RateBeer has compiled its round-up of the top 100 brewers in the world, and Tampa Bay, of course, made the cut.
On Tuesday, Jan. 29, RateBeer founder Joe Tucker and beer writer Ezra Johnson-Greenough took to Facebook Live to reveal the Best Brewers category winners at Portland's River Pig Saloon. The announcement marked the culmination of the popular craft beer review website's annual RateBeer Best awards, which kicked off last week.
Tampa-based Cigar City Brewing nabbed the fourth spot, securing its place within the top 10 among nine other U.S. brewers. In case you're curious, Vermont brewery Hill Farmstead came in at No. 1.
"It seems like every week I'm hearing about they're launching into another state, expanding their distribution," said Johnson-Greenough of Cigar City, "which is great because that used to be one of the breweries that, like, we dreamed of getting over here on the West Coast… I think it won't be long until we're seein' their beers in all 50 states."
Tucker added: "And I love seeing this, too, that, like, here they are, they're scaling, obviously, and they're keep quality very, very high. Again, No. 4 on our list."
Two more big names in local beer — downtown St. Pete's Cycle Brewing and Tampa's Angry Chair Brewing — were also recognized, but where they landed doesn't really matter. RateBeer ranks only the top 10 as an ordered list; the rest of the victorious brewers are presented unordered.
Outside of the region, nods went to Florida beermakers Funky Buddha Brewery, 3 Sons Brewing Co. and J. Wakefield Brewing.
RateBeer determined this year's winners with help from its global users, taking both reviews from 2018 and "historical all-around performance" into consideration. They reflect the best-performing brewers of the 34,000-plus cataloged on the site.
Started in 2002, RateBeer Best honors Bay area brewers in additional categories like Best Beers in the World and Best New Beers. Feel free to peruse all of the awards on your own.
This article appears in Jan 24-31, 2019.