Ybor's Zydeco Brew Werks In Running For Nation's 10 Best BrewPubs

TAMPA, FL — There are just nine days left to vote for Ybor City's Zydeco Brew Werks for best brewpub in the country in USA Today's 10Best Readers' Choice awards.

The craft brewery, located in a converted historic building in Ybor City, 1902 E. 7th Ave., is among 20 breweries around the country nominated for the honor by USA Today's panel of beer experts.

Voting is now underway. Readers can vote once a day. Voting ends on Monday, July 24, at noon, and the nation's top 10 brewpubs will be announced Friday, Aug. 4.

"We are understandably pretty pumped up about it," said Zydeco General Manager Josh Henneman.

Zydeco Brew Werks was founded in 2018 by J. Paul Pepin, whose father started Pepin Distributing in Tampa, a beer distribution giant, and Paul Rutherford, who is the master brewer at Zydeco.

The brewery is located smack in the center of the historic community, which was settled by Italian and Cuban immigrants who worked in nearby cigar factories.

But the brewery, restaurant and bar has a distinctive New Orleans vibe.

The brewery is named for the music genre that arose out of southwest Louisiana, influenced by the indigenous Native Americans, Louisiana Acadians with a French-Canadian heritage, known as Cajuns, and the Afro-Caribbean people, known as Creoles, who settled there.

The music genre blends blues, soul and rock with the traditional music of the Cajun and Afro-Caribbean people to create a distinctive sound using the accordion, concertina, fiddle and percussion washboard.

That fact wasn't overlooked by the USA Today beer experts when singling out Zydeco Brew Werks.

"Walk into this Tampa-based brewpub and be transported to New Orleans, as the entire experience is inspired by the Big Easy's social scene," wrote the experts, who called it a modern-yet-nostalgic gathering place that's "as warm as it is cool. Strangers become friends over a unique menu of globally influenced beers, like New Zealand pilsner and Russian imperial stout," brewed onsite and available by tap or can.

The NOLA theme spills over onto the menu, featuring choices such as spicy crawfish and corn chowder, Buffalo shrimp po' boy, blackened shrimp, catfish bites, gumbo, boiled peanuts, beignets and bourbon bread pudding.

Housed in an early 1900s building, the brewery is even reminiscent of Bourbon Street with its brick facade, iron-railed balcony overlooking 7th Avenue and courtyard patio. Local Zydeco, reggae, Afrobeats and other musicians perform indoors and in the courtyard.

Zydeco Brew Werks' craft beer includes lagers, IPAs, ales, pilsners and stouts with such names as Bail Money, Nitro Tombstone and Bourbon Geezer, as well as wines and crafted cocktails like the Spicy Bayou Margarita; Vieux Carre, made with Dickel rye whiskey, Benedictine, sweet vermouth, cognac and aromatic bitters; the Zydeco Hurricane made with the Real McCoy light and dark rum blended with island juices; Voodoo Gin made with Nolet's gin, St. Germain Elderflow and fresh house-made agave sour; and the Nola Mule made with Tito's vodka, ginger bear, fresh raspberry purée and lime.

The concept has proven so successful that Zydeco Brew Werks just announced the opening of a second location this fall at 4801 E Fowler Ave., Tampa, near the Museum of Science and Industry and the University of South Florida.

Other contenders for USA Today's best pubbrew honors include Alulu Brewery and Pub in Chicago, Illinois; Bear Chase Brewing Company in Bluemont, Virginia; The Brewery LBK in Lubbock, Texas; Briar Common Brewery + Eatery in Denver, Colorado; City Built Brewing in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Dogfish Head Brewing & Eats in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; Forbidden Root Restaurant & Brewery in Chicago, Illinois; From the Earth Brewing Co. in Roswell Georgia; Lynnwood Grill & Brewing Concern in Raleigh, North Carolina; MudHen Brewing Co. in Wildwood, New Jersey; North Park Beer Co. in San Diego, California; Puesto Mission Valley in San Diego, California; Salt Springs Brewery in Saline, Michigan; Smith & Lentz Brewing in Nashville, Tennessee; Steeplejack Brewing Co. in Portland, Oregon; Stronghouse Brew Pub in Telluride, Colorado; Three Creeks Brewing in Sisters, Oregon; Wayfinder Beer in Portland, Oregon; and Wicked Barley Brewing Co. in Jacksonville.

As of Friday, Zydeco Brew Werks was in fourth place on the USA Today Leaderboard, behind Stronghouse, from the Earth and MudHen.

Brew fans are invited to stop by Zydeco Brew Werks on Sunday from 4 to 7 p.m., where the brewery, in collaboration with Tampa rapper and Afrobeats artist Pusha Preme, will host a release party for its latest brew, Diamonds & Pearls, a barrel-aged blended sour beer aged on fresh strawberries and apricot purée.