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Crooked Thumb Brewery | Safety Harbor

Craft beer Tampa

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 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!