We recently worked our way through a few of the breweries in the St. Petersburg area. First stop of the day was at the R Bar in Treasure Island, located about a block or so from the beach. I wasn’t familiar with the name or their beers so I figured it was a good place to start. The fact that they open for breakfast, hours before the other area breweries open, might have had some influence in the choice too.
We arrived about noon and were a little taken aback when we walked in. Let’s just say hashtag divebar. It reminded me of one of those older bars where the professional drinkers hang out all day (but that does not appear to be the clientele here). That being said, the place seemed both tourist and family friendly. I honestly thought we were in the wrong place until I saw a banner sign on the mirror behind the bar recommending their “fresh brewed beers.”
A quick look around keyed me into the fact that the craft beers are not their key items. Based on all of the signage and the specials, the place appears to cater towards the macro-beer crowd. Full food menu, full bar, TV’s with a few different sports shows. Clean, but dated interior. Clean men’s room too.
We chose a couple of stools at the bar and ordered up their IPA and the Cream Ale. The IPA was pretty good and the Cream Ale was just ok.
The beers are brewed in the kitchen and they had six taps for them – IPA, Cream Ale, Amarillo Pale Ale, Brown Ale & a Porter.
The bartender said that the place is 20 or so years old but based on the furnishings, I think that must just be under the current ownership. I tried to get more info about the craft beers and the brewing operation but was only able to find out that they’ve been brewing for about a year.
The place was pretty dead so we decided to leave after the one beer and didn’t try the food but we did overhear someone comment about the thin crust pizza being really good.
If you’re in the area, it might be worth the stop (if for no other reason than to say you’d been there) but I wouldn’t drive across town for it.
