Cycle Brewing

If you’re a zero personality «I’m an IPA drinker and I’m better than you», then this is the place for you.

They take card NOW! I feel like it has been a long time coming. Woot woot. No more ATM STOPS my friends

Cycle Brewing located on Central Avenue in the heart of booming St Petersburg reminds me of the «No Mom» from The Oscar Meyer Commercials as in Cycle do you take credit cards?.. NO.Cycle do you have any of those famous stouts and Berliner Weisses were always hearing about?.. NO…Cycle do you have any TV’s to watch the game… NO…Cycle do you have any games to play like other breweries do… NO, Cycle can I get some friendly service and a beer sometime today?.. HELL NO… Cycle are your IPA’S.Saisons and Porters that you consistently have on tap any good… finally a YES… Honestly if it was not for the fact that Cycle has some of the best beer in Tampa, which is saying a lot considering the quality of beer in Tampa Bay, I would avoid this place like a bottle of Bud Light… You don’t come here for anything but the beer, because other than sitting around drinking beer on wood benches and getting terribly unfriendly service there is not much to do here. Cycle excels at their IPA’s like Crank and Rickshaw which they usually have on tap and they are also pretty renowned for their stouts and Berliner Weisses as well… the problem is the average person never gets to try any of those because when they release one the beer mules all of a sudden can run quicker to Cycle than American Pharoah going down the backstretch at Belmont Park. Cycle has become one of the «in» breweries with the beer geek crowd these days which I think is one of the reason’s for the staffs unpleasant attitude. they know people are showing up in droves for their beer and will take any abuse to get one. even by the craft breweries normal standard of bad service Cycle kicks it up a notch… someone forgot to tell these people that work at breweries that the hipster too cool to care vibe stopped being fresh around the time of The Cure’s last hit, but apparently they have not gotten the fax yet. we usually stop by Cycle for a couple beers when in downtown St Pete, but never stay long just due to boredom kicking in… and with Cycle Beers starting to pop up in many venues around The Bay Area there is becoming less and less reason to stop here. to reference another 80’s fad long gone I would say Cycle Beers are awesome. totally awesome, but the rest of The Cycle Experience is gag me with a spoon. I’m giving Cycle 4 stars strictly for it’s high quality beer which is the most important part of a brewery obviously, but the rest of it is just a NO

Love love love the coffee stout here. One of my favorite microbreweries. Only $ 5, cash only! Fun people and fun place.

The beer is great and on point! I like how they display local art throughout the place! I’ve never had a beer from here that I did not enjoy. I have had different experiences with the staff on different occasions. It’s a cash only place which is a cool idea until you realize you barely ever carry cash and often we skip this place because they don’t take credit which I could imagine some business is lost. I wish they had flights as I enjoy trying multiple beers but not pint by pint. If you enjoy craft beer you must come here, but bring cash with you!

Atmosphere was chill, good beer, but not a huge selection. The bartender wasn’t welcoming, didn’t smile, and wasn’t nice.

My heart is sad. Cycle has Great beer but the staff can be snotty. My friend asked about the stout and the response was… It’s a stout … Who says that???

