Dunedin has eight breweries and a distillery inside a few walkable blocks, and the Pinellas Trail runs straight through the middle of them. Which means the best brewery day here doesn’t involve a designated driver — it involves a bike.
The Big Idea: Ride, Don’t Drive
This is the thing we tell every guest who asks. The Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail passes through or beside most of the county’s brewery clusters — Dunedin, downtown Clearwater, and on down to St. Petersburg. Several taprooms sit literally on the trail, with bike parking at the door.
Rent bikes, ride to Dunedin, spend the afternoon, and ride or bus back. PSTA buses carry bicycles, which is your safety net if the afternoon runs long.
👉 Our full Pinellas Trail guide | Bike rentals and the wider trail network
Obvious but worth saying: ride sober enough to ride. The trail is shared with pedestrians, kids and dogs.
The Map
Dunedin: The Main Event
Dunedin is a genuine craft beer town, not a place with a couple of breweries. Eight of them plus a distillery, nearly all within a few blocks of each other and of the trail. Here’s the lay of the land:
🍺 Dunedin Brewery — 937 Douglas Ave
Florida’s original microbrewery, and the historical anchor of the whole scene. Laid-back, authentic, and unusually good food for a taproom — wings served naked with your choice of sauce, poutine tots, Wisconsin-style cheese curds. Live music at weekends, a Monday burger special, and a free parking garage across the street if you did drive. Open daily from 11am.
🍺 Cueni Brewing Co. — 945 Huntley Ave
Small, friendly, and right on the trail with a shaded patio. The standout detail: all their beers are gluten-reduced, and they carry ciders, wine and non-alcoholic options too — which makes this the easy answer for a mixed group. Adventurous flavours (pickle beer, pistachio) alongside approachable lagers, and short 8oz pours if you’re pacing yourself.
🍺 HOB Brewing Co. — 931 Huntley Ave
Highly rated, dog-friendly, and built for the weather — lots of covered outdoor seating so a shower doesn’t end the afternoon. Three pour sizes, a wide range of styles, and they keep guest taps from other breweries. Bavarian pretzels if you need something to lean on. Big local community presence.
🍺 7venth Sun Brewing — 1012 Broadway
The one locals send you to for sours and unusual creations. Small artsy taproom, little side beer garden, order-at-the-counter. Very dog-heavy at busy times — a plus or a minus depending on your view.
🍺 Caledonia Brewing — 587 Main St
For anyone who prefers classic styles done properly rather than the latest triple-dry-hopped experiment. Scottish ales, porters, a Mexican lager brewed with real limes. Retro music video nights and trivia. A certified beer judge in the reviews rates it precisely for that faithfulness to style.
🍺 Soggy Bottom Brewery — 660 Main St
The neighbourhood local, and the one people describe as feeling like family after a couple of visits. Ciders and non-beer options alongside the taps, and it’s next door to a barbecue place people rave about — you can eat from there while you drink here.
🍺 Woodwright Brewing — 985 Douglas Ave
A rustic barn space with an upstairs loft, a beer garden, and German-leaning food from an on-site food truck — schnitzel sliders, mushroom melt. Good for a quiet evening. Two things to know: it’s 18+, so no children, and it’s closed Monday through Wednesday.
🍺 Dunedin House of Beer — 927 Broadway
Less brewery, more proper taphouse — huge rotating draft list including their own HOB beers from across the road, pool tables, arcade games, and open absurdly late. Parking warning: they’ve moved to a paid third-party parking system, and multiple visitors report unexpected fines and poor signage. Walk, cycle, or read every sign carefully.
🥃 Cotherman Distilling Co. — 933 Huntley Ave
Not a brewery — a craft distillery and cocktail bar, also right on the trail. They distil their own spirits, including a jalapeño vodka, and the frozen slushies have a following. Dog-friendly with plenty of TVs.
Closest to Our Rentals
🥇 Rapp Brewing — Seminole, and the local star
10930 Endeavour Way. Nearly 4.9 stars across 550 reviews and repeatedly called one of the best in the county. Traditional German styles done better than anywhere locally, plus an exceptional range of sours and Berliner Weisse, and a pistachio chocolate stout that travellers describe as the best they’ve found in the US. There’s a nine-beer tasting paddle if you can’t choose, and food trucks on site. Genuinely a destination, and it’s ten minutes from our Seminole place.
🥈 Arkane Aleworks — Largo
2480 E Bay Dr. 4.9 across more than 950 reviews. Heavy on thick sours and hoppy IPAs, with a lot of collaboration brews from across the country. It’s in an ordinary strip mall, but the back beer garden fixes that, and it’s dog-friendly. Closed Monday and Tuesday. One tip from a regular: pick one style per visit; sours and IPAs don’t play well together.
🥉 Willard’s Tap House — Largo
12500 Starkey Rd. Not a brewery — an old-school bar with about 40 rotating taps and bartenders who know every one of them. There’s a wheel you can spin to pick your beer at random, which is either charming or dangerous. Board games, a punch card, limited seating. A genuine local gem you’d drive past without noticing.
🐕 Barks and Brews Taphouse — Largo
14219 Walsingham Rd. A taphouse with a dog park attached, two miles from our Largo place. Day passes available so you don’t need a membership. Good local tap selection, wine and cocktails.
👉 Details on our dog parks page
🥃 Preez Distillery & Tasting Room — Largo
10550 72nd St N. A tiny family distillery where the owner walks you through the whole range himself — vodkas, flavoured spirits, liqueurs and bitters. Visitors single out the blueberry vodka and a pumpkin liqueur. Open Thursday to Saturday only, daytime hours. Personal in a way the big operations aren’t.
