Brewery Spotlight: Tampa Bay Brewing Company

Brewery Spotlight isn’t some run-of-the-mill beer talk involving heady aromas or exotic Sriracha-malt flavors. It’s about the faces behind the beer, and what keeps them coming in every day to create something delicious. For the brewmasters, the salesmen, the bartenders, the cellarman; everyone. Brewery Spotlight is for them—Because what they do is for us. For the love of beer, this is our Brewery Spotlight.

Tampa Bay Brewing Company has been a fixture in the community for over 20 years. Founded in 1995, Tampa Bay Brewing was first a home brew supply store owned by Vicki and John Doble. Vicki’s sons John Jr. and Mark lend their hand to the operation making it a family affair still to this day. After the supply store came the small brew pub and then the opening of the famous Centro Ybor TBBC location. But the family-owned business wasn’t stopping there: last year TBBC announced a new brewery, further expanding the incredible operation.

We took a day out of the office and visited Tampa Bay Brewing HQ to talk to Brewer John. We talked about the future of craft beer in Tampa Bay, as well as Tampa Bay Brewing’s core ingredients to success.

Where does the TTBCo Westchase brewery fit within the big picture?

John: Our Ybor location saw a lot of success after we started selling our beer so we opened up this location to keep up with the demand.

Do you guys like to experiment with new recipes often?

Ybor is our playground; it’s a smaller capacity brewery so we get the chance to try different recipes. Here (at Westchase) we focus on the quality of our main line.

What makes TB Brewing Company beer special?

We put a great deal of thought and effort into each of our products. We don’t cut corners and we only use what we think are the best ingredients. We use hops from all over the world such as New Zealand, Germany, and even from the US. Our Old Elephant Foot IPA uses both the German and American hops to get the flavor we love.

Where is Tampa Bay Brewing’s place in the local craft scene?

Right now, there’s a big boom in craft beer. There are nearly 60 breweries in Tampa, but the one’s consistently brewing good beer? They are the ones that will stay relevant. That’s what we focus on: good beer.

What are your thoughts on the future of craft beer?

Craft isn’t going anywhere. It will stay local and people will visit different locations for the beer. Like how specific places have their own regional specialties of food, beer will become a local specialty that people will travel for. Tampa is going to be one of those places.

Tampa Bay Brewing Company will be pouring their amazing products at the next Brews With Attitude! Buy tickets here.

Can’t wait to try Old Elephant Foot or their other beers? Use Pepin’s Product Locator to find the nearest location to pick up a six-pack.