Key West baby - The Waterfront Brewery

OK, if you are ever in Key West - you need to check out The Waterfront Brewery.  Even if you are not a craft beer fan - this place has something for everyone.  First of all, they are located in a prime location.  They are located at the north side of the island and 2 blocks from Duval Street, right next to the Ferry Dock, marina and other popular restaurants.

This place is huge.  When you walk in, it's very spacious and pretty cool to see all of the brewing equipment behind a glass window.  I also noticed a bunch of tables and chairs inside this glass room and which I assume is where they can hold private events.

They also have numerous pool tables, an air hockey table, skeeball and other video games.  There's a large projection screen - one of the largest I've seen.  We asked to be seated in the back of the brewery where there was a row of booths literally right next to the dock with a perfect water view. They had 8 beers of their own and a bunch of other local brews.  We ordered 2 flights, which came with 4 beers each.

The beer was good - I would say much better than average.  We were a bit disappointed because they ran out of one of the beers we were really interested in trying - a chocolate peanut butter porter.  But the other ones were pretty decent.  My favorites were The Truman (their double IPA) and the Key Lime WitNess, which had a great key lime flavor.  Our waiter/bartender told us that their head brew master came from Cigar City (in Tampa, FL) which explains why the beer was so good.  Also, he told us next time we come back, we would need to check out their burgers, which he claimed were about a pound of meat and would keep you full for 24 hours.




I would definitely come back to The Waterfront Brewery, especially to try their food.  I just hope they have enough capital to stay open and make a decent profit.  Key West is very competitive when it comes to restaurants.  Even though they've been open for 5 months, they don't have a strong webpage and rely on their Facebook page to promote themselves.  According to TripAdvisor, many people complain about the poor service.  This wasn't the case in my experience, but I'm sure the majority of their customers are tourists and tourists rely heavily on TripAdvisor and the restaurant's website itself to decide how to spend their money.  Even though The Waterfront Brewery is the only primary brewery in Key West, they still need to promote, promote, promote and in order to differentiate themselves.

You can't beat this view!!!

Brewery hoppin in the Florida Keys

So as I'm sure everyone is aware based upon my multiple check ins and photo uploads on my personal Facebook page - I am officially on vacation.  Which means I can check out some breweries!  It just so happens we planed an "explore" day in Islamorada (correctly pronounced Eye-La-Moore-A-Da)...not, as my aunt likes to call it, "I-Slam-A-Door-A".  Islamorada is located in the Florida Keys and only about an hour and a half drive from Miami.  Also, it's where the show "Bloodline" on Netflix is filmed.  It just so happens they have 2 breweries - The Florida Keys Brewing Co and  the Islamorada Beer Company.

If you are ever in the area - it's best to go to both of them, they are less than a mile away from each other.  We started at The Florida Keys Brewing Co.  I loved this place.  It was nestled back from the main road in a row of warehouse space (didn't know such thing existed in the Keys).

It was open and airy with plenty of seats.  Speaking of the seats, each table was very bright and colorful and almost looked like a work of art.

You can either get a flight of five or sample all 10 of their brews. We asked for all 10 and they came on a nice round, lazy susan type of tray.  They were numbered the tray even spun around.  I've never seen anything like it at a brewery, and it sure made sampling a bit more convenient.  For the non-beer drinkers in my group (my husband and my mother), there was plenty of other options for them as well.  My mother was able to order a pineapple cider.  Also, there was a corner with a bunch of old-style games which kept everyone entertained as my father and I sampled the 10 brews.

As far as the beer itself - I would say it's about average.  The lightest, the Flakeys Key Lime Witbier sounded amazing, but fell flat in taste.  Their Kritter IPA was the best, but still not up to the standard of a good IPA.  What makes this place special is their outdoor seating, charm, and variety of things to do for the beer and the non-beer drinkers.  Also, it was very dog friendly - we saw 2 dogs sitting with their owners inside at the bar.

We then headed over to the Islamorada Beer Company.  This place is right off of the main highway in a very bright yellow building.  It's a bit bigger inside than The Florida Keys Brewing Co and has the distinct brewery smell when you walk in.  We were looking forward to sitting outside; however the back exit door was locked (somewhat concerning), so we settled on a table near the front window.  

After the bartender poured our sampler, she shared with us her card and said she is also a private stand up paddle board yoga instructor.  Good to know.  Welcome to the Keys.  The Islamorada Beer Company had 6 beers on tap.  All of the brews were very light, but more flavorful than the previous brewery.  These brews would be perfect to take out on the beach or fishing.  Nothing really stood out as the "wow" factor.  In fact, one of the brews was simply a combination of the first two, so really they only had 5.


They did sell small snack items, including pre-packaged Boars Head meat and cheese packets as well as flavored popcorn.  It seemed a bit touristy with a gift shop in the bar.  Interesting.

On the way out, we saw that they had a sandy volleyball court in the back of the building.  Both breweries had their strengths; neither of which was the beer itself.  However, you can't beat being on vacation in The Keys and spending some quality time enjoying the scenery and ambiance of a brewery.  If I could pick a "winner", it would be The Florida Keys Brewing Co. because of the variety of beer, variety of things to do and overall charm.