 |
|
I had driven to Florida and back in 2019
and 2023.
This time I took a slightly different route. It was my first trip in my 2025 Subaru Outback. My Camry had served me
well for many years, but since it was aging (aren't we all?), plus the backseat did not allow me to extend my legs
when I occasionally slept in it, I bought a vehicle that has enough space to stretch out,
a 3-year warranty, a big dashboard display for navigation, and an emergency call button.
Sunday February 23. Left at 10:15 AM on a fairly cold but sunny day and arrived at veteran-owned Red Dragon Brewery in Fredericksburg VA shortly before it opened at noon. Tried:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Then it was off to Richmond, where I would spend the rest of the day and night. I got to
Final Gravity Brewing at 1:40. It was crowded
and lively. It has a homebrew shop next door called
Original Gravity. Got a
half pour of:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
(By the way, in Richmond you pay 6% Virginia sales tax and 7.5% Richmond meals tax on beer, for
a total of 13.5%.)
Next I visited my favorite Richmond brewery: The Answer.
It has 50+ beers on tap, most of them theirs with some guest beers. I got a flight consisting of:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Went next door to Mekong, which opened in 1995.
It was the predecessor to The Answer, which Mekong's owner opened in 2014 to enhance Richmond's
beer scene. There are another 50+ taps here, all different from The Answer's selections.
They're mostly guest beers from great breweries such as Toppling Goliath, WeldWerks,
Tripping Animals, Bottle Logic, and Cantillon. They serve full pours only, so I didn't
order anything.
 |
 |
Next stop: The Veil, which has 3 locations. I was at their
Scott's Addition location. Met my
friend Mike and his friend Ray there at 3:15. We tried:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Then we went to Black Heath Meadery. My friend
Bill, the owner, met us there with his gigantic dog Otis. The meads are brewed offsite, and at this time
a brewery called
Brainstorm Brewhouse was making their beers in the same space. We tried four sweet meads
(all of which were good) and one Brainstorm beer:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
We parted ways and I went to the home of my friends Glenn and Alyse. The three of us
went to Benchtop Brewing, which has another location in Norfolk VA.
I got:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Then we went to
Basic City Beer Company and got:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
After that we picked up a pizza and went back to their place. I was exhausted from a full day
of brewery hopping and being up since 2:00 AM. Crashed at 9:00ish.
Monday February 24. Woke up about 3:15 AM, which gave me lots of time to work on this
web page and get ready to continue my journey. Took a walk around town with Alyse and her dog Bella
(Glenn had left early for work). Then we hung out for a while.
 |
 |
Left shortly before 9:30 on another cold but sunny morning
and arrived at DSSOLVR's taproom in
Durham NC before it opened at noon (I'd been to their
Asheville taproom before). There was no free parking
anywhere in this part of Durham. I had to pay $6 to park for one hour. There are several other breweries in the area but none of them opened before 2:00 and I wasn't going to wait around for that. DSSOLVR had been
at this location for about a year. I got a taster of:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Then it was 3+ hours to Asheville. I arrived at
Cellarest Beer Project at 3:45. This brewery makes mostly lagers.
It had been there about 4 years. I got the one ale on the menu.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
At 4:30 I checked in at the
Downtown Inn & Suites, where I'd stayed
in 2017, and set out at 5:12.
Asheville is one of the better beer hubs, with many breweries within walking distance of each other. Several of
them are closed on Mondays, including three of the ones I wanted to visit (Terra Nova, DSSOLVR, and TRVE), but there were still plenty of other options.
Stopped at One World Brewing, which has two taprooms, both of which I'd been to. I was at their downtown location. I've never liked their beers, but this spot has a cool basement vibe. I got a half pint of:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Walked down (Asheville is hilly) to
White Labs Brewing, which had been there
for 7 years. White Labs is actually a yeast
company based out of San Diego, and I've used their products in many of my beers. (I visited their
San Diego taproom in
2015.) They serve beer in their
two taprooms to showcase their yeasts. This location had a dozen beers on tap, each brewed with two
different yeasts. I got both versions of two of the beers.
 |
 |
 |
Walked up to
Wicked Weed's
brewpub (their
Funkatorium closed the previous
fall due to Hurricane Helene, and as of this writing they plan to reopen it). Got:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Bought 3 bottles from their retail shop and walked to
Burial Beer Company, which has 6 locations in North Carolina. I was at
their South Slope location, where I'd been
several times before. The place was pretty crowded for a Monday, probably because it's the best brewery in
Asheville, plus many of the other breweries are closed on Mondays. I got:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Bought a 4-pack of Those Too Unafraid to Never Be Remarkable from their retail shop and headed back to the
motel. Walked past the
Funkatorium, so I snapped this
photo through the window.
 |
Got back to the room sometime after 9:00 and crashed.
