California and Oregon have their vineyards and Kentucky and Tennessee have their distilleries. Here on Florida’s Gulf Coast, we’re fast becoming a craft beer community, and thanks to creative ingredients, talented brewmasters, food trucks, innovative cheftenders and a receptive group of area aficionados, Sarasota and Bradenton are home to some of the best breweries and beer bars in the state.
TAYLOR POGUE OF JDUBS BREWING COMPANY
MOTORWORKS BEER GARDEN.
Motorworks Brewing
Motorworks Brewery is a veritable oasis in a desert of lackluster beige buildings in downtown Bradenton. From the outside, Motorworks looks as though it will be merely a giant warehouse on the interior, there’s no hint of the wonders laid out just beyond the modest entrance. There’s a blast of perfectly temperate air and as the eyes adjust to the sunlight, a couple of things will strike visitors at once: that’s one long beautiful bar and this is what people mean when they say “timeless.” But they will also be drawn to the doors leading to what, at first, appears to be a back patio but turns out to be Florida’s largest beer garden. Bright green turf repurposed from a Miami soccer field, an enormous hand-built deck made from reclaimed wood, a 20-foot projection screen on an exposed brick wall and a stage for live music, all positioned around a 100-year-old oak tree strung with twinkly lights. The brewing company is the first of its kind in Manatee County. Owners Frank and Denise Tschida used to run a popular liquor store in Tarpon Springs that featured over 75 craft beers, unusual for a liquor store and speaks volumes about the couple’s appreciation for a fine brew. They decided they wanted to open their own brewery and fell in love with this location, previously home to a Hudson Motors dealership in the ‘40s and ‘50s. Unlike most breweries, Motorworks offers a full bar and several dining options. There are rotating food trucks and the bar menu includes the delivery menus for several local restaurants. Denise believes full enjoyment means full service, and if you want a beer, cocktail, pizza or wings, just tell one of the many servers ready to take your order. Motorworks features two happy hours daily as well as theme nights such as $5 Flight Thursday and Paint Night Wednesday. The brewery offers tours often led by head brewer Bob Haa, Jr., a craft brew visionary. Motorworks garnered eight medals in the first seven months of production and at least 25 of the 30 beers on tap are crafted on property while the remaining five are rotating guest taps.
Our favorite food and brew pairings at Motorworks: Ferraro’s Pizza is one of the delivery places that occupies a permanent spot in the food rotation at Motorworks and we love their non-breaded, spicy chicken wings, with chunky blue cheese sauce. Pair these juicy, spicy wings with a hop forward beer that embraces and enhances the spice such as the Motorworks INDY IPA which is one of the core beers brewed on site and available on tap. The citrus undertones of grapefruit and orange complement the spice and tang of wings and blue cheese in a wholly satisfying way.
Darwin Brewing Company
Darwin Brewing Company is all clean lines and sleek merchandising. Founder Darwin Santa Maria has a reputation for exacting standards and a taste for exciting flavors—specifically those of his South American culture. Brewmaster Jorge Rosabal worked for the biggest brewery in Honduras before mastering his craft in Germany. Darwin is proud to have collaborated with Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing on the Aguanile, a Maibock lager brewed with Tamamuri wood and aji limo peppers. “Wayne, the brew master for Cigar City is a foodie, and it was an honor to work with him and their team. Cigar City paved the way for local Florida breweries and as a chef who loves craft beer I’m happy to follow their path with a different vision using Peruvian ingredients.” Darwin’s beer is on tap at many local restaurants and recently, celebrity chef Emeril LaGasse, another chef who appreciates craft beer, paid a visit to Darwin and tried some of his beer and food. With five beers in distribution at the time of print and a plan to begin canning, Darwin is focusing on one day at a time. In the future it would be nice to open more tasting rooms but for now they’re concentrating on producing quality craft beers.
Our favorite food and brew pairings at Darwin: Darwin Brewing’s award-winning Circa 1926 Tangerine Wheat Ale pairs beautifully with the S3 Burger from the Siwichi Peruvian Fusian food truck. The refreshing American wheat ale has notes of orange, coriander and citra spices. The S3 burger is a collaboration with the Sugar Cubed Bakery.
JDubs Brewing
Walking in to JDubs Brewing just outside downtown Sarasota feels akin to teleporting to a borough of New York City. There’s a tongue-in-cheek insouciance and inclusive laidback vibe in the atmosphere that brings to mind a neighborhood pub in Brooklyn or Queens. The giant silver brew system barrels are visible through large windows from the cozy bar area, each bearing a giant decal of a bygone movie icon on the front of it—every cool cat from Jack Burton to Peter Venkman strikes a pose in the giant brew room. The backyard feels like the backyard of a coed liberal arts fraternity with children and animals playing alongside the dart throwing college students in the grass. JDubs Brewing believes in collaboration, its ownership intent on being Sarasota’s answer to Cheers, only with a much more interesting clientele and some seriously complex craft beers. With this is mind they inspire both food truck dish creations, and, most recently, a beer soap made in collaboration with local wellness store Wild Ginger Apothecary. JDubs features rotating food trucks from Thursday to Saturday and Mouthole BBQ, with its platters of aggressively aromatic BBQ, is a wildly popular fixture on the schedule. Founder Jeremy Joerger espouses the tenets of “quality, innovation, and culture,” from where I’m sitting he’s firing on all cylinders, with the help of manager and taproom ninja BK and brewing up something Sarasota can be proud to call our own.
Our favorite food and brew pairings at JDubs: JDubs Poolside Kolsch is light and fruity with a crisp hop bitterness that pairs beautifully with the sweet and smoky flavor of Mouthole BBQ’s Pulled Pork Nachos. Mouthole’s inspired beer cheese sauce is made incorporating the Poolside Kolsch itself and the result is nothing short of a flavor match made in heaven, or Sarasota as the case may be.
World of Beer World of Beer (WOB) on Main Street is one of three Sarasota and Bradenton locations of the national franchise that began as two guys who loved beer in Tampa. All three Sarasota locations are owned and run by husband-and-wife team Dean and Jen Lambert who have embraced Sarasota’s local food and beer scene with gusto. Big Top Brewing Company of Sarasota produced a limited editions brew called the Chocolate Crawfish Porter, inspired by a Crawfish Boil event held at the University location of WOB. Dean has made it a point to include every commercially available local brew in Florida on his beer menu and with the expanded food menu available at the Sarasota location they take the guess work out of food pairing by listing directly on the menu which food item pairs with which kind of beer. Thanks to an exceptionally knowledgeable and passionate staff you can ask for local brews to pair with your food and be given recommendations without hesitation. We enjoyed a flight of local beers paired with some of our favorite dishes such as the Dry Rub Wings paired with Hop Gun IPA from Funky Buddha Brewery in Oakland Park and the Artisan Sausage Platter paired with Duke’s Cold Nose Brown Ale from Gold City Brewery in Jacksonville.
Our favorite food and brew pairings at World of Beer: Motorworks Brewing Hefeweizen paired with Golden Ale Shrimp tossed in a house-made Sriracha Lime Aioli. The spicy citrusy beer brings out the subtle citrus spice in the aioli and the full bodied light brew and fried shrimp offer go together like…well, like, fried shrimp and beer!
