Green Bench Brewing opens a new beer bar Upstairs at Webb’s in downtown St. Pete

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Webb’s City Cellar opened next door to Green Bench Brewing in 2019. Its second floor houses Upstairs at Webb’s, a new beer bar built around the somewhat unexpected idea of texture | Green Bench Brewing

For years, the second floor of a downtown St. Pete beer and wine bar has been used mostly for private events and overflow seating.

This weekend, Green Bench Brewing will turn that space into a new concept of its own.

Upstairs at Webb’s will begin service Friday, September 25th, at 4 p.m. above Webb’s City Cellar, Green Bench Brewing’s specialty beer and wine bar at 1133 Baum Avenue North.

The new bar and lounge will launch during Green Bench’s 13th anniversary celebration, offering a beverage program built around a somewhat unexpected idea: texture.

“The menu itself is completely built around the concept of texture and how you can use texture to manipulate the experience with products,” Green Bench Brewing owner and brewer Khris Johnson said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising. “It’s supposed to be exploration-focused, a deep dive into not just products, but service and hospitality centered around beer that you just don’t get anywhere else.”

That idea will shape nearly every drink served upstairs.

A beer poured downstairs or next door at Green Bench may also be available upstairs, but it will not necessarily taste or feel the same.

The second floor of Webb’s City Cellar has been renovated for the launch of Upstairs at Webb’s | Green Bench Brewing

Upstairs at Webb’s will sometimes use specialized side-lever faucets and Japanese-inspired pouring methods designed to change a beer’s carbonation, foam, and mouthfeel.

One of those methods is a Matsuo-style pour, named for Tokyo bartender Kohei Matsuo, whose technique creates a dense, creamy head of foam.

Another is a sharp pour, which emphasizes carbonation.

Upstairs at Webb’s will also develop a house pour that combines elements of both approaches.

The opening tap list will include Mega Crisp, a new rice lager made with whole-grain rice and designed as Green Bench’s take on Asahi Super Dry.

Johnson said the beer may eventually appear elsewhere in the Green Bench orbit, but the particular experience created by its upstairs pour will remain exclusive to the new bar.

The program will also introduce cask-conditioned English beer, a style Johnson has wanted to bring into the fold for a long time.

Unlike most draft beers, which are force-carbonated and served cold, cask beers continue naturally conditioning in the vessel. They are less carbonated, served warmer, and pulled by hand from the cellar through traditional beer engines.

Upstairs at Webb’s will sometimes use specialized side-lever faucets and Japanese-inspired pouring methods designed to change a beer’s carbonation, foam, and mouthfeel | Green bench Brewing

Green Bench will begin with Goodwin Sands, an English-style summer ale made with Tampa’s Late Start Brewing, and Mighty Fragile, a London porter. Both are made with traditional English ingredients and processes, including housemade invert sugar.

“The reason cask conditioning is important is because it completely changes the texture of the products,” Johnson said. “These beers are naturally carbonated instead of the forced carbonation. They’re also served at a warmer temperature, so we’re playing with temperature to manipulate texture as well.”

Beer is at the center of the program, but not the only medium. Upstairs at Webb’s will also offer sparkling wines, ports, ciders, and a small menu of wine-based mixed drinks.

The bubbles in a sparkling wine, the silky body of a port, and the spritzy or velvety character of a mixed drink all fit into the same larger conversation.

That sense of discovery has always been central to Webb’s City Cellar, which has built a following around Belgian beers, barrel-aged releases, spontaneous fermentation, and other styles that often require a little explanation before the first sip.

Upstairs at Webb’s will continue that tradition, with staff guiding guests through not only what they are drinking, but why it is being served that way.

The first floor of Webb’s City cellar | Green Bench Brewing

The decision to finally activate the space came after several years of rebuilding momentum at Webb’s after the difficult post-pandemic years.

In 2024, the bar was named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Bar, recognition that Johnson said gave the team a meaningful boost.

“It was huge for us and a big morale boost for the team because we all were working really hard to try to get Webb’s back to where it was and get people interested in these products again,” he said.

Upstairs at Webb’s will initially be open Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 4 p.m. to midnight.

Johnson said the team will let the concept grow organically, focusing first on getting every detail right.

In addition to Green Bench Brewing, Webb’s City Cellar, and Upstairs at Webb’s, Johnson and his partners Nathan Stonecipher, Steven Duffy, and Brian Wing recently opened a taproom in downtown Tampa.

Follow Webb’s City Cellar on Instagram for the latest information about Upstair’s at Webb’s, including its rotating tap list and operating hours.