Tuesday February 25. Slept until after 4:00. Took off at 8:40 on yet another cold but sunny morning.
Drove down to Georgia and OMG what a-holes some of the drivers down there are. Yeah, there are rude drivers
everywhere, but for some reason they were even worse in Georgia. They cut you off, tailgate, and honk
at you while you're waiting to merge onto a street. I remember Florida drivers being horrible too, so
maybe it's a southern thing.
It was 70 degrees when I arrived at noon at Cherry Street Brewing's Vickery Village location in (heh heh) Cumming GA (they also have a location in Alpharetta). It opened in 2012. There is a restaurant on one side of the brewery and a taproom on the other. The taproom wouldn't open until 4:00 so I went inside the restaurant and sampled:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Bought a big can of Crooked Street and a bottle of 12.12.12 and traveled onward.
Shortly before 1:30 I arrived at
Variant Brewing, which opened in late 2017.
All the beers I sampled got very high Untappd ratings, and only one lived up to it.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Dealt with more a-hole drivers, as well as heavy traffic (apparently there was an accident),
on my way to Wild Leap, a brewery/distillery/winery with two locations.
I was at their Atlanta location (their other one is in
LaGrange).
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Went to Inner Voice Brewing, arriving just after it opened
at 4:00, and tried:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Then I visited my friends Aaron and Rebecca, who had moved from Maryland to Byron GA a few
years earlier. We went for some delicious southern food at
Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q.
 |
We dropped Rebecca off at home for an early bedtime, then Aaron and I went to
Black Barley Kitchen & Taphouse,
a beer bar with 100+ taps, and sampled:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
We returned to Aaron's house and sampled several vintages of
Samuel Adams Utopias at his beautiful bar.
 |
 |
We wrapped things up shortly before midnight.
Wednesday February 26. Woke up at 4:00 after about 4 hours of sleep on a nice comfortable bed.
Had my morning ritual of Internet and shower, then hung out with Aaron, Rebecca, and their 4 dogs.
 |
It was gorgeous and sunny just like every morning of the trip so far but this time it
was warm out. When I left a little after 11:00 it was 72 degrees. Most of the drive was along
country roads surrounded by farmland, orchards, and trees.
Arrived at Tvelo Brewing in southern Georgia shortly before it opened at 2:00. Its name is a combination of 'T', which stands for the town in which it's located (Thomasville); and the French word for bike, which is vélo (there is a biking community in Thomasville).
 |
 |
 |
Rode along more country roads to Florida.
At 3:15 I checked into a crappy Tallahassee
Motel 6,
where the guests obviously live because they can't afford to rent a decent place.
Around 4:00 I arrived at
Ȯlōgy Brewing, which has 4 locations. I was at their
Midtown taproom in Tallahassee. It was 84 degrees
out. I got:
 |
 |
 |
 |
Returned to the motel and Lyfted to Proof Brewing, arriving
just after 5:00. The beers' ratings ranged from average to shitty. I got their highest rated beer, and
even that one was disappointing. When I was here in
2019 all the beers were good or better. They really went downhill.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Walked to Amicus Brewing Ventures. All the
beers were pedestrian.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Walked about a mile back to the motel, arriving at 6:30. Chronicled the day's events while the
socioeconomically challenged residents fraternized right outside my door. Crashed around 9:30
wearing earplugs. It took well over an hour to fall asleep.
Thursday February 27. Woke up before 3:30 and left at 6:15. Drove southward...
 |
...and a little over 4 hours later I arrived in Dade City to visit
my friends John and Rick. They live in a nice gated community adjacent to
Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club.
