Congratulations to Eric Swanson, the winner in Hampton Arts Management's 2011 Label Design contest with Cigar City Brewing.
Bottles of the Tocobaga Red Ale, featuring Eric's art, are now avaialble. Also: Go by the brewery, grab a bottle, and check out the display of all 10 finalists' labels on display in the tap room through the end of June. For those who haven't tried it, the A hoppy red ale has citra hops, created by brewer Tim Ogden. $5 dollars a glass, $9 for a 750ml bottle.
http://donaldlynd.blogspot.com.
The ale's name derives from the Native American tribe that lived in Tampa Bay for hundreds of years before being discovered by the Spanish in the 1500s. They were potters, tool makers and the only Florida native Indians to grow corn. The large platform mounds they built still exist today, with one of the largest in Philippe Park in Safety Harbor.
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2011.