….to pound some sense into some Florida politicians and to keep Cigar City beer flowing to the people of Florida and beyond.
Read this short bit from noted beer writer Sean Nordquist:
“Cigar City Brewing, located in Tampa, Florida, opened a tasting room last year to much success. By being able to extend their hours of operation and sell and serve beer on-premise, this local business was able to increase their employee count from 2 to 22. Serving award-winning craft beer in a comfortable and friendly environment, they have operated without incident, which few other establishments can claim. In a short time, Cigar City has achieved national (and international) recognition for their creative and consistantly excellent craft beer. In a state that has been often referred to as a “beer wasteland”, the fact that their beers are highly sought after is a testament to what owner Joey Redner and head brewer Wayne Wambles have been doing.
Now they are facing a huge problem. For reasons known only to themselves, members of the Tampa City Council have voted to not make the wet-zoning (required to allow the serving of alcohol) permanent, which would essentially force the closing of the Tasting Room. As Joey has said, this means “no more special events, no more limited release parties, no beer for sale – at all – at the Tasting Room.”
So as the citizenry, we have a responsibility to make our voices heard. Tell the Tampa City Council not to vote for killing jobs. Tell them not to vote for limiting growth. Tell them to reward success and not punish it. Tell them that local businesses are watching. And so are those that might wish to do business in Tampa in the future.”
These are the three members of Council who voted against Cigar City:
Gwen Miller
Thomas Scott
Curtis Stokes – Curtis.Stokes@tampagov.net
These are those Council members who voted for Cigar City:
Mary Mulhern – Mary.Mulhern@tampagov.net
Yvonne Yoli Capin – yvonne.capin@tampagov.net
Joseph Caetano – Joseph.Caetano@tampagov.net
Finally, the member who was absent. Let Charlie Miranda know you support CCB and craft beer and are counting on his yes vote on December 2nd.