In summary — a legendary Florida brewery headed up by a legendary brewer that, for me, manages to underwhelm.
The décor is pretty cool in the minimal/​industrial sense — it would fit comfortably in Miami’s Wynwood district. On a Saturday night at around 9PM, there was a modest crowd, but nothing unmanageable. We found seats at the bar with no trouble. Also, do note — we are going with Hashtag #CashOnly here, so be sure to make it to an ATM before settling in at the bar.
I’ll come right out and say it. The tap list bored me. Basically, there were many different varieties of IPA and pale ale, one coffee porter, a Brett saison, and a base Berliner. I had the coffee porter and the Brett saison. Both were solid, competently-​brewed beers. However, everything just lacked that certain level of excitement I find when I go to other Florida breweries like the Buddha, 7venth Sun, Cigar City or J Wakefield. With regard to the options that are consistently available, I don’t feel that this place gets outside of its comfort zone enough. To use an awful, cliched, sports analogy, in the current Florida beer climate that sees breweries like the ones I mentioned constantly swinging for the fences, Cycle is going for bunt singles.
I know that there are «whales» that Cycle brews in ultra-​limited quantities, with the apparent recurrence of a long-​period comet, like Nooner and Rare Dos. These are the big barrel-​aged stouts that all the nationwide beer geeks slobber over. I’ve tried them. They are good — they still aren’t my favorites in terms of big stouts, but at least they are interesting. However, are they ever available? Meanwhile, the same day I went to Cycle, I hit up 7venth Sun earlier in the day, and had an awesome Buffalo Trace barrel-​aged porter. It wasn’t a BIG DEAL that required a release party, it was just there on tap as a matter of course among other interesting options. This example is just to show the kind of thing I’d expect more of from Cycle.
Cycle also pretty much invented the «Florida Weiss» style with its Ich Bin Ein Rainbow Jelly Donut beer that hardly anyone got to have back in the day. It’s a raspberry-​lime Berliner. You’d think (well, at least I would think) that being the godfather of the style, Cycle would brew this classic beer with some regularity. Why not? I and many others would be thrilled to step into Cycle and see this on tap, but they either don’t brew it anymore or only do it every time the Hale-​Bopp comet comes around or something. I don’t know. It has a grand total of 39 unique check-​ins on Untappd, so take that for what it’s worth. These guys are great at brewing the fruited Berliners for which every Floridian beer geek clamors, but good luck finding one on tap outside of a special event.
I know that the head brewer is one of the best brewers in the state. I just wish there was more here to capture the interest of a beer geek with some serious wanderlust.

I’m a very laid back kind of chick. That is one of the reasons Why I really love this brewery. Great place to sit, relax and watch the people pass by on the sidewalk in downtown St. Pete, while hanging out with friends. We have seen some pretty interesting things around these streets. :-D makes for great conversation and laughs. Besides all that goodness, they have one of the best IPA’s around. Can’t get enough of that Crank;-)

Beer & Venue — 5 stars
Unfriendly staff –2 stars
I just don’t get it. We «beercation» all over the US and there seems to be this new trend of beertenders treating customers like you’re annoying them by coming in and purchasing their beer. You know… without us doing so, you know you wouldn’t have a job right?
Venue is cool, love the art and big patio area. Loved all the beers we tried especially the barrel aged rye.
My boyfriend & I are super friendly and might know a little about beer and when we were cashing out we sorta kinda maybe got him to let down his «hipstery, I have to pretend to not care» wall for a minute.
Hey guy! Beer should be fun! ;)

Pros: Cycle Brewery is an awesome bike themed brewery located off central in Downtown St Pete that was one of the stops in our Bike Brewery Tour of Downtown St Pete. As an avid biker, I’m a big fan of Cycle brewery’s theme and logo which has a cool animal riding a bike with a brew in hand. The brewery logo is featured on every glass of brew served and is also on the wall. The beer taps have cool gears on them and you can hang your bike vertically inside the bar so that you can keep an eye on your bike without having to worry about locking it up. I normally am not a fan of porters, but the Cream and Sugar Please coffee porter with milk is pretty good and the caffeine gives you a nice pick-​me-​up. For IPA’s, Cycle Brewery offers the FreeWheel, Crank which has hint of Citrus in it, and the Home Alone. Their pale ale is called the Unicycle Mosaic. The Wheelie is a pretty good Scottish Ale. My favorite brew was their Das Rad, which is the name of their Oktoberfest brew. The Ryerish rye is the name of their Irish red ale. You can buy crawlers for some take home brews and these were big sellers. Cycle Brewery is über dog friendly not just on the patio, but inside as well.
Cons: Make sure to hit up the ATM before coming here because they only take cash! Cycle Brewery does not offer flights so it’s a bit harder to sample a variety of the brews. Finding street parking can be a challenge if you don’t bike here. The drink menu has no descriptions, bartenders offer no samples, and no credit cards are allowed, and there’s no ATM on-​site, but there is one next door. When the garage door entrance is open, it can get a little hot, and you can’t really feel the AC. Bartenders are not the most helpful or friendly here in comparison to other breweries. This brewery’s drink list consists of mostly IPA’s, so if you’re not a fan of those, this might not be the brewery for you.

