From Monster to Mini: Cigar City Brewing’s Wild Plot Twist

Joey Redner is going to be back in charge of Cigar City Brewing again, in a roundabout way. 

Founded in 2009, Redner built his Tampa, Florida brewery into one of the region’s power players before selling it to a private equity firm in 2016. Ten years later, Cigar City Brewing, like a boomerang kid returning to his parents’ basement after college, is moving back into Redner’s house—sort of.

“CCB will be leasing from me,” Joey tells me. The brewery is leaving its longtime home on Spruce Street and downsizing to fit into Redner’s cider house in nearby Ybor City.

Cigar City Brewing announced yesterday that it won’t renew its lease at 3924 Spruce Street, longtime home to its brewing operations and taproom. It was there that Redner and founding brewer Wayne Wambles first brewed batches of Jai Alai IPA and Maduro Brown Ale, and where countless raucous Hunahpu’s Day celebrations took place.

The news wasn’t exactly a surprise. After the private equity sale, Cigar City Brewing joined the CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective—which included Oskar Blues, Perrin Brewing, and others—before being sold to Monster Beverage in early 2022. Monster later consolidated Cigar City Brewing’s brewing operations elsewhere, laying off a number of employees, including Wambles.

Redner stayed involved after the sale as both a shareholder in CANarchy and owner of Cigar City Cider & Mead, which is located in a piece of Tampa brewing history: the former Tampa Bay Brewing Company space in Ybor City. Redner’s father, Joe Redner, Sr., still owns the Spruce Street building and the surrounding land.

“It all started because I was talking with some folks that still work at CCB for Monster and it was mentioned they were thinking of leaving Spruce Street because the space is much larger than what they need,” Joey Redner said. He saw an opportunity to reunite with the Cigar City Brewing crew.

“I said they should move in with me at cider in Ybor,” he says. “It used to be a brewery so I knew we could squeeze one in. It kind of percolated from there and relatively quickly we hashed out a lease and here we are.”

Cigar City Brewing is relocating its original 15-barrel brewing system to the Ybor City location, which is expected to open in 2026.

Cigar City Cider & Mead will continue producing small-batch ciders and meads under Redner’s continued ownership, as well as brew beer on site. “My cider and meadmaker, Jared [Gilbert] is staying on,” Redner notes. “I believe the plan is to do some small batch distilling as well.” CCC’s core products, such as Apple Pie and Golden English, will continue to be produced at Commerce Brewing in Largo, Florida.

An Unceremonial End To Cigar City’s Headquarters

I first met Joey Redner in 2009 at the release party for Cigar City Brewing at the Oldsmar Tap House. His whole family was there, and his passion was palpable. He and Wambles were ready to change Florida’s beer culture, which at the time was dominated by Anheuser-Busch. Few craft breweries existed, and many, like Ybor City Brewing Company, had come and gone. When I visited family in the area, I would scour local liquor stores and Publix for anything interesting. Finding Michelob Amber Bock on tap felt like a win. Yuengling was a small thrill.

Things changed when Cigar City opened. The brewery’s ambitions seemed audacious for Florida: barrel aging (in cedar, no less) and boldly flavored beers. When I tried Jai Alai IPA at the release party, I could see their vision. I told Joey he had plenty of room to grow locally and should focus on Florida rather than chasing sales in places like Philadelphia or New York. He was understandably nervous about that. In the early years, he relied on those out-of-state markets because the local audience wasn’t yet ready.

A year later, my dad and I stopped by the brewery days before the first release of Hunahpu, the imperial stout that would help define an era. I watched Wambles toil over the 15-barrel system in the unfinished Spruce Street warehouse owned by Joey’s dad. The taproom was little more than a few barrels serving as tables and some ancient turquoise bar stools. While our dads chatted nearby, Joey and I sat in what would become the bustling taproom and talked about his beer origin story. His father told mine how proud he was and how Joey was going to change Tampa.

When my dad and I returned the next year for Hunahpu’s Day, he couldn’t believe people were standing in line for beer—in Florida. He bought his own bottle and still has it.

In that first year, Joey and Wambles brewed 1,000 barrels on that small system. Then 2,500. Every year, I’d visit and see them taking over more of the building until they were producing tens of thousands of barrels. Soon, the Cigar City Brewing name was known by every beer geek.

Fifteen years later, the brewery’s impact on Florida’s beer scene, and the wider South, is undeniable. Tampa and St. Pete are now filled with breweries, many led by former Cigar City Brewing staff, including Khris Johnson of Green Bench Brewing.

Today, Wambles runs Griffon & Sphynx in Brevard, North Carolina. Redner still holds minority ownership interests in a few smaller breweries and remains deeply engaged in craft beer.

“It’s a little sad to see the Spruce Street chapter end,” Redner says. “But I am also excited as I will be closer to what’s going on at CCB since Cider will be piggybacking on the brewery space.” 

He also sees a fitting symmetry in the move.

“My initial desire back when I was planning CCB was for it to be in Ybor,” he said. “So it’s kind of cool for me in that regard.”

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