Tampa’s Deviant Libation brewery opens in Ybor Heights next weekend

Nearly three-and-a-half years after getting the keys to his Ybor Heights brewery, longtime Tampa brewer Tim Ogden is ready to open the doors to his very own temple of beer, Deviant Libation.

Ogden told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the taproom and brewery—located on the southern end of the future Crab Devil compound at 3800 N Nebraska Ave.—will welcome the public inside starting Friday, Jan. 27 at 4 p.m.  For now, hours at Deviant Libation will be Thursday-Friday, 4 p.m.-9 p.m. and Saturday, 1 p.m.-9 p.m.

While that means there are now at least seven great bars to help you escape the Gasparilla day parade madness next weekend, the “inglorious opening” is more importantly the next phase in Ogden’s storied career.

After starting homebrewing in 1998 while living in Maine, he moved to Tampa, worked at Hops, got in on the ground floor at a then-fledgling Cigar City Brewing in ‘09, steered Cigar City’s Carrollwood brewpub, and landed at Tampa Bay Brewing Company. Some of Ogden's greatest beers to date include Cigar City's Tocobaga amber ale, the brewpub’s muscadine grape double IPA, the Skatepark of Tampa 20-year anniversary "Moat Water" stout, and a host of music-inspired beers from TBBC.

Deviant Libation’s taproom can seat 12 people at the bar fashioned out of old, resin tables from the University of South Florida. About 30 more folks can fit at communal tables, and an outside patio is available, too.

The 17 taps may not all be full on day one, and may have limited quantities of Deviant beer, but Ogden promises solid guest taps nonetheless. “This room is way too sweet to enjoy by myself,” he said.

It certainly is.

The back wall fashioned by the artists at Tampa’s Livework collective looks like a cathedral, and the dark interior, complete with plenty of walnut, gets a big pop from the floor, which is bright pink in person, a color that Ogden feels will call him back to the brewery even when he’s not there.

"I think you can curate an environment that speaks to more than just the typical target demographic without alienating the normies. I believe this, because plenty of normal folks are comfortable around my weird ass,” he said. “The pink floor was the obvious choice to me because it makes me happy, and if it brings me joy then it will bring joy to others.”
Behind the taproom, Ogden’s got three 10-bbl kettles inside a brewhouse with huge speakers hanging from the ceiling. Nearby, is a smaller room that will one day be a distillery. There is art everywhere. Some of it is his and has been waiting for the day he opened his own brewery, and some it was gifted to him by friends. All of it means everything to him.

And over the next few months Tampa Bay beer lovers are going to really get to know Ogden as Deviant Libation brew occupies more and more of the taps.

There’ll be classic styles, like helles, stout, IPA and sours, but the outside-the-box, high-concept beers he’s come to be known for aren’t going away. “In my own aging process, my ‘weird’ hasn't diminished, or even softened. If anything, I've more comfortable with my own strangeness and more eager to express that in whatever way strikes at the time,” Ogden said.

That’ll manifest itself in lots of collaborations not just with brewers, but outside of the brewing discipline. Cider, mead, whiskey and gin could all be on the table soon.

“All I can say is keep coming back and watch it evolve,” he said.