Clearwater
- Clearwater Brewing Company, 1700 N Fort Harrison Ave — 4.9 stars, dog-friendly, a full cocktail menu alongside the beer (house-made coffee liqueur), food truck, and a short walk to the water. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
- Southern Lights Brewing, 2075 Sunnydale Blvd — solid range across IPAs and Belgians, pinball and arcade games, outdoor patio, 80s music videos.
- GulfSide Tap Room, 1717 Drew St — 4.9 across 400+ reviews. Big back room, pizza, pool and darts, reasonable prices. One recent complaint about air conditioning — worth a call in summer.
- Brew Garden Taphouse & Eatery, 2241 Nursery Rd — here for the food as much as the beer. The gourmet pizza gets extraordinary reviews, as do the bacon deviled eggs. Dog-friendly patio. Closed Monday and Sunday.
- 3 Daughters Brewing, 381 Mandalay Ave, Clearwater Beach — a rooftop taproom on the third floor with a big outdoor deck and spectacular sunsets. The entrance is genuinely hard to find; look for the elevator past Ron Jon. Open daily 11am–10pm.
Worth the Drive
⚓ Safety Harbor
Crooked Thumb Brewery (555 10th Ave S) — a big fenced garden with a stage, live music, Oktoberfest and Harborfest, dog-friendly. Street parking only. Troubled Waters Brewing (670 Main St) — a small nano brewery on Main Street with a wide style range and dogs allowed inside.
Both pair well with a ride on the Ream Wilson Trail. 👉 Our Ream Wilson guide
🏘️ Palm Harbor and Ozona
Stilt House Brewery (625 Alt US 19) and Ozona Brewing (315 Orange St) — both relaxed neighbourhood spots with live music and dog-friendly outdoor space. Both near the northern Pinellas Trail.
🪓 Pee-Pa’s Garage Craft Brewery — Pinellas Park
6340 49th St N. A former collision garage turned brewery, with axe throwing, ping pong, darts, lawn games, live music, a beer garden and a resident chicken. Cheap wing-and-beer specials. Not subtle, very fun. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
🏙️ St. Petersburg — the Grand Central district
A denser scene than Dunedin’s, about thirty minutes south, and the southern end of the Pinellas Trail runs right into it:
- Cage Brewing, 2001 1st Ave S — big covered outdoor stage, live bands, stone-oven pizza, murals. Dog-friendly.
- Grand Central Brewhouse, 2340 Central Ave — live music Friday to Sunday, food delivered from next door, dog-friendly.
- Green Turtle Brewery and Public House, 534 Central Ave — a British-style pub doing cask ales and horsehair dart boards. Genuinely unusual in Florida.
- St. Petersburg Distillery, 800 31st St S — tours and tastings by reservation, and a hidden speakeasy upstairs with a daily-changing password. Ask to be put on the list when you arrive; it opens at 6pm.
👉 Our downtown St. Petersburg guide
🥃 Tarpon Springs Distillery
605 N Pinellas Ave. 4.9 stars across 220 reviews, with a well-reviewed tour, a broad spirits range including a sweet vermouth people specifically mention, and an outdoor bar with live music. Pairs with a Sponge Docks day.
Know Before You Go
📅 Check the Day
This is the big one. Many of the best places are closed early in the week — Arkane, Clearwater Brewing, Pee-Pa’s and Commerce are all shut Monday and Tuesday; Woodwright is shut Monday to Wednesday; Preez is Thursday to Saturday only; Barks and Brews is closed Mondays and evenings-only midweek. A Monday brewery crawl will not work. Dunedin Brewery, HOB, Soggy Bottom and Caledonia are the reliable daily options.
🅿️ Parking Is Getting Complicated
Dunedin’s popularity has brought paid and third-party parking enforcement, with real complaints about signage and fines. Dunedin Brewery has a free garage across the street. Otherwise: cycle, walk, or read the signs twice.
🐕 Most Are Dog-Friendly
Very much the local norm, indoors as well as out at several. Woodwright is the notable exception at 18+.
🍽️ Food Is Usually a Truck
Dunedin Brewery, Brew Garden and Green Turtle have proper kitchens. Most of the rest rely on rotating food trucks or let you bring food in from next door. Check before you plan dinner around it.
🍺 Small Pours Exist
Several places offer 8oz pours or tasting flights — Cueni, HOB and Rapp among them. Worth asking for if you’re visiting more than one.
Also On Our Site
- Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail — ride to Dunedin, the classic route.
- Cycling trails and bike rentals
- Downtown St. Petersburg — breweries, museums and murals.
- Dog parks — including the dog bar in Largo.
- Beaches — the 3 Daughters rooftop is the sunset pairing.
Official Information
Hours change constantly in this business, and several of these keep short or seasonal schedules. Check direct before you set out:
- Visit St Pete/Clearwater — craft breweries — the official destination listing.
- Dunedin Brewery
- Rapp Brewing
- Arkane Aleworks
- St. Petersburg Distillery — tour reservations.
- Tarpon Springs Distillery
- Pinellas County Trail Guide — for the ride there.
We are not affiliated with any of the breweries, distilleries or agencies listed here.
From Our Rentals
Our Largo rental (1731 Clearwater Harbor Dr): Barks and Brews is two miles, Willard’s and Arkane both inside fifteen minutes, Rapp about fifteen. Dunedin is roughly half an hour by car, or a proper day out by bike.
Our Seminole rental (13189 87th Ave N): Rapp Brewing is about ten minutes and is the one we’d send you to first. Preez Distillery is close too.
Want the Dunedin day done properly? Ask us — we’ll help sort bikes so nobody has to drive.