John and I have been friends since 1989. Rode around in his golf cart
with him and his dog Roxy, then we had lunch with Rick on their patio.
It was nice catching up.
 |
Took off at 12:30 and arrived at
Magnanimous Brewing at 1:20.
I'd been here, as well as the next two breweries I would visit,
in 2023.
The third item in my samples list was a not-yet-released bottled beer that the bartender
gave me a sample of.
 |
 |
 |
I befriended a fellow beer traveler at the bar named Justin who was in town from Detroit for the
Florida Craft Brewers Festival, which would take
place two days later. He was planning to go to the same Tampa breweries that I was that day
so we met at
Woven Water Brewing a little after it opened at 2:00.
We ordered about 8 samples between us. I tried:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Then we went to Hidden Springs Ale Works, which is just
around the corner
from Magnanimous, but it didn't open until 3:00, which is why we went to Woven Water first. We sampled:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
We got to Angry Chair Brewing at 3:45 and tried:
 |
 |
 |
 |
At this point Justin and I parted ways. He told me about a nearby brewery called
Florida Avenue Brewing, which has a low Untappd rating, but
since it was only two blocks away I walked over and sampled:
 |
 |
 |
Then I went to Clearwater, checked into the
Rodeway Inn at 6:00,
and Ubered to Arkane Aleworks in nearby Largo, arriving at 6:55.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Lyfted back to the motel by 8:00 and went to bed by 9:00.
Friday February 28. Woke up sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 AM and couldn't get back to sleep.
Finally got up around 4:30 and had plenty of time to write, shave, and shower.
Left a little after 10:00 and went to St. Petersburg. My first brewery of the day was
Voodoo Brewing, which has dozens of locations across
the United States. This one opens at 11:00
on Fridays, which was fortunate because I had a lot of free time and the other breweries didn't open
until noon. Only one of their beers had a good rating so that's all I got.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
I had time before my next brewery opened so I walked around St. Petersburg...
 |
 |
 |
...and went into St. Pete Brewing a few
minutes before it opened, not to drink (its rating is quite low), but to take a few photos and
pick up some stickers and coasters.
 |
 |
At noon I walked into Cycle Brewing. I'd been there (as well as the
rest of the breweries I'd visit that day) in
2023, and also in
2015 when it was at another location.
My friend Jason, who I
knew from Baltimore and had moved to nearby Madeira Beach a few years earlier, met me and we sampled:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
We said good-bye and I went to
Green Bench Brewing, arriving at 1:00. Both beers I tried were
foeder fermented and wine barrel aged mixed culture saisons.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Next door is Webb's City Cellar, which
is supposed to be great but
wouldn't open until 4:00, so I left St. Petersburg and went over the
Sunshine Skyway Bridge
to Corporate Ladder Brewing, which opened in
May 2018. I arrived just before 2:00. Everything I tried was quite good.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Bought a 4-pack of Dessert Station: Strawberry Blueberry Swirl and went to
Calusa Brewing, arriving at 3:15.
When I visited in 2023 it was at a different location; it moved here in
November of that year.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
A little before 5:00 I arrived at the home of my
friends Keith and Shonna, who I know from Severna Park. They had moved to
Punta Gorda a month and a half earlier and, like me, were both retired.
We had beers by their indoor pool with their dogs Carly and
Rosie and their friendly cat Trinity...
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
...and then Ubered to a nearby outdoor mall/marina called
Fishermen's Village.
 |
 |
We had dinner at a popular restaurant called
Village Brewhouse.
 |
 |
We sat outside, ordered food, and enjoyed the sunset as we waited...
 |
 |
 |
...and waited...
 |
...and waited...
 |
...and waited...
 |
...for well over an hour. When the food finally came it was delicious. Then we Ubered back and
hung out for an hour or so.
