Green Bench Brewing opens downtown Tampa taproom with specialty beers

Green Bench Brewing Co. planted its first flag outside St. Petersburg by opening a taproom at 200 N. Tampa Street, a move that says as much about downtown Tampa as it does about the brewery. The company put its core beers and specialty taproom releases into the former Pint and Brew space, turning a familiar beer-and-food address into a fresh outpost in the city center.

The opening makes Tampa the third Green Bench location and the first beyond the St. Petersburg market. Green Bench started in 2013 as St. Petersburg’s first microbrewery, built its name around the city’s old “City of Green Benches” identity, and added Webb’s City Cellar in early 2019 as a second St. Pete site and barrel-aging facility. That history matters here: this is not a one-off satellite. It looks like a two-node strategy, with the original brewery still serving as the production and loyalty anchor while Tampa widens the brand’s everyday reach.

Co-founder Khristopher Johnson said the goal was direct and practical. “Our basic goal, first and foremost, is always to try to provide beer direct to consumer,” Johnson said. In other words, the downtown room is not just about planting a logo in a hot neighborhood. It is about getting Green Bench beer in front of more drinkers, especially the core-range beers and taproom-exclusive pours that had mostly been limited to St. Petersburg.

The food program gives the space more staying power than a bare tap list ever would. The menu includes Bavarian pretzels, Caribbean-style wings, multiple grilled-cheese sandwiches, burgers, sandwiches, mac and cheese, pizza, salads and beverages. That kind of lineup fits the way downtown taprooms win now: not just by pouring good beer, but by making a place where people can stay for a second round, order food and settle in.

Green Bench’s production brewery has an annual capacity of 12,000 barrels, or 372,000 gallons, which shows the company has the scale to support another taproom without losing sight of St. Petersburg. The Tampa move also lands in a space already tied to craft beer, which should help the room feel natural to regulars from day one. For Green Bench, downtown Tampa is less a departure from its home base than a deliberate extension of it.