These Tampa Bay Beers Among 101 Best In America

TAMPA, FL - It’s a debate sure to leave some scratching their heads and others in tears. And no, this isn’t Yanny or Laurel. This is about bragging rights for beer.

The Daily Meal did the impossible and came up with the definitive 101 best beers in America. So when your buddies want to start a bar fight over the top picks in Tampa Bay, do us a favor: Tell them to take it up with the food and drink website.

In Tampa Bay, two beers were listed among America’s best. Here they are:

• Cigar City Hunahpu's Imperial Stout - Double Barrel-Aged, Tampa
• ABV: 11 percent
• Category: Stout
• Tickets for $200 to $370 go on sale every December for Hunahpu’s Day, Cigar City Brewing’s craft beer festival in March that gives fans first access to taste the newest incarnation of this perennial favorite. If you’re lucky enough to score a ticket, you’ll be able to procure this rich imperial stout that’s aged 50 percent in rum barrels, 50 percent in apple brandy barrels. Last year, the group also named Cigar City Brewing one of the top 50 craft breweries in the nation.

• Angry Chair German Chocolate Cupcake Stout, Tampa
  
  • ABV: 7.5 percent
  • Category: Stout
  • The sweet milk stout is oftentimes dismissed by beer enthusiasts, but Angry Chair’s German Chocolate Cupcake Stout proves this is one of the beer’s most fun and customizable styles. With coconut, Madagascar vanilla beans, and cacao nibs, this beer truly tastes like its namesake dessert.

If you’re into the beer you might recognize some of the more popular or highly rated brews on the list, including Russian River Pliny the Elder — and Younger, of course — Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Allagash White, Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout and The Alchemist Heady Topper.

Overall, beer sales volume was down 1.2 percent in 2017, according to the Brewers Association.

But craft beer sales jumped 5 percent and accounted for 12.7 percent of the overall beer market. In Florida, there are 243 craft breweries, the group found.

Good brewers and ingredients are essential to any great beer. But other factors — including something as small as the tap used to pour the beverage and the glassware used to drink it — also play a role. To figure out which beers are America’s best, the authors cross-referenced beer ratings on the app Untappd and the sites BeerAdvocate and RateBeer. The site looked for beers that got the highest marks from both average Joes — including your tatted up, bearded friend — and beer-tasting professionals. The authors also used their own “extensive tasting experience and knowledge,” giving preference to the best beers the site’s editors have had in the last year.

The Daily Meal also gave special consideration to states with a smaller number of brewers, including North Dakota and New Mexico.

“Thus, nearly every state in the union is represented on our list of the 101 best beers in America,” the authors wrote.

The beers are not ranked in any particular order, noting that it’s “frankly impossible” to compare one style against another.

So don’t worry, you can still debate which is actually the best. And Patch encourages you to do so. Head over to our Facebook page and let us know: Do you agree with the beers on this list? What's the best beer in Tampa Bay?

Click here to read the full article at The Daily Meal.

Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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