Keel & Curley, Plant City, FL

Anyone who's driven across I-4 has seen the signs for the Keel & Curley Winery in Plant City. Many people have uttered, "we need to go there sometime," and many of them actually follow through with their good intentions.  However, there are so many people, especially those outside of Plant City, who haven't made good on their I-4 driving dreaming.  Well, that needs to change, and now, there's even better reasons to go.

Keel & Curley began in Joe Keel's kitchen in 2003, brewing a small batch (10 gallons) of blueberry wine. Since then, Keel & Curley has grown to produce 20,000 cases of wine, opening u-pick fields of blueberries, blackberries, and peaches, hosting an annual blueberry festival, and brewing craft beer.  Today, Keel & Curley produces three types of blueberry wine using 100% blueberries, two blackberry wines using 100% blackberries, and seven different fusion wines, which are a blend of fruit juices and grape wine. A nice aspect of the growing Keel & Curley brand is the public tasting room and the availability of their wines in larger supermarkets and some convenience stores.  As Keel & Curley has grown, their popularity has spread beyond their loyal followers.  

We've visited Keel & Curley a few times, each for a different purpose.  Our first trip to Keel & Curley was for the annual blueberry festival.  We purchased a Groupon-style voucher for festival admission, parking, wine tasting, and a take home bottle of wine for a fraction of the price.  I'm not sure how many vouchers they sold, but it was packed.  Even the tastings had to be moved outside to accommodate the mass of people at the festival. We sampled nearly every wine in their line up, and while they were good, we're huge fans of sweet wine.  Luckily, the blackberry wines tend to be drier, so we took home a bottle.  A few years ago, when we drank tons of sweeter wine, we would have taken home a case.

Our second trip, also on a discount voucher, was to visit their brand new brewery--Two Henry's Brewing.  The voucher gave us a flight of beer and a take home gallon..yes, GALLON of beer. We purchased an additional flight and still spent less than $30 for the afternoon.  Again, well worth the trip.  We've had our fair share of Tampa area craft brews, and for a start up brewery, their doing it right.  Most, if not all, are named for something or someone in Florida and the Tampa area.  None of their beers are high in ABV, nor particularly heavy, but they are most certainly tasty.  In their normal line up, they have the Gilded Age Golden Lager, 7-Mile Bridge IPA, The Standard Chocolate Stout, Runaway Locomotive Black IPA, Fletcher's Drool Wheat Ale, and  Snowbird Amber Ale. We took home a gallon of The Standard Chocolate Stout.

Favorite Small Brewery: Southern Brewing & Winemakeing

While Southern Brewing & Wine Making began as a beer & wine making supply shop, they moved to a larger building and added a bar/taproom and beer garden for customers to enjoy their consistently crafted small batch beer. Over the years we've been friends with Southern, they've hosted everything from beer making classes and home brewing get-togethers to Tampa Bay Beer Week events.

Southern is so more than a brewing supply store, and it’s far more than just a bar. The original supply store opened in 2008, and in the years since, Southern has done nothing but grow.  We began visiting Southern in 2011, after attending a brewing class. In just the past few years, we’ve watched Southern transform from a supply store with a little bar for sampling to a supply store with a very busy bar/pub, a renovated beer garden, hosting markets and community events, music and food trucks on the weekends, and a very loyal following. 

The Southern concept is actually quite simple—sell quality beer making supplies, make quality beer, surround yourself with people who enjoy the same thing, and support your community When we started going there, it was one of the most laid-back, relaxed atmospheres imaginable.  No pretentious beer snobs, no rowdy bar crowds/frat parties, no corporate rules.  Southern seems to have always been about the people and the product. Sell supplies and share recipes for making great beer, make and sell their own beer, and even teach people how to make beer.  Then, encourage guests to bring their kids and their dogs, make homemade sodas for the kids, provide bowls and water for the dogs, host a food truck, but allow food from anywhere, and make the beer garden a place where everyone wants to hang out…and drink more Southern beer.  Genius concept!

Because Southern brews on a small scale, you won’t find their beer in bottles or cans, even though the idea has been kicked around a time or two.  No, the only place you’re going to find their beer is in their tasting room.  Likewise, because they are small, the taps constantly change and the selection is huge, so it’s a great idea to check out their Facebook page for current offerings.

Here are our suggestions…

1)      Moonraker Imperial Stout…in any variety.  This stout is AMAZING!  It is by far our favorite of     all their beer!!

2)      Oliver’s Gruel Oatmeal Stout 5.5%abv

3)      Fragmented Porter 6.3%abv

4)      Black Veil CDA 8.2%abv

Favorite Breweries: Coppertail Brewing

As we get more involved with the Tampa Bay craft beer scene, we are always excited to see a new brewery opening.   With Coppertail, we were fortunate enough to try them at one of their first outings and to attend their tasting room grand opening in March.  As we’ve grown in our own love of craft beer, we’ve learned to “appreciate” all types of beer, but in the case of Coppertail, they make several varieties that we “love”, rather than simply “appreciate.”

Focusing on Belgian styled ales with a Tampa twist, Coppertail is the brick & morter child of, and aptly named by his 5yr old daughter, who tells of a sea monster called the Coppetail living in the waters of Tampa Bay.

Our Favorites at Coppertail:

Unholy Trippel  abv

Night Swim abv

Free Dive abv

Wheat Stroke abv