We paid a visit to 3 Daughters Brewing on our trip through St. Petersburg. They are located in an old plumbing supply warehouse near the Grand Central District. They opened up in December 2013.

We were immediately greeted with a friendly hello the minute we walked in. These guys put some real thought into putting the taproom and brewery together. The taproom has a modern, upscale feel that is very comfortable. The large taproom takes up what was probably the showroom or reception area for the prior inhabitants in the front corner of the building.

Long, three sided bar with a concrete top. First question that comes to mind is how did they get it in place? Poured it right there. The owner has three daughters (thus the name) and their hand prints are forever part of the bar. Nice décor, growlers and a friendly staff. What more can one ask for?

In the “warehouse area” behind the taproom, they have it segregated into two areas – the actual brewery takes up about a third of the room and a game area / extended bar area has the rest of the space. The brewery features a 30 barrel system and a barrel aging program. There are some 120 barrel tanks coming soon and a canning line is on order.

We were there early in the afternoon but I could definitely see myself hanging out back there on a Friday or Saturday night playing shuffle board, cornhole, foosball, giant jenga, checkers, chess or any of the numerous board games on hand. Oh yeah, did I mention the basketball hoop? We also noticed a couple of ping pong tables in a side room off of the taproom area.

We got talking to the taproom manager and he explained how the entire existence of the brewery came about from the quest for a good beer to use in a beer batter. The owner of the brewery, Mike Harting, also owns an Italian restaurant in St Pete – Bella Brava. He told us how the chef, Ty Weaver, wasn’t happy with the beer that they were using in the batter and made an offhand comment along the lines of “I could make a better beer than this in my kitchen at home.” Mike told him to go for it and the rest is history. Soon they decided to try serving the beer in the restaurant and soon it became the house beer, accounting for 30% of their beer sales. Only seemed logical to take it to the next level.

We tried several of their beers, first in a flight and then a couple of pints. They had a wide range of styles on tap that day, including a red, an oatmeal stout, a Belgian strong dark, a regular porter as well as a barrel aged one, a brown, IPA. Needless to say they had something for everyone. My wife really enjoyed their IPA while I happily worked my way through a flight of their darks.

Next time I’m in the area, I’m definitely going to stop by again. You should too.