Background
Cigar City Brewing is one of the oldest brewers in the Tampa area opening their doors in 2007. Tampa native Joey Redner founded Cigar City Brewing after holding positions with Dunedin Brewing. He hired Wayne Wambles as his brewmaster in 2008. Redner borrowed $800,000 from his father and some other family members and built a small brewery. Cigar City proved popular with the locals and Redner was able to sell 1,000 barrels of beer in his first year of business. The business continued to grow but was thirsty for cash, eventually forcing Redner to take on an SBA loan. Redner quickly surpassed his 5,000-barrel goal and, by 2015, had scaled all the way up to 55,000 barrels per year, at which point he ran out of capacity in his brewing facility.
To get to the next level, Redner would have had to find another $20 million for a major expansion, but he was tired of the feeling of being “all in” at the poker table. He had built something successful and wanted to enjoy the financial security rather than having to roll his winnings into even more debt that he would have to personally guarantee with the bank. Redner decided to sell even though his business was still growing and he had built a brand Floridians loved.
As of March 2016, Cigar City has partnered with Longmont, Colorado based Oskar Blues Brewery to form Oskar Blues Holding Company which includes Oskar Blues, Cigar City, Perrin Brewing and the Utah Brewers Cooperative outfit that includes the Wasatch and Squatters brands.
Experience
To enjoy a pretty good food menu, check out the brewpub at 15491 North Dale Mabry Hwy. We love their Cuban sandwich and all Grouper options. It is a large comfortable brewpub with friendly staff. Unfortnately, they have closed that location and only function at the tasting roon.
We have also been to the tasting room at 3924 West Spruce Street to grab a quick one on the way to the airport. This site is where the bulk of the brewing occurs and they offer brewery tours. Cigar City Jai Alai IPA is my goto IPA when I am in the Tampa area as you can buy it at the local Publix. Over the last few years they appear to be expanding their selections, we enjoy the Florida Cracker, the Florida Weisse Mother of Dragons, and the session Spider Wars. We suggest you check Cigar City out.
