A new brewery on Benjamin Road is betting that letting customers build their own drinks will set it apart in a shrinking industry. Hop State Brewing has opened in the former Six Ten Brewing space in Tampa, and its centerpiece is a self-serve seltzer bar where guests can customize house-made still or dry-hopped seltzer with an array of Amoretti flavor pumps.
The concept, described as Florida's first build-your-own seltzer bar, invites drinkers to mix their own combinations, according to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Popular pairings already circulating among staff include passion fruit with iced tea and wild strawberry with white peach, and the brewery plans to rotate in seasonal options like watermelon lemonade, wild huckleberry and coconut ube. On the straightforward end of the seltzer menu sits Plain Seltzer, a 4.0% ABV sugar-free hard seltzer for those who want to build their own flavor from scratch.
A Taproom Built for Lingering
The space itself leans into an industrial aesthetic, with warm finishes, bright wood accents and an expanded patio designed to give the brewery room to host events. Hop State hosts weekly trivia nights, weekend live music and seasonal beer launches, alongside rotating food trucks and custom seltzer flights, the same report notes. That mix of programming lines up with what head brewer Ed Valenti described as an ambition to reimagine what a brewery could be.
Food & entertainment director Ed Fitzpatrick framed the project in broader terms, saying Hop State is building a space for the community to gather and experience something new. He added that Hop State is about discovery beyond the drinks — a philosophy reflected in a tap list built around unusual ingredients and pastry-inspired flavor profiles.
A Tap List With Culinary Ambitions
The brewery's chef-inspired approach shows up across its beer lineup. D'Luscious, a 10.5% ABV imperial stout, is brewed with cacao nibs sourced from Ghana, Peru and Ecuador and rested on macadamia nuts. BA Infinite Shadows, a 5.6% ABV barrel-aged dark lager, spent eight months aging in 10-year Heaven Hill barrels. Other offerings include Fallen Gods, an 8.6% ABV hazy double IPA, and Prima Vittoria, a 5.0% ABV Italian pilsner brewed with Eraclea pilsner malt and noble hops.
The blonde ale lineup gets similarly experimental treatment: Ophanim Honey Vanilla is brewed with orange blossom honey and vanilla beans, while Ophanim Coffee rests on Colombian coffee beans from Wiregrass Roasting Company. The Juice Burton Anniversary Edition, a 4.0% ABV gluten-free beer, incorporates tangerine purée, vanilla bean, marshmallow and vanilla soft serve. Hop State also plans to release Booliner, a tart Berliner Weisse inspired by blueberry breakfast cereal, along with other seasonal beers and syrups. Buddy Cernan serves as taproom manager for the operation, located at 7052 Benjamin Road and open Tuesday through Sunday.
Opening Into a Contracting Market
Hop State's debut lands at a difficult moment for the craft beer sector nationally. U.S. craft beer production fell 4% in 2025 to 22,034,000 barrels, according to the Brewers Association, while retail dollar value dropped 2.8% to $28.0 billion. The number of operating U.S. craft breweries declined 2.9% from the prior year to 9,578, and new openings fell sharply to just 300 in 2025, down from 518 the year before, even as closures also eased to 481 from 591.
Still, the trade group found that hospitality-driven models — brewpubs and taprooms that lean on in-person experience rather than packaged product alone — remained comparatively resilient, and it pointed to the growing importance of experience-driven concepts that offer value beyond the beer itself. That framing helps explain why a build-your-own seltzer bar and a chef-inspired tap list might be more than novelty at a moment when craft's overall market share by volume only inched up from 13.2% to 13.4%.
The regional picture underscores the stakes. The Bradenton Herald reported that the craft beer industry faces a moderate decline nationwide, with brewery closings outpacing openings and sales trending down over the previous two years. In Bradenton, Tampa-based Magnanimous Brewing pulled out of its taproom on 17th Avenue West in 2024 before Miami-based Sun Lab Brewing moved in, and Good Liquid Brewing Company shuttered its downtown Bradenton taproom and restaurant after just six months, even as its Lakewood Ranch and Parrish locations stayed open, per the same outlet.
Self-pour concepts aren't entirely new to Florida — Union Taproom in Winter Haven and Pour Choice Taphouse in Orlando have marketed similar setups, according to Union Taproom. Hop State has also built a presence through Tampa Bay's beer-event circuit, having hosted a Pucker Up sour beer event featuring gluten-free dessert sours in March, per the Tampa Bay Beer Week events calendar. For now, the brewery is leaning on novelty and community programming to carve out its place in a craft beer market that's shrinking overall but still rewarding the taprooms willing to give people a reason to stick around.
