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Crooked Thumb Brewery | Safety Harbor

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By in Uncategorized Comments Off on Berry Beer Fest

Berry Beer Fest

This year Crooked Thumb is celebrating Tampa Bay Beer Week in a big way by hosting our inaugural beer festival. Berry Beer Fest was inspired by one of our favorite and most popular beers, Strawberry Shakedown, a fruited pastry sour. Berry Beer Fest will feature beers created with a variety of berries – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and more. We have invited breweries from throughout the Tampa Bay area to bring one beer made with berries and another of their choice. A mix of beer styles will be available to taste – sours, lagers, IPAs, pastry stouts, etc. Breweries joining us at Berry Beer Fest include 5 Branches Brewing, Barriehaus Beer Co, Cigar City Brewing, Cueni Brewing Co, Garagiste Meadery, Gulfport Brewery, Leaven Brewing, Marker 48 Brewing, Motorworks Brewing, Pye Road Meadworks, Tampa Bay Brewing Company, Troubled Waters Brewing, and Unrefined Brewing

We are looking forward to tasting all the amazing beers our friends are bringing!!! Berry Beer Fest will be held during Tampa Bay Beer Week 2023 on Friday, March 10th from 4-8pm in the Crooked Thumb Brewery beer garden. Tickets are $40 and include unlimited pours from participating breweries and a custom festival glass to take home. Click here to purchase tickets: http://crookedthumbbrew.ticketspice.com/berry-beer-fest

DJ Hural Knight will be on stage providing tunes during the festival and local food trucks will have food available for purchase. Food vendors include Gigglewaters Food Truck, Steve D’s Philly Cheese and 511 Food Company will have strawberry shortcakes and pretzels with beer cheese. We would like to thank our sponsor BSG for being a part of what we hope will be a new tradition for Tampa Bay Beer Week. Get additional details at crookedthumbbrew.com/berry-beer-fest

By in Brewery News, Uncategorized Comments Off on Best Florida Beer – Brewers Ball

Best Florida Beer – Brewers Ball

Tampa Bay Beer Week is here keeping us busy and well hydrated! Sunday was Brewer’s Ball sponsored by Best Florida Beer. This is an annual event where awards are given to the top three brews in a variety of beer styles. It is a great opportunity to taste the best of the best Florida beers and get together with old and new friends in the Tampa Bay brewing community. Crooked Thumb was honored to receive a Silver Medal in the lager category for Harbor Lager. This is a favorite beer among the Crooked Thumb staff and it was nice to see it recognized. Congratulations to brewers Kenjiro Tomita and Jason Toft for creating this award winning brew!

Best Florida Beer Crooked Tumb

Best Florida Beer Crooked Thumb

Harbor Lager

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By in Brewery News, Uncategorized Comments Off on Girl Scout Cookie Inspired Beer Release

Girl Scout Cookie Inspired Beer Release

This weekend February 24th & 25th, 2018, Crooked Thumb Brewery will hold it’s 3rd annual Girl Scout Cookie Inspired Beer Release. This has become one of the most popular events at Crooked Thumb as well as one of the most popular Tampa Bay beer releases of the year. It started when one of the owner’s daughter planned to sell cookies at the brewery with her Girl Scout troop. The team at Crooked Thumb had the idea to try and create beers with the same flavors as the legendary cookies. The beers were a huge hit with customers and every year the event grows larger. This year will be the first that some of the beers will be sold in bottles. Mint Chocolate Imperial Stout and S’mores Imperial Stout will be sold in 22 oz bottles as a limited quantity release. Only 700 bottles will be sold and they are expected to go quickly. These Imperial Stouts as well as a Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter and Chocolate Coconut Doppelbock will be available on draft in the tasting room starting Feb. 24th at noon. Girl Scout troops will be in the beer garden selling cookies Saturday from noon til 7pm and Sunday from 1-4pm. Food will be available for purchase from Dog Dayz Hot Dogs Saturday and East Coast Catering Sunday (Fresh Mex bowls, tacos & nachos.)

Girl Scout Cookie Imperial Stouts

Crooked Thumb Brewery is a production brewery with tasting room and beer garden in Safety Harbor, Florida located at the top of Tampa Bay. The brewery is open seven days a week. Live music and food trucks are featured on weekends and the brewery hosts special events throughout the year. Crooked Thumb beer is distributed throughout the Tampa Bay area in restaurants, bars and retail in kegs and cans. Core beers available in cans include Shade Tree IPA, Grandpa Jack’s Pils and Grapefruit Gose. Special release bottles are available several times a year.

