In the current state of affairs of COVID-19 and stay-at-home orders, breweries and taprooms from all parts are working hard to stay open, keep their businesses afloat, and promote their beer to consumers during the pandemic. Most Tampa Bay-area breweries have moved to to-go sales in order to keep tapping kegs and selling great beer to anyone who ventures into their taprooms.

Bayboro Brewing, one of the newest craft breweries in Tampa Bay, has been on my radar for quite some time now. After meeting owners James and Kelcy Coleman, I was excited to hear that they were slated to open their St. Petersburg taproom by St. Patrick’s Day 2020, which turned out to be the same day that Gov. DeSantis suspended all Florida bars and nightclubs for 30 days. It threw quite a wrench in the brewery’s plans. Like all breweries in the Tampa Bay area, however, Bayboro is persevering, and recently launched to-go growler sales to get the business started and beer out to long-time followers and supporters.

I took my growlers and filled one with a favorite from their taplist: Teufel Hunden Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout. The label is fascinating: It depicts a woman wearing an outfit reminiscent of a U.S. Marine uniform holding the leash of a bulldog whose jaws are firmly grasping a jar of peanut butter. It’s seemingly chaotic, but I promise it’ll make sense in a second.

Many would recognize the term Teufel Hunden or “Devil Dog” as a term rumored to have been given to Marines by the Germans during the Battle of Belleau Wood. The term was further popularized by a 1918 recruiting poster showing a bulldog with a Marine helmet chasing a dachshund. Why all the references to the U.S. Marine Corps? James is a proud veteran of the Marines. References like these are the inspiration for Bayboro’s beer names and logos, but they also speak to the brewery’s general ethos and commitment to community.

Teufel Hunden pours a dark chocolate brown with about a half-finger of head that quickly disperses. The aroma is vibrant, reminiscent of walking into one of those really good bulk food stores and smelling chocolate, coffee beans and freshly ground peanuts, all at once.

Drinking it is refreshing—not heavy!—and has a base that resembles a dry stout, so it’s not very creamy at all. I consider that a huge plus, especially as we approach the summer months, and the reasonable ABV of 6.5% means I can have a few of these without a headache the following day. It really does a nice job of swirling around and coating your mouth, leaving you with a chocolatey palate.

I’d highly recommend getting this stout as fresh as possible! Making a peanut butter beer is difficult enough, mostly because of the oils found in peanuts, but aging it in any way could produce unwanted off-flavors. Thankfully I didn’t experience any off-flavors, even after purchasing a growler and holding off on drinking it until the next day.

Teufel Hunden Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout tells as much of a story about Bayboro Brewing as any person could during a time like this. Not only is it one helluva good beer, but it represents the perseverance it takes to open a brewery during a wildly unpredictable time. And it takes a real Teufel Hunden to stick it out through these hard times, to dominate the game without fail.

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