Another brewery may be in the works

[thelakelander]

Michael Payne, the brewer at Brewer's Pizza, tells us that he plans to start phasing out of that operation this fall. He intends to start his own production/tap room brewery along the lines of Bold City and Intuition.

Brewer's already had a great lineup of draft beers before it got its brewpub licenses and Payne started brewing there this past spring. You can read about his beers on July 28 in the full Amber Waves column.

Meanwhile, Payne said that he has his financing and isn't sure yet where he'll set up shop. But he's looking primarily at Riverside and San Marco.

His background includes studying brewing at Siebel Institute of Technology and Doeman's Academy in Munich and working at Terrapin Beer Co. in Athens, Ga.

Keegan Malone will take over Payne's place as the Brewer's brewer.

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/428360/roger-bull/2011-07-18/another-brewery-may-be-works

[Captain Zissou]

Never heard of Brewers Pizza before now, but I'd say they have the 2nd best selection (in terms of quality) in the Jax metro right now.  European Street and Mellow Mushroom exceed them in quantity, but the choices at Brewers are very well informed.

I hate Orange Park with every bone in my body, but I may have to stop by this weekend for a few pints.

[Atari007]

I hadnt heard of Brewers Pizza (or their beer) until the Art of Beer fest at RAM this weekend