Peg’s Cantina Gulfport, FL
On our last visit to Florida my wife and I made our normal pilgrimage to Cigar City Brewing, no surprise there. What was a surprise was their new expanded tap room and the large number of people in it. We managed to get a first round but quickly realized we might never get a second. (By the way the bartender was doing an outstanding job given the circumstances, but clearly they were under staffed that day.) I suggested to Emily that we make the thirty minute drive from there to Peg’s Cantina. She wasn’t hard to convince, and it was well worth it.
Bottle Tree, Cream and Sugar Please, Dancing Cody IPA
Peg’s Cantina is located at 3038 Beach Blvd. Gulfport, FL, a quaint little beach community just minutes from downtown St. Petersburg. Although they do have guest taps their house beer is brewed by Cycle Brewing, which are the producers of some highly acclaimed stouts and sours. You can eat Mexican fare here and the menu looked outstanding, but alas my wonderful mother was planning a meal for us that night so we had to pass. If the chip and dip combo we did munch on is any indication of the quality we will be heading this direction more often. Please note that they accept cash, checks or debit cards only, so be prepared. Check the website as well for their operating hours as the are different during the week than the weekends.
We walked into into the pub to find a single regular at the bar. I would have to imagine this place is a lot more happening during the tourist season, but after the nightmare we had left at CCB this atmosphere was just fine by me! I eagerly eyed the tap list for one of rarer beers I have read about on Beer Advocate and was depressed to find Funky D.O.S to be scratched off the menu. This barrel-aged sour stout is currently pulling a 4.48 out of 5 rating on Beer Advocate with a mere 11 reviews. Well you win some, you lose some! I decided to try the Cream and Sugar Please, a coffee lactose porter. It has a real nice coffee flavor with a solid amount of sweet cream and a good amount of semi-sweet chocolate. Dark malts with pretty much no bitterness at all, a nice creaminess provided by the lactose addition. I was shocked that this only has an ABV of 4.9%. Round two consisted of the same beer Emily had as well, the Dancing Cody IPA. This IPA has a nice sweet base with a distinct flavor of scuppernong grapes. The hops are tasting of white pepper with just a hint of pine. The bitterness lingers in a good way. This has a very interesting flavor combination that comes together quite well somehow, so interesting that I took home a growler of it for later. Oh yeah, did I mention that they fill growlers?
Peg’s Cantina Beer Menu
I don’t know why it took us so long to get to Peg’s Cantina, but you can be assured we will be going back again in the future.