Crooked Thumb Girl Scout Cookie Beers

By in Brewery News Comments Off on Chili Cook-Off

Chili Cook-Off

Drinking beer while sampling over 20 different chilis – yes please! It’s no surprise that the Chili Cook-Off is one of our most popular events of the year. This weekend chili cooks competed with a variety of creative and delicious chili with ingredients such as chocolate, pumpkin and bacon and heat levels ranging from mild to over the top hotness. The brewery beer garden was packed with tasters trying an assortment of chili and enjoying fresh brews. Three lucky winners went home with cash prizes but hopefully all of our cooks had a good time surrounded by appreciative patrons. The best part of the day was seeing how the brewery is so much more than just a place to get a beer, it’s truly a gathering of the local Safety Harbor and Pinellas County community and Tampa Bay beer lovers. If you missed it this year, be sure to save the date next January!

Crooked Thumb Chili Cook-Off

Chili Cook Off Winners

Crooked Thumb Brewery

Crooked Thumb Brewery Beer Garden

Crooked Thumb Brewery is located in Safety Harbor, Florida at the top of Tampa Bay. Part of the Pinellas County Ale Trail, Crooked Thumb is one of Tampa’s largest and most popular breweries with a spacious tasting room and large tree covered beer garden. Core beers are available in cans and seasonal brews are released in limited quantity bottles. Crooked Thumb hosts a variety of events throughout the year and has live music and food trucks on weekends.

By in Brewery News Comments Off on Project Green Thumb

Project Green Thumb

Crooked Thumb Brewery / Green Bench Brewing Collaboration

Green Bench Brewing’s head brewer, Khris Johnson joined up with Crooked Thumb brewers Kenjiro Tomita and Jason Toft for a collaborative brew last week. The beer’s working name “Green Thumb” is not only a mashup of the brewery names but is appropriately named as the brew will be ready for Earth Day, April 22nd. The brew is a wild IPA featuring Azacca, Amarillo and Huell Melon hops. Omega Yeast Labs “Bring Da Funk” blend of wild yeasts will make for a funky brew. Look for this one late April on tap at both Crooked Thumb Brewery in Safety Harbor and Green Bench Brewing in St. Petersburg.

Crooked Thumb Green Bench Brewery

Green Thumb Beer

Crooked thumb Green Bench

By in Brewery News, Uncategorized Comments Off on Live Music Saturday

Live Music Saturday

Weekends at the brewery frequently feature live music. This past Saturday Sunset Bridge Band played to a packed crowd in the tasting room. In comfortable weather (like we usually have here in Florida) bands perform outdoors in the beer garden on the patio under a canopy of trees. Food trucks are available on weekends for snacks and light meals. Featured music styles include Americana Rock, Bluegrass, Classic Country, Cajun inspired, reggae and more. There is so much great local talent in the Tampa Bay area. We are fortunate to get a variety of amazing musicians from large bands to duos to one-man(woman) acoustic songwriters. Check the event page here on the Crooked Thumb website or our Facebook page for upcoming music and events.

Crooked Thumb Brewery is conveniently located at the top of Tampa Bay, near Tampa, Clearwater, Palm Harbor & St. Petersburg. Check out the brewery for an entertaining evening of live music an try our huge selection of brews.

Crooked Thumb Brewery Live Music

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By in Brewery News, News, Uncategorized Comments Off on Best of 2017

Best of 2017

Crooked Thumb had another great year in 2017. Today we look back at the year’s events and milestones and feel so fortunate. We are grateful to everyone who supports the brewery and allows us to continue to do what we love – make and serve amazing beer! Some of 2017’s highlight: Canning of three core beers, first bottles released, first barrel-aged beers released, approximately 85 unique beers brewed, 1200 barrels of beer produced, beers on tap at Tropicana and Spectrum Fields, Chili Cook-Off event, Girl Scout Cookie beer release, Spring Fest, Oktoberfest, Drink Pink breast cancer awareness fundraiser and beer release,  Rule #7, Halloween Party, Holiday Party, Trivia Nights, tons of Live Music and much more. We have made new brewery friends and deepened friendships with old ones. Here’s to more good times and good beer in 2018!

Crooked Thumb Brewery 2017

Crooked Thumb Brewery is located at the top of Tampa Bay in Safety Harbor, Florida. Part of the Pinellas Ale Trail, Crooked Thumb has a spacious tasting room overlooking their production facility as well as a large beer garden covered by a canopy of trees. Weekends at Crooked Thumb feature live music, food trucks and a variety of events.