This is one of my favorite breweries in the bay area. They make amazing hoppy beers as well as their barrel aged beers are off the charts tasty. The one thing that people gripe about is their cash only policy, which can be a pain, but there is an atm right next door. The hipster crowd is usually drawn here, but they are usually pleasant. Overall, a great place to stop for a beer.

Wow.
Great brews and at a great price.
I don’t know if it’s a hipster thing to be cash only but this place could use a credit card machine.
Had probably one of the best porters ever: cream & sugar, please.
The Octoberfest was pretty good too: Das Rad.
It doesn’t seem like they are going crazy but just making solid beer.
Kudos!

We didn’t even order anything from here but my first expression on this place was it could be better and I have been in better breweries. First off, it’s CASH ONLY. There’s a smell when you fist walk in, like a moldy old smell. They didn’t have much selection of beer types and lots of IPA beers which I’m not really into because they give off a too hops taste. Out of the other breweries I’ve visited, I was fine passing this one along.

Nice atmosphere and beer selection. But the female bartender was not very welcoming at all. When asking questions, it seemed as if we were interrupting her night. No friendly help or feedback on beers at all.
It’s a pity as we love everything else about this place.

A friend and I were in downtown St. Petersburg (DTSP) to see a concert last year. Prior to the show, we decided that we would do a Pub Crawl. We stumbled on this brewery on our walk back to our hotel.
I love how this brewery is so simple but yet has such a great vibe. Much of the brewery’s interior is stainless steel, from the bar to the beer taps. The beer taps are gears instead of your normal taps and they sit on a beautiful piece of stainless steel.
There is a selection of beers here for drinkers of all ages. I tried the Ecto Cooliner and despite its lime green color, it was very good.
The staff was friendly and very helpful in letting us sample their variety of choices. Put this brewery on your «must try» list for some unique tastes in beer.

Always me and my husbands goTo place.
Best Beer in town. Cream and Sugar, please Fav !!!

Great beer, locally brewed and super indie location. You can find this tasty little place in a small garage-​like location on Central (with a roll up door), totally keeping with the bicycle theme they have going from the name. I have to say they lack variety in what they serve here, as everything is all a bit hoppy – but SUPER tasty if that’s what you like. My friend who isn’t into hops struggled a bit with finding something she liked.
With its small location, I can see it getting really crowded during busy times, though I was there for drinks before dinner so it was quiet and empty, so we were able to enjoy all the pop art on the walls. Their small size and stature also mean that they are a strictly beer place and, maybe more problematic ally at times, cash only. Overall, I am impressed with Cycle Brewing’s beer, but I feel like it’s only a start to what they are capable of – a greater variety would make it appeal to a larger swath of guests.

I fell in love with Cycle Brewing three years ago at Peg’s Cantina. When they opened this brewery downtown, I was ecstatic.
I love their beers, namely Coffee n Cream Porter. I’m a fan of some of the IPAs too. I also love that their pricing is consistent so you always know what you’re getting into price-​wise, no surprises.
The guy that work here are attentive. The décor is interesting, and the interior is clean.
My only complaint is this cash only business. Who carries cash anymore?!

I won’t be stingy here. Five stars to this microbrewery, because I think they will become the next big thing in Florida.
Tampa seems to have been blessed with some excellent beer, and this has made the city Florida’s beer central. But St. Petersburg is not that far off with this «newer» brewery. Cycle Brewing is serving some hoppy, tasty stuff, and using good quality products to achieve these results. I enjoy their Pale Ales very much, and I also enjoy their stouts. Of these, they have several variations, all very well executed.
This place is very relaxed. The space is open, there is air conditioning but the doors are never closed. It may be a bit sticky inside, a mosquito or two may fly by, but it is all in a laid back setting. There are also tables outside, and lots of people walk by. This may be the best brewery according to location, because most breweries are situated in industrial parks or defunct shopping centers. Cycle Brewing is located in the heart of main street St. Pete.
Like other reviewers have pointed out, this is a cash only establishment. No beer flights are available, but tastings are available. Growlers are filled and they recently installed the can growler, «crowler» I think it’s called. The kids here are cool, talkative, it’s a really nice place for beer lovers.
Cycle Brewing… can’t wait to see you again.