pour House/Late Start Brewing
5. Coppertail Brewing
6. Tampa Bay Brewing
7. Southern Brewing and Winery
8. Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café
9. 7Venth Sun Brewery
10. C1949
11. 82^nd West Distilling
12. Angry Chair Brewing

There are a total of 12 stops on the Local Loop Tour and guests are free to enter and exit the bus whenever they like. The bus runs on a continuous loop and keeps going for about 7 hours. A schedule is provided to each rider so that he/she can track the arrivals and departures at each location.

Explore the Scene

Brew Bus Brewing is a unique concept among breweries and is the first of its type I have ever experienced. Yes, I have taken brewery tours by bus before, but the tours I took were always provided by an independent bus tour operation. Brew Bus Brewing, in contrast, is the first time Great Beer Now has traveled from brewery to brewery on a bus that is owned and operated by a brewery.

I started my visit to Brew Bus Brewing at the brewery itself and I made sure to arrive early so that I could begin my experience with a few warm- up beers brewed by Brew Bus. I was impressed by the large interior of this brewery and the large parking lot. This operation was clearly made to handle customers in large volume, which makes sense when you consider that this is not just a brewery and restaurant, but also a bus tour service.

Once it came time to hop aboard the bus, I headed immediately to the first stop, Hidden Springs Brewery. Since my goal was to see and visit as many new breweries as possible, I decided to skip places like Franklin Manor, Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café,  C1949, and 82^nd West Distilling. I also decided to skip Coppertail Brewing, since I had already visited there before. I intended to visit every other place on the list but came up slightly short when I just missed the final stop for Angry Chair Brewing. It was okay, though- I simply decided instead to pay a separate visit to Angry Chair the next day.

Looking at the bus tour schedule and checking the arrivals and departures, it would be possible, if someone was determined, to visit all 12 places on the Local Loop Tour in a single bound. However, my recommendation is to resist the urge to be overly ambitious and instead stick with a select group of places to include on your tour. I say this because, if you try to pack in too much on a single tour, you won’t  have enough time to experience each of them to the fullest. Spending only 30 minutes at each place is simply not enough to get a true feel for what each establishment has to offer and trust me when I say that you want to partake in each of these fine breweries, distilleries, etc to the max. I visited a total of six places on my tour, which means I spent just over an hour at each stop.

One thing about the Brew Bus Local Loop that you need to keep in mind is that the bus arrives and leaves promptly. There is no waiting around, so you have to be diligent and keep your eyes on both your bar tab and the clock. Once it gets close to the designated time, you need to be ready to settle the tab and head to the exit. If you’re even a minute off schedule, you could end up missing the bus and have to wait for the next one. The busses arrive and depart about every 35 minutes at each location, so one miss of the bus and you will be stuck waiting for more than half an hour. This happened to me at one of my stops and that is why I missed out on visiting Angry Chair Brewing- it was too late to get there. But as I said, it was okay, because it meant I could partake in a longer, more thorough visit to Angry Chair the following day.

America is presently home to more than 7,000 craft breweries. Tampa, Florida, like other large metropolitan areas, is the proud momma to dozens of breweries competing for your time and attention. A modern craft brewery needs a way to stand out in the crowd and Brew Bus Brewing has accomplished exactly that. Its bus tour service is an excellent means to craft beer exploration and a service you don’t find at the typical craft beer operation. It’s a great way to discover the local beer scene so be sure to visit Brew Bus Brewing the next time you’re in the Tampa, Florida area. And tell them Great Beer Now sent you.