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By in Brewery News 1

Mayor’s Award – Crooked Thumb Brewery

The creation of Crooked Thumb Brewery and rehabilitation of it’s home at 555 10th Avenue South in Safety Harbor was a process that spanned over a year and a half. As with any project of this scope, there were frequent set-backs, challenges and head-aches. Luckily, the brewery founders were focused and charged forward pouring countless hours, dollars and effort to finally get the doors open to the public. That is why it was so rewarding to receive the 2015 Mayor’s Award of Excellence for beautifying Safety Harbor. Each year one business receives this award for their efforts in creating an attractive space that helps improve the overall aesthetic of the city. The goal at Crooked Thumb was to create an inviting space for locals and visitors to gather and enjoy good beer and conversation. This award represents success at achieving this goal. We are so grateful to the city of Safety Harbor for their recognition and plan to continue to improve our space for years to come.

Safety Harbor Brewery

By in Brewery News 4

Crooked Thumb Brewery | Preview Weekend

Now Open in Safety Harbor!

Last weekend we threw our doors open to the public for the first time. Friday and Saturday evenings we offered a preview into what we’ve been up to at the brewery. It was great to finally see our vision of a place where the community could gather together over great beer and conversation come to life. We watched as young and old walked, biked and drove over for a visit. They came from just around the corner to across the state. We truly appreciate everyone who came out to show their support for a locally owned independent business and the craft beer community. The brewery is still a work in progress as we iron out some kinks and finish up the tasting room space. All the positive feedback received so far helps propel us along. We will have limited hours again next weekend as we move along toward completion. If you missed last weekend’s preview come see us this Friday and Saturday October 24th & 25th from 4-8pm.

Tampa BreweryCrooked Thumb Brewery Opening-7Crooked Thumb Brewery Opening-8Crooked Thumb Brewery Opening 10Crooked Thumb Brewery Opening-3Crooked Thumb Brewery Opening-4Crooked Thumb Brewery Opening-2

 

By in Uncategorized 1

Hop Hunting

Travis was out in Oregon a few weeks ago for a little brewery research and to attend the 28th Annual Oregon Brewer’s Festival. In his travels he visited with many breweries and tasted more beers than he could keep track of! Oregon has been on the cutting edge of the craft beer movement in the United States for over 30 years. Breweries like Widmer and Bridgeport are considered pioneers in the “first wave.” Add in newcomers like The Commons (a favorite), DeGarde (a close second), and Pfriem Family (yep, that rounds out the top 3) and you see where the innovation has taken the beer scene in the state. With over 60 breweries in the Portland area and a total of 216 in the state, there is no reason to go thirsty. This is certainly a great place to do a little investigation.

One of the the visits Travis made during his travels around Oregon was Crosby Hop Farms. On this family owned hop farm, 4th and 5th generation Crosby’s grow a half dozen different varietals including some organics and broker many other varieties. As the harvest arrives in late August/September, things were in full bloom with the bines reaching the tops of the trellises and cones growing plump and beginning to gain their resinous oils and lupulin.

Based in Florida we are unfortunately far away from a majority of our raw materials and their providers. Even with this hurdle, it is important for us at Crooked Thumb to be close to our sources of raw materials to ensure only the best ingredients go into our brews. Being able to get out and walk the hop fields was part of this commitment and we hope to do it often. We are in the process of setting up hop contracts for years to come with Crosby and a couple other hop purveyors to insure we have all the hops needed to make everything from our house IPA to the unique seasonal brews we have been dreaming of.

Stay tuned!

By in Construction 0

Progress!

Walls are up, doors are being installed, and we are just weeks away from welcoming our 15 BBL brewhouse from Brewfab. The cooler is in place and soon to be up and running. The sprinkler system is piped in around the building. Next week we will be doing some insulation and preparing the building inside and out for paint.

It seems like all of this takes FOREVER, but we are happy to see progress and can’t wait until it’s complete and ready to share with you all!

On the pilot system we have been busy coming up with recipes for our first beer offerings and look forward to sharing them. To date, we have been piloting a wide variety of styles including various IPAs and Pale Ales, Pilsners, Porters, and a Munich Dunkel Lager we know you will enjoy!

Piloting efforts will continue as we get closer to opening. Be sure to keep your eyes on Facebook for a couple early tasting events in July and August.

Meanwhile…our search for the next member of our team, our head brewer, is underway. For the next couple weeks we will be looking for an individual that will help us “Stick Out” and further our vision for fresh local beer brewed in Safety Harbor. The right person is out there, oozing with beer passion and brewing wisdom, that will compliment our devotion to the craft and the brewery we are building. The search won’t be easy, but the rewards are sure to result in many tasty brews. If you or anyone you know is interested in applying for this position, take a look at our Jobs page.

Until next time,

Cheers!

The Crooked Thumb Crew