What does it take to brew beer in downtown Plant City? In February 2022, the answer looked like a big building with a big plan. In fall 2026, it turned out to be a barber chair, a home brewer and 60 local businesses willing to chip in.
The Plant City Observer describes Broken Beaver Brewing, at the corner of South Collins Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, as the first on-site beer manufacturing facility in Plant City in more than 120 years. The way it got there explains a lot about how downtown is changing. Two taprooms are now landing within a few blocks of each other, and the order they were built in is the reason.
The 2022 Plan Started With a Building
Four years ago, the Observer ran a headline that read "Plant City to see first brewery." The project was Oath Brewing Company, planned by a Plant City native who is a veteran and a Dover-based firefighter. He told the paper, "I felt that the first brewery in the city's history should be done by somebody who is from the city."
The plan centered on a building with history. Oath was headed for the former Masonic Lodge on Acacia Drive, where Reynolds Street and Thonotosassa Road merge, a spot chosen partly because "the road leads you straight to downtown." The concept called for 11,000 square feet of patriotic design, with watertight doors from Navy vessels serving as tables and 21 tables representing the 21 ships damaged or destroyed at Pearl Harbor. That 2022 story put the opening at "this October."
Hillsborough County's Historic Preservation Challenge Grant records list the Oath Brewing adaptive-reuse project at 304 Acacia Drive with its grant status as "Expired." The record describes an old lodge that needed major work before it could become a microbrewery. Bringing a large historic structure back to life is slow, expensive work, and the building had to be finished before any beer could be poured.
Broken Beaver Started With the Beer
Broken Beaver went the other way around. The Observer's September 17 profile traces the idea to Sean Colleran's barbershop. Robbie Reed offered to trade canned beer for draft beer for Colleran's customers. The two then teamed up and took first place at the Temple Terrace Craft Brewfest in April. Jason Jones, Plant City's vice mayor, a city commissioner and a regular in Colleran's chair, tried the beer on his next haircut. After that, the three started scouting downtown.
That order matters. By the time they had a lease, the beer had already won a competition. When the Collins and MLK corner came open about 15 months before the September profile, the partners moved on it. Since then, according to the Observer, the project has spread into two neighboring buildings, and 60 local businesses donated to the capital funding for the renovation.
Jones described what that support looked like on site:
"A lot of local companies have donated stuff and been in here helping us. The three families have put everything into this over the past year, and so again I don't think if we didn't have all three of us this would ever happen."
The grand opening was set for September 26. Colleran told the paper the team would lean on soft openings, events and private events for a while, because Reed has to brew enough beer to build up a stock.
The Two Projects Side by Side
The contrast is clearest in a simple table. Oath's details come from its 2022 announcement and the county grant record. Broken Beaver's come from its September profile and its own website.
| Oath Brewing | Broken Beaver Brewing | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Former Masonic Lodge, 304 Acacia Drive | 202 S. Collins St., at MLK Jr. Blvd. |
| Starting point | An 11,000-square-foot historic building | A beer swap in a barbershop |
| Proof before opening | A detailed design concept | First place, Temple Terrace Craft Brewfest |
| Funding signal | County preservation grant, now listed as expired | Donations from 60 local businesses |
| How it grew | Planned at full scale | One corner, then two neighboring buildings |
The space Broken Beaver grew into now holds a taproom and Ellie-B's ice cream parlor, and a barbecue restaurant is in the plan. The brewery's online menu already has a food section called "The Dam Barbecue." The first house drafts the Observer listed were:
- Coffee brown ale
- Peach ring sour
- Horchata rice ale
- Blueberry seltzer
Before you go, check the hours. The Observer listed Tuesday through Thursday from 2 to 10 p.m., Friday from 2 to 11 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. The brewery's website shows Friday opening at 11 a.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m., with Mondays closed. That's typical for a taproom still finding its rhythm, so look at the latest posted hours before you head out.
The Second Taproom Is Following the First
Broken Beaver's corner is about to get company. Leaven Brewing Co., a Riverview brewery founded in 2018, is building a Plant City location with Dingers Roadside Cafe in the former Linda's Crab Shack at 202 E. Reynolds St. In a May Observer story, Leaven owner Jillian Lynch said, "We want the taproom to feel like Plant City's living room."
Leaven pours the beer and Dingers handles the food. Owner Brandon Snyder is running a quick-service, baseball-themed menu built around sandwiches, salads, hot dogs and frozen treats. He told the Observer, "There aren't a ton of family-friendly options around town."
This one follows the same rule as Broken Beaver. Leaven isn't a brand-new brewery betting on a building. It's an established Riverview operation with years of brewing behind it, moving into a downtown storefront. The two teams are aiming to open by the end of the year, with no exact date confirmed. For now, Leaven's website still lists its Plant City location as "Opening Soon."
Both taprooms share the same few downtown blocks. Broken Beaver sits at 202 S. Collins. Leaven and Dingers will sit at 202 E. Reynolds. McCall Park, downtown's main event lawn, is at 100 N. Collins St. In 2022, the city's first brewery was planned for the edge of downtown, on a road that leads into it. In 2026, the breweries are clustering in the middle.
A Careful Word About "First"
The Observer called Broken Beaver Plant City's "first-ever brewery." Locals who spend weekends out at Keel Farms may want to qualify that. The farm calls itself home to Keel Farms Agrarian Ales and Ciders, and its visitor page says those drinks are made in Plant City. So the more precise way to put it is that Broken Beaver is downtown's first brewery in a very long time. It adds a walkable taproom to a beer scene that, until now, mostly lived out at the farm.
Friday, Oct. 30 Puts the New Corner on the Calendar
The timing helps. This spring, Plant City Main Street paused downtown events after its executive director stepped down, a story we covered in August. The organization now lists Shannon Keil as executive director, effective October 13, 2026.
The next Last Friday is this week. Fright Night: A Nightmare on Main Street runs Friday, Oct. 30, from 5 to 9 p.m. at McCall Park in Historic Downtown Plant City. Neither brewery is listed as part of the event. Broken Beaver's corner is a few blocks down Collins Street, though, which makes for an easy downtown evening.
- Check Broken Beaver's current posted hours, since Friday's start time differs between its website and its September profile.
- Start at 202 S. Collins St. with a pour, or stop at Ellie-B's if kids are along.
- Walk up Collins to McCall Park, 100 N. Collins St., for Fright Night between 5 and 9 p.m.
- Pass 202 E. Reynolds St. to see how far the Leaven and Dingers buildout has come.
The next weekend, the beer scene moves back out to the farm. The Observer's October 15 news briefs list Doxapalooza, a free dachshund festival marking its 20th anniversary, at Keel Farms on Saturday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Taken together, that's three beer spots in Plant City: one long-running at the farm, one new on Collins and one on the way on Reynolds. In 2022, there were plans for a single brewery at the edge of downtown.
New businesses on a downtown corner change how a neighborhood feels, and over time they can change what nearby homes are worth. If you own near Collins and Reynolds and want to know what downtown Plant City's growth means for your property, Engel & Völkers Lakeland can put real numbers behind it. Start with a free home valuation, or browse our Plant City neighborhood guide.
