Celebrating American Craft Beer Week at #BrewsWithAttitude

Hi Y'all! Happy Friday!

Good news! My prayers have been answered and our house plans went from denied to approved in a week. That's the fastest anything has happened with this house building process, so Happy Friday in deed! Doing the happy dance over here....well, after I finish up the mountain of construction loan documents I still have to do. Yikes!!

If you didn't know, this week is American Craft Beer Week celebrating breweries and retailers all over the United States! Tampa has become a hub for craft beer and microbreweries in the past few years, becoming home to over 30 production breweries!  

On Tuesday night I had the privilege of attending BrewsWithAttitude at the TPepin Hospitality Center as part of the Tampa Bay Bloggers.  I am a fan of craft brews and going around and taking a few sips of so many from around the U.S. was perfection. Date night perfection. 

This was my first time going to the hospitality center and color me impressed. It's a beautiful place that I wanna throw a party at!

When we arrived at 6pm, we grabbed our tasting glass and beer guide, and darted to the food trucks. I had to get food in my stomach if I was about to sample 100s of brews. Actually I tasted about 10 of them. Did anyone taste every single one? Is that possible? So many to choose from!

While trying to figure out which food truck to order from, there was a Beer Truck in the midst of the food! So we actually got beer before our food. Easing into the brew experience...

Renny's Okidoki food truck won the vote and it didn't disappoint. I had the Katsu chicken, while Angelo enjoyed the Teriyaki Chicken bowl. Both were delicious and satisfying. 

Then the brews started. The whole hospitality center was jammed with beer tents, Outside and inside. The local breweries had inside digs, while other breweries opened up shop outside. We started outside and made our way in.

I spotted the beer tent with the longest line. "That's what I want to try" pointing to Rochester Mill tent. I chatted it up with the guys in front of us who told us it was their 3rd time in line at that tent. They recommended the "Red" and it ended up being my favorite beer there! I went back for a 2nd sampling a little later before heading inside!

The Bayshore Beer Company had the coolest dispenser that ran the beer through a collection of hops before being dispensed into my sample cup. It can't get any refresher than that! I chose to sample that beer solely on that dispenser and was pleased!

Inside were all my local favorites. We did a Tampa brewery tour last June so had actually been to a couple of these brewery facilities. Again I looked for the longest line. It was at Mad Beach. 

I sampled the I Yam What I Yam beer and Angelo sampled the Beetang Mango. Both very interesting flavors. The Beetang had a ABV 10%! 

I'll say I'm not really into the flavored beers. I'm talking about beers with fruity or in this case vegetable undertones. I'm more into the clean, crisp, light beers. When I go up to the beer sampling tents I always tell them, "I'll have your lightest beer" and it's usually very delightful for me.

Perfect example of my kind of beer: Beach blonde - 3Daughters Brewing - St.Pete, Fl

All the beers that ended up being my favorites were recommended to me by people I struck up conversations with in line. I met a man who owns a local convenient store who carries a lot of the local beers. He was a good resource and I stood in lines based on his word. Thanks man!

I was able to share the experience with my husband and we made it a date night. 

We even got to sit down and enjoy each other's company...until I got a notification that I was a winner! I won a prize basket! The basket consisted of 2 shirts, 2 coozies, 3 beers, a beer pilsner, some coasters, and a hat. Very cool and it's always a great feeling when you win stuff!  

My husband says he needs to come to all my blog events because obviously he's good luck ;)

We headed to the front of the event and no lie, 2 minutes after I took this picture, it started down pouring.

With our beer thirst quenched, we called it a night and ran to our car.

It was a successful event and definitely one I will be back to next year! 

Our Top 10 Beers from BrewsWithAttitude

1. Red - Rochester Mills Beer Co - Rochester, MI

2. Oxtail - CopperTail Brewing Co - Tampa, FL

3. Beach blonde - 3Daughters Brewing - St.Pete, Fl

4. Big Wave - Kona Brewing Co - Kailua Kona, HI 

5. Reef Donkey - Tampa Bay Brewing Co - Tampa, FL

6. True Blonde - Tampa Bay Brewing Co - Tampa, FL

7. Balustrade IPA - BayShore Beer Co - Tampa, FL 

8. 420 - SweetWater Brewubg Co - Atlanta, GA

9. Live - Southern Tier Brewing Co - Lakewood, NY

10. American Pale Ale - Shipyard Brewing Co - Portland, ME

What is your favorite local beer?

XOXO

 **Disclaimer: Thanks to Tampa Bay Bloggers, I was provided a free entry into BrewsWithAttitude in exchange for social media love and review. All opinions are my own.