Big Storm Brewing Co. to open long-awaited Ybor City location
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Feb 9, 2023

Big Storm Brewing Co. will open its long-awaited Ybor City location this weekend.

The Clearwater-based brewery opens Saturday in Centro Ybor. In 2021, Big Storm leased the 11,000-square-foot space previously occupied by Hamburger Mary’s.

Big Storm’s opening comes as Ybor is seeing an influx of new development and investment. Gas Worx, a 50-plus acre mixed-use district between the Channel district and Ybor, will officially break ground in early March.

“We are lucky to be in such a prime location right in the heart of the Centro Ybor district,” L.J. Govoni, co-owner of Big Storm Brewing, said in a statement. “We’re grateful to our landlord for working with us over the past two years to make this space truly something special to honor Ybor’s history and bright future.”

Centro Ybor is owned by Tampa-based Third Lake Partners.

“We are very excited to have Big Storm Brewing here in Centro Ybor," said Ken Jones, Third Lake founder and managing partner. "It’s a great concept with a good, entrepreneurial local family, so we’re excited to have them here and look forward to them having a very successful location in Ybor."

Ybor will be Big Storm’s fifth location. The company also operates a distillery that produces rum, gin, whiskey and vodka, and the Ybor location will feature its first-ever “storm cellar” to showcase the liquors. The opening coincides with Ybor’s annual Knight Parade as well as Super Bowl Sunday.

Big Storm’s other taproom locations include Pasco County, where it was founded in 2012, as well as Pinellas County, Orlando and Cape Coral.