Other Breweries
Good Liquid Brewing – We originally planned to go to the South Manatee location, but at the last minute we noticed their newish location in Sarasota that was a little easier to get to given traffic in Bradenton. I knew this location had food, but I didn’t expect it to be so busy at 2pm! Thankfully we were able to get a table in the bar area and tried their fries and several of their beers. I had a flight of (mostly) sours and Leandra and her Dad tried both the dark beers on offer.
- Blood orange – light orange tang, rather weak
- Mojito – light but with some depth and a nice citrusness
- Coconut – coconut and a pineapple sourness, my favorite
- Strawberry – nice berry flavor with a little butter pastry
Their outdoor tables have a nice view, we’d definitely make reservations for a future trip.
Corporate Ladder Brewing – we’ve been here several times given their location in Palmetto, and as usual, we liked what they had on offer. I had the Mental Health Day, and sour dry-hopped IPA with passionfruit, guava, and pineapple. Honestly, it looked and tasted like a smoothie. Leandra and her dad went with the Doppel Monitor, a dark doppelbock. We grabbed a crowler of this to go for later in the trip.
Later in the trip I also tried their Company Values Leadership, a fruited smoothie sour with pineapple, passion fruit and tangerine. This is the perfect brunch beer, better than most mimosas. We also got two more crowlers of the doppelbock for Leandra and her Dad to drink while watching the Six Nations rugby.
Restaurants
Brunch @ Riviera Dunes Dockside – I had the chicken and waffles and Leandra opted for the breakfast tacos. We had to start inside with drinks until a table opened up outside but it was worth the wait for the views and fresh air by the marina.
Dinner @ MJs – After enjoying our meal here last year, we returned and had an equally great meal. I had the beef tips with blue cheese and mushrooms, and Leandra had the pinot mignon – done perfectly rare!