"The Independent is your Craft Beer Headquarters" -Patch Tampa

If your idea of a good beer is Busch Light, you'll have an opportunity to expand your horizons this week. If you're already a connoisseur of hoppy ales and smooth porters, it's time to order a cold one and enjoy. Monday begins American Craft Beer Week, and Tampa taprooms and breweries will be in full swing.

American Craft Beer Week is a nation-wide event promoting small breweries. For these human-scale operations, brewing beer is less of a business and more of an art.

“America's craft brewers are artisans,” according to Tim Myers, of Strange Brewing. Rather than working in other media, “they're working in beer.” American Craft Beer Week has been held each spring for six years, and this year there will be celebrations in all fifty states.

The Independent is your local craft beer headquarters.

“We are having an event every night of the week,” said Veronica Vellines, owner of the popular Seminole Heights pub.

In celebration of American Craft Beer Week, The Independent will host nightly events starting Sunday. Details are available on the pub's website, but be sure to stop in on Tuesday. The pub will feature local brews from around the Tampa Bay Area, including Cigar City Brewing, Dunedin Brewery, St. Somewhere Brewery and Swamp Head Brewery. There will be a raffle drawing at 10 p.m.

http://seminoleheights.patch.com/articles/central-tampa-beer-lovers-unite

St.Petersburg Times: Tampa's Independent Bar: An outpost for beer lovers in Tampa

Anyone in the Tampa Bay area who's a fan of craft beer has likely been to the Independent bar in downtown St. Pete. When it opened five years ago, the Independent was the best resource in town for beer drinkers looking to venture beyond the homogenous selections of other local drinking establishments. While the rest of the city was glad to see an occasional microbrew or quality import, the Independent was serving up Belgian abbey ales, Baltic porters and German Kölsch.

In the Seminole Heights neighborhood of Tampa, residents have had to travel for a quality beer. But much has changed with the arrival of a new Independent on Florida Avenue — a sibling to the St. Pete location, operated by the same owners and run by local staff.

The new Independent is truly a neighborhood bar, with a large outdoor courtyard that's perfect for locals arriving on bicycle or foot, sometimes with a dog in tow. Inside is a small room with a bar and a kitchen to one side, and an adjacent room features colorful and bizarre original art by St. Pete artist J.R. Duffy. Two dartboards hang on the wall, and there are tournaments.

People know the Independent for beer, and in this it does not disappoint.

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Tbt* Tampa Bay Times: Seminole Heights Welcomes the Tampa Independent Bar

Seminole Heights welcomes the Independent

By Sharon Ginn, Times Correspondent
In Print: Friday, October 9, 2009

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Owner Veronica Vellines shuffles beer signs Tuesday at the Independent in Seminole Heights. This location will offer a fuller menu than the one in downtown St. Petersburg.



SEMINOLE HEIGHTS

As the economy sputters along, it's typical for new restaurants and bars to struggle to build a customer base.

Not so for some new eateries in Seminole Heights, where instant loyalty seems almost a given.

Next up is the Independent, which is expected to open its doors today in a converted gas station at 5016 N Florida Ave. Owners John and Veronica Vellines, whose original Independent is a popular tavern in downtown St. Petersburg, have been planning the second location in Seminole Heights for more than a year.

Renovations on the 1935 building began in July and were handled by a contractor, landscape architect and landscaper all hired from the neighborhood, Veronica Vellines said. Like Ella's Folk Art Cafe, the Independent has staffed its pub with local residents.

Handcrafted beer and wine are the hallmark of the Independent, but the Seminole Heights location will offer a fuller menu than the one in St. Petersburg. The 2,300-square-foot building will house a

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