Saturday March 1. Woke up sometime around 4:00, give or take an hour. After updating this web page
I stepped out on the porch for this view.
 |
Shonna left to visit her mom and I hung out with Keith for a couple of hours. I left a little after 11:00
and arrived at
Scotty's Bierwerks 45 minutes later. Ate some food to
lay a base and went in when it opened at noon. This place doesn't name their beers; it just calls them
whatever style they are. All of the beers were just fairly good.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Went to downtown Fort Myers and, because it was Saturday afternoon, it was bustling, with thousands of people
walking around, shopping, and eating at tables on sidewalks.
 |
Walked into Voodoo Brewing's
Fort Myers location. The only beer that had a good rating was
the one I'd had at the St. Petersburg location, so I didn't order anything.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Since I didn't drink anything at Voodoo I went to nearby
Millennial Brewing, which I hadn't planned to go to
due to its low Untappd rating. All the free parking spots were taken (again, it was Saturday) and I
wasn't going to pay to park in order to go to a below average brewery, so I skipped it and went
to Coastal Dayz Brewery at 1:10. None of the beers
had better than average ratings so I ordered the one with the highest rating, and even that beer was
pedestrian. Also, like some other Florida breweries, they wouldn't trade any of their stickers for mine.
This is the only state (so far) where that has happened. Most places will at least give out coasters,
but this place wouldn't even do that.
 |
 |
 |
Then I went to Palm City Brewing at 2:12. This was the highest
rated brewery in southwestern Florida, and even its beers were marginal.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Since I was ahead of schedule I did a quick Google search for other breweries in the area in hopes that
at least one place had good beer. I went to
Point Ybel Brewing, which had a decent rating, at 3:10.
It was fairly crowded, with a mostly older crowd and live music. No flights here but you can get half
pours (no more than two at a time). I tried:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
So, I was able to find at least some good (though not great) beer in southwestern Florida.
Just before 4:00 I visited my friend Jean, who had retired and moved from Maryland to Florida in late 2022 and
now lives in Fort Myers with her boyfriend
Ken (also retired) and their very friendly cat Micah, neither of whom I had ever met.
 |
 |
We went to Fort Myers Beach...
 |
 |
 |
 |
...and then to a bar/restaurant called the
Sandbar & Grille for dinner
and live music from a great rock band called
Dukes of Brinkley.
 |
 |
 |
We returned to their place and retired (pun intended) around 11:00.
Sunday March 2. Woke up at 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. Finally got up at 4:50. A few hours later
the three of us hung out for a while, then I took off at 9:15. Drove to the Atlantic side of Florida,
encountering the usual collection of maniacs and jerks. At 11:30 I arrived at
Tripping Animals Brewing's
Doral location, which I'd been to in
2023 (I would visit their other location
later in the day). I was a half hour early, so I laid a food base and listened to music while parked in
the shade. Walked in shortly before noon and sampled:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Arrived at Spanish Marie Brewery at 12:40. This place
does mostly fruit sours, which get good ratings but they're not really beers since they're mostly
soda, ice cream, and mixers such as grenadine and amaretto. They're all made from the same
"sour base", and they're all 5% ABV. Their actual beers have marginal ratings.
I tried:
 |
 |
 |
 |
Got to Unseen Creatures Brewing & Blending at 1:25.
They'd recently bought Prison Pals, so they had beers
from both breweries on tap. There was only one whose rating attracted me:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
On the way to my next brewery,
traffic was backed up on Route 95 due to an accident. Fortunately the express lane is separated from the
regular lanes by
flexible delineators,
which are easy to drive over, which some people did, so I did
too as there were no police around. Thus I was able to use the express lane,
bypass the miles-long traffic jam, and get to 3 Sons Brewing
on schedule at 2:30. This place, which I'd been to in
2023, has a pizza kitchen.
My samples, including tax and tip, were more than $10 apiece, and the second one was totally worth it.
I should have asked whether it was for sale to-go.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Next was Invasive Species Brewing, where I'd been about
a decade earlier but don't have a website record of it. It has cool décor.
Punk and metal were playing rather loudly. I sampled:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Ten minutes away is Funky Buddha Brewery,
which I'd been to in
2023. I arrived at 4:15 and got a short
pour of:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Walked a few blocks to Tripping Animals's
Oakland Park taproom,
which opened in late December 2024, and sampled:
 |
 |
 |
 |
There were bottles of Bone Drift (the great stout I'd had at their other location)
for sale. With tax they were $26.75 for a half liter, which gave me
pause, but "you can't take it with you", so I bought one.
