Craft Beer, Mead, Cider, And Wine Tasting
St. Petersburg, Florida USA
Cuisine Style: Beverage, Festival
Average Price: $
August 2018
By Sean Overpeck (CFE)
**A full article and index glossary of restaurants, wines, recipes and travel for
Wine Dine and Play are in the pages section above, or by following these links:
Are you a beer enthusiast and live near St Petersburg, Florida? If yes then head to The Mahaffey Theater in August for an annual Craft Beer Experience hosted by 97X Tampa alternative radio station. My wife and I attended the 7th annual experience on August 18, 2018, for this review. The Mahaffey Theater also was known as the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts facility and concert hall located on the downtown waterfront in St. Petersburg, Florida. The facility first opened in May 1965. The 2,031-seat facility features European box-style seating, a ballroom space, and views of the Tampa Bay.
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| Craft Beer Experience / 97X stage |
At this event, there were more than 200 types of craft beer from 52 Craft Breweries that also includes meads, ciders, and wines, which is double the number from the previous year. Also every 15 minutes there will be special release sampling tastings as well. The special release area was inside the concert hall, with nearly a fifteen-minute wait for each tasting, and honestly for future reference not worth the time. You will get more bang for your buck with staying in the main venue hall to do the tastings, or on the main lawn in front of the theater where an air-conditioned tent was erected with the 2nd stage for entertainment and the special release sampling as well.
Upon entering and being given a wristband, you are given a plastic beer cup for tasting with 97x logo and other sponsors of the event such as the Great Bay Distributors, Tampa Bay Beer Buzz, and the Hollander Hotel. From this point, you walk from table to table reading the list of beers each brewery is offering, then taste and take notes as you wish. My wife and I found the event to be too overcrowded for the space provided, and some of the lines for tasting were longer than others. With this large grouping, it makes you wonder if articles are written that say craft beer has reached peaked. For example according to The Washington Post In 2017, there were nearly 1,000 new craft brewery openings nationwide and 165 closures. That is a closing rate of 2.6 percent, a 42 percent jump from 2016 when 116 craft breweries closed their doors. The Brewers Association which is a trade association representing small and independent American craft brewers showed that craft brewers saw a 5 percent rise in production volume in 2017 amid the closures. A perfect example is the Sea Drift Ales & Lagers Company from Largo, Florida who was at the tasting, but less than a month later permanently closed.
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| Craft Beer Experience / 3 Daughters Tasting |
Amazingly more than 6,300 breweries were operating in the United States in 2017, small and independent brewers represented nearly 13 percent of the market share by volume of the overall beer industry.
Here is a listing of the Craft Breweries that participated in this 2018 tasting:
1st Magnitude, Gainesville, Florida
3 Daughters, St Petersburg, Florida
610 Brewing, Tampa, Florida
Ace Cider, Sebastopol, California
Angry Chair, Tampa, Florida
Barrel of Monks, Boca Raton, Florida
Big Storm, Odessa, and Clearwater, Florida
Big Top Brewery, Sarasota, Florida
Bluepoint, Long Island, New York
Bold City, Jacksonville, Florida
Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri
Coppertail Brewing company, Tampa, Florida
Darwin Brewing Company, Bradenton, Florida
De Bine Brewing, Palm Harbor, Florida
Due South, Boynton Beach, Florida
Elysian, Seattle, Washington
Escape, Trinity, Florida
Florida Avenue Brewing, Tampa, Florida
Founders, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Funky Buddha, Oakland Park, Florida
Golden Road, Los Angeles, California
Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois
Green Bench, St Petersburg, Florida
Hidden Springs, Tampa, Florida
Highland Brewery, Asheville, North Carolina
HOB Brewing, Islamorada and Dunedin, Florida
Karbach, Houston Texas
Kona, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Mad Beach Craft Brewing, Vino and Madeira Beach
Magic Hat, South Burlington, Vermont
Marker 48 Weeki Wachee, Brooksville, Florida
Motorworks Brewing company, Bradenton, Florida
Narragansett, Cranston, Rhode Island
Ommegang, Cooperstown, New York
Pair O' Dice Brewing, Clearwater, Florida
Proof, Tallahassee, Florida
Rapp Brewing, Largo, Florida
Redhook, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Sea Dog, Bangor, Maine
Sea Drift Ales & Lagers, Largo, Florida
Shipyard, Portland, Maine
Silver King, Tarpon Springs, Florida
Southern Tier, Lakewood, New York
Swamp Head, Gainesville, Florida
Sweetwater, Atlanta, Georgia
Tampa Bay Brewing Company, Tampa, Florida
Unita, Salt Lake City, Utah
Victory, Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Wine Stream, Italy
Woodchuck, Middlebury, Vermont
Other noteworthy Festival articles similar to the Craft Beer Experience 2018:
Conventions, Festivals, Markets, And Tastings:
A food or farmers' market is a physical retail market featuring foods sold directly by farmers to consumers. Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology is used in small or large venues. A convention is a gathering or grouping of people for a specific purpose to discuss and trade. A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect of that community. Next, to religion and folklore, a significant origin is agricultural.
Afghan Cuisine + Markets Travel, recipes + food, culture, turbulent history - A culinary tour during the war
Bordeaux - A Sip and Taste Wine tours and restaurants in Bordeaux, France
Dragon-Con 2008 Yearly science fiction convention at the Hyatt, Hilton and other Hotels, Atlanta Georgia
Gulfport Tuesday Market Merchants on Beach Boulevard in Gulfport, Florida
Key West Food and Wine Festival Multi-day festival and tasting in Key West, Florida
Napa - A Sip and Taste in Wine County A 3-day tour of wineries and fine dining restaurants
Sydney Wine Tasting Yearly tasting event at Hyde Park in Sydney Australia
See the whole list by visiting “The Wine Dine and Play Article Glossary”
Other St. Petersburg articles on Wine Dine and Play:
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Modern Italian and Southern
St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
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Casual pub grub sport bar
St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
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Family Diner steeped in History
St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
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A few Florida favorites:
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President Donald Trump’s Kitchen
West Palm Beach
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Old-school & modern genial Italian eatery
Tampa, Florida, USA
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Rustic Italian bistro with modern takes on classic dishes
Winter Park
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See the whole list by visiting “The Wine Dine and Play Article Glossary by country”
****
The worlds best restaurants is a subjective list of who is writing it and changes on a regular basis. The Wine Dine and Play best experiences are based on my highest rated stared restaurants, meaning that the visit was an outstanding or extraordinary experience. From cafés, chains, mom + pops, hole in the walls, to fine dining including a few Michelin spots. Visit the Top 100 page to see the entire list.
A few to tease you with…
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Rodízio buffet and churrascaria
Niagara, Canada
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Dessert shop with Southern treats, and praline
Savannah & Charleston, South Carolina, USA
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German Bites in Bavarian-style Tavern
Ruskin, Florida, USA
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Other Craft Beer Experience Pictures:
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| Craft Beer Experience / Outdoor Tent |
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| Craft Beer Experience / Tasting Hall |
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| Craft Beer Experience / Special Beer Tastings |
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| Craft Beer Experience / Proof Brewing Company |
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| Craft Beer Experience / Tasting Tent |
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| Craft Beer Experience / Boulevard Brewing |
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| Craft Beer Experience / 9Swamp Head Brewery |
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| Craft Beer Experience / Funky Buddha |
“Culinary perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things,
But in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”
-Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661)
Who is John Galt?
TTFN
