It’s Time! The Ultimate Brewer II…
We are a month and a half away from Tampa Bay Beer Week, and once again, it is kicking off with a rumble. On Friday, March 3th, twenty-seven Tampa Bay area breweries will go head to head in the second annual Ultimate Brewer competition. Held at Crooked Thumb Brewing in Safety Harbor, this will be the official Tampa Bay Beer Week kickoff party.
So what is this battle about? Are we going to see a title defense from Brew Bus Brewing? Will newcomers Flying Boat and Cueni shock the world? We will finally get to see who the real Khris/Chris Johnson is? Well, as entertaining as those scenarios might be, this one will actually be much cooler.
On Thursday, January 12th, representatives from all 27 participating breweries – doubling last year’s participation – gathered at St. Pete Brewing. The reason: to select their ingredients for a special brew. How would you feel about a beer made with sea salt and bananas? Or butterscotch and thyme? What about pickles? Each brewery had a blind draw for one of 30 ingredients or ingredient combinations.
The selection event itself was a veritable who’s-who of Tampa Bay brewing royalty. It was even asked is we had selected a “designated survivor” in the event of some kind of catastrophic tragedy at St. Pete Brewing that evening! A grand time was had by all, and it is always fun to have the chance to chat with industry folks in a casual, social setting. Kudos to Casey at St. Pete Brewing for organizing the event and hosting a fantastic gathering.
The breweries that will be participating are:
- Southern Homebrew and Winemaking
- Big Top
- Calusa
- Mastry’s
- Rapp
- Flying Boat
- de Bine
- Big Storm
- Stilt House
- 3 Daughters
- Green Bench
- Marker 48
- Tampa Bay Brewing Company
- Cigar City
- Brew Bus
- 81Bay
- Motorworks
- Mad Beach
- Hidden Springs
- Crooked Thumb
- St. Pete Brewing
- Pair O Dice
- Six Ten
- HOB Brewing
- Cueni
- Tampa Beer Works
- Barley Mow Brewing
- Pinellas Ale Works
And the ingredients? What would you do with these?!
- Beets
- Black pepper and Strawberries
- pickles
- cucumbers and vanilla
- wasabi and ginger
- grapefruit and caramel
- apples and rosemary
- sweet potato and bacon
- sage and peaches
- dark chocolate and lemongrass
- seat salt and bananas
- lavender and pineapple
- basil and tomato
- curry and figs
- garlic
- guava and hazelnuts
- passion fruit and nutmeg
- cranberry and chili peppers
- butterscotch and thyme
- hazelnuts and pears
- curry and watermelon
- mint and oranges
- kiwis and cinnamon
- plums and coriander
- carrots and blueberries
- lemon peels and celery seed
- fennel and oranges
Who drew which ingredients? What will these creative crazies do with them? To find out, you’ll have to join Tampa Bay Beer Week for the second annual Ultimate Brewer championship!
Come and sample these crazy-brew creations and vote for your favorite! In addition, there will be several breweries in attendance pouring a more traditional fare, and food trucks to round out the evening.
For tickets and additional information, click here.
Cheers!
Beer for the Daddy 
[…] have already told you about this one, but it bears repeating. This is a totally unique and fun event, and tickets are selling quickly. […]