A giant building, right on the water (hence the very creative name) houses Key West’s newest brewery. The Waterfront Brewery has been a long time in the planning stages, and though it has been open for a while now, the rooftop restaurant and music venue is still in the works.
The place is enormous, especially by Key West standards. It includes a working brewery, game room, private function spaces, an extensive gift shop and a full restaurant. We decided to pop in for a beer and check it out. The bar wraps around the entire side of the restaurant and into the game room (you can play skee ball!) and offers not only the house brews but a full bar.
We settled into a table overlooking the water, and each ordered a flight of beers, as we wanted to taste all seven on offer. Unfortunately, one was not available, and instead, we tried the following:
- Crazy Lady honey blonde ale, at 5.6% alcohol, this is a nice, fruity, easy drinking beer.
- TruMan Double IPA, at 8.6% alcohol, this is no joke. It is also the beer of the evening. Full bodied, with an amber color and a smooth mouthfeel, this is a delicious craft beer.
- Belgian Tripel, 8% alcohol that does not taste that big. Very good.
- Lazy Way IPA, an American IPA with 7.6% alcohol. This one did not do it fo me, as there is just not a lot of flavor.
- Pallina, 3.1% alcohol English Dark Mild. FKGuy liked this one more than me, as I loved the coffee flavors, but the beer itself was a bit flat.
- Pilsner, at 5.2% alcohol is fine, if not particularly exciting.
Neither the Key Lime Witness or the Amber Rye Lager were available, but we enjoyed the beers that were on offer. The menu offers a variety of standard bar fare, like chicken wings and sandwiches, along with pasta, fresh seafood, and salads. While we were not there for dinner, we did indulge in an appetizer of shrimp lettuce wraps with curried noodles. The dish was a hearty portion easily shareable and was very good. I would certainly try other menu items next time.
Waterfront Brewery is located at 201 William Street and is open for lunch and dinner daily. Brewery tours are available Saturdays at 2PM with no reservation necessary.
