Bars & Spirits

Coming soon: Our ultimate bar guide!

We're working hard this summer to compile our annual list of Tampa Bay's favorite bars. We're pretty sure we've got a lot of your favorites on our list, but if you're partial to a place or a cocktail, use the tag #tampabaydrinks (like the folks at Kelly's Chic-a-Boom Room did, above) and share your favorite station for a libation. And don't forget about our craft beer page, where we keep you up to speed on the latest brews news. Join the conversation there with #tbtbeer. (And since we don't have our list complete just yet, enjoy last year's story about our search for the "coolest" bar in Tampa Bay by clicking on the headline link.)

  1. Study sheds light on history of French winemaking

    Bars & Spirits

    PARIS — Scrapings from the bottoms of 2,500-year-old pottery containers have shed new light on the origins of French winemaking.

  2. Wine of the week: 2011 Fetzer "Shady Loam" gewurztraminer

    Bars & Spirits

    "Honeyed" is a pretty good one-word summary of the appeal, to those with a taste for sweet but structured wine, of the 2011 Fetzer "Shady Loam" gewurztraminer, a spice-edged white readily available on local supermarket shelves at about $10.

  3. Devil's Backbone Brewing in Lexington, Va.,

    Bars & Spirits

    What started as a trickle has become a torrent.

  4. Attention! New IPA rules are now in session

    Bars & Spirits

    Commercial craft brewers and home brewers love to experiment. Playing around with new and arcane techniques, blurring the lines between beer styles, and generally creating a product that's both new and exciting — it's all part of the appeal of brewing beer.

  5. For some Rays fans, wine is better than beer

    Bars & Spirits

    Debra Hodgdon clasped her fingers around the stem of her plastic wine glass as she sprung out of her seat to cheer during a recent Tampa Bay Rays game.

    Beer? Bah! Some Rays fans prefer Tropicana Field’s red and white wine.