Then I went to Delray Beach to visit my sister Marge and her boyfriend Doug, arriving ahead of schedule at 6:20. We had dinner, and I was so exhausted that I crashed before 9:00.
Monday March 3. Woke up around 3:30 and had a leisurely morning. Walked their dog Ruby...
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
...got a much-needed workout at the gym, and lay by the pool.
 |
 |
Later on I had a Chinese buffet with Doug at
Kingdom Buffet, then we came back and hung out with Marge.
Tuesday March 4. A cloudy, windy day, with a little rain. I spent the day indoors, reading social
media and watching Internet videos. Then the three of us went for an early dinner at
3G's Gourmet Deli & Restaurant.
It's a good thing we got there at 4:30 because when we left at 6:00 it was packed and people were waiting
to get in.
 |
 |
 |
 |
We came back and chilled for the evening.
Wednesday March 5. Up early again. Another cloudy day with a bit of rain.
It was warm and very humid. Walked Ruby, worked out,
and spent the rest of the day on the Internet. Below are photos of Marge and Doug's bird Matteo (left) and
an egret that I saw next to their house.
 |
 |
We had a nice dinner at home, featuring filet mignon.
Thursday March 6. A sunny, dry, cool morning. Walked Ruby...
 |
 |
...and went to the pool with Marge and Doug.
 |
For dinner we went to
Eagle Grille & Oyster Bar and had a lobster roll, a
crab cake, and fried clams. Everything was great.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Friday March 7. Another early morning. Walked Ruby, worked out, and went to the pool.
It was sunny and gorgeous.
 |
 |
Took a nap. Then the three of us went to a gathering at the home of Marge's old friends Debbie and Wayne.
We had my homemade beer and Wayne's homemade spirits.
Most of us grew up within a few miles of each other, just west of Boston. In fact, everyone in
the photo on the right grew up in the same neighborhood in Newton MA.
 |
 |
Went to bed around 12:30.
Saturday March 8. Woke up at 4:45. It was another beautiful sunny morning. Walked Ruby,
packed, said good-bye, and left at 9:00. As I drove northward it got cloudy. I would visit
5 breweries today, all of which I'd been to in
2023.
At 1:25 I arrived at
Ink Factory Brewing and tried:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Less than a mile away is Southern Swells Brewing.
Arrived at 2:00 and sampled:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Arrived at Reve Brewing at 2:30 and got:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
At 4:20 I arrived at my friend Christine's house.
 |
 |
We went to SJ Brewing, where her friends Ceecee and Rich met us.
 |
 |
 |
 |
We all went to
Disco Witch Brewing.
 |
 |
There was a $15 cover charge due to a live music event, so we went next door to
The Classy Grape, which serves Disco Witch beers.
Everything we tried was pretty good.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
We said good-bye to Ceecee and Rich, and returned to Christine's around 10:00ish.
Sunday March 9. Slept until 4:15, which was actually 3:15 but daylight saving time made it an
hour later. Left at 7:00. It was cloudy, dark, and drizzling. Drove through some heavy rain on my
way to Raleigh. This was the longest drive of the trip: 6½ hours. When I arrived at
Funguys Brewing at 1:30 it was sunny and 56 degrees.
Everything I tried was pretty good.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Checked into a Motel 6 at
2:00. It had the same cast of shady characters that the Motel 6 in Tallahassee had.
Lyfted to Trophy Brewing, which has two locations.
I was at their
Morgan Street Brewing & Pizza location
(I had been to their other location in 2019).
Got there at 2:45. It was crowded and there was live music.
I tried the one beer on the list that had a very good rating.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Walked to Incendiary Brewing, arriving at 3:10.
There was live music here too. Sampled:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Walked almost a mile to Brewery Bhavana, where I
had been in 2019. Got there before 4:30
and tried:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Arrived at
Burial Beer Company's Raleigh location, called
The Exhibit, a little after 5:00.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Lyfted back to the motel just before 6:00 and crashed shortly thereafter.
Monday March 10. Woke up at 1:00 and spent several hours working on this web page and getting
ready for the drive home. It was cold when I left Raleigh at 6:38 AM. Got home at 11:15.
Another great trip in the books. Friends. Family. 54 breweries. 2870 miles of fun.