10 Best American Brewpubs Every Beer Fan Should Visit

1. Peg's Cantina
Gulfport, Fla.
This is the part where the haters come out of the woodwork and hurl empty Oskar Blues cans at their screens, demanding to know how a craft beer dilettante state such as Florida beats out California, Colorado, Michigan and the Pacific Northwest for best brewpub. Well, No. 1, it's in Florida and has outdoor seating on porches and under trees out front that can be used for most of the year. No. 2, its Mexican/Gulf Coast hybrid menu featuring lump blue crab quesadillas, shrimp burritos and tuna tacos is one of the most fun and imaginative of any of its buttoned-up brewpub counterparts. No. 3 (and perhaps the most compelling reason of all), brewer Doug Dozark is also brew manager at Tampa's powerhouse Cigar City Brewing and keeps Peg's nine taps flowing with gems such as his rare, whiskey-barrel-aged Doug's Original Stout. With owners committed to using native plants, fair-trade ingredients and so little plastic that they shun credit cards and a brewer who was already making the best craft beer in Florida, Peg's Cantina would be a prize in any state. In Florida, it's a bonus.

-- Written by Jason Notte in Boston.

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