Coppertail Brewing Co.

Coppertail Brewing Co. began brewing in Ybor City in the summer of 2014, built around a 50 barrel Rolec brewhouse and roughly 2,000 barrels of fermentation capacity spread across tanks ranging from 7 to 250 barrels. The name comes from a whimsical source: a mysterious sea creature said to lurk in Tampa Bay, according to the founder’s five year old daughter at the time, and that sense of curiosity and mild irreverence carries through the brewery’s branding and its approach to beer styles. The company describes itself plainly as an independently owned production brewery and tasting room, a distinction it has held onto as craft beer consolidation has reshaped much of the industry nationally.

The tasting room at 2601 East 2nd Avenue anchors the historic Ybor City neighborhood with 20 rotating taps, a full service kitchen, and an upstairs event loft with views out over downtown Tampa. Regular offerings include Free Dive IPA, Unholy Belgian Tripel, Night Swim Porter, and Wheat Stroke American Pale Wheat, alongside seasonal and one off releases that rotate through the taplist. The brewery also runs a Sunday brunch service in the tasting room, giving the space a daytime identity beyond the typical evening taproom crowd, and hosts private business meetings and dinners in the loft space for groups looking for something more than a standard bar rental.

Beyond the core taproom experience, Coppertail offers brewery tours that walk visitors through the production side of the operation, a way for curious drinkers to see how a 50 barrel system turns out the beer they are drinking a few feet away. The outdoor area includes patio seating for guests who prefer to enjoy a pint outside, particularly during Tampa’s cooler months, and the brewery has built out a merchandise shop alongside its beer offerings. Community involvement shows up in programs like Helping With Hops, the brewery’s charitable initiative, which reflects an effort to stay connected to the Ybor City neighborhood beyond simply selling beer within it.

Tasting room hours run from 11am to 11pm Monday through Thursday, extending to midnight on Friday and Saturday and closing at 9pm on Sunday, with the kitchen generally closing an hour ahead of the bar. More than a decade after its first batch, Coppertail remains a fixture of the Ybor City brewery scene, still independently owned and still leaning into the offbeat, sea creature branding that set it apart when it opened its doors in 2014.