What's a new craft distillery with a couple hundred bottles of rye barrel-aged rum to do on National Rum Day? Celebrate, of course. A long time coming in Tampa's Seminole Heights neighborhood, 82° West Distilling opened its doors last week with limited hours.
"We aren't ready ready but we owe it to ourselves to open up for the weekend," the nautical-inspired distillery wrote in an Aug. 16 update to its Facebook page.
This week, Thursday through Sunday, 82° West will give regionites another opportunity to taste, and purchase, the spirited goodness going on at 6430 N. Florida Ave. Hint: It's local rum produced in 1,000-bottle batches.
The minds behind Twisted Sun Rum and the Still in the Heights tasting room are responsible for the genesis of 82° West, which lists four rum collections on its website: Classics, Gasparilla, Limited Edition and Tropics. These categories spotlight 750-milliliter bottles like Mutiny (flagship spiced rum infused with smoked peppers), Gulf Coast Gold (gold rum), Coconut Breeze (coconut rum) and 4:20 (the aforementioned rye barrel-aged rum).
Paradise is the latest rum that 82° West will introduce to the community. Featured as part of the Tropics collection, the spiced spirit is slightly sweeter than Mutiny and skips the pepper infusion altogether. The distillery plans to operate from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 to 9 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Next door to 82° West, Seminole Heights also recently saw the launch of The Wine Bar Café, which premiered on Aug. 7.
This article appears in Aug 23-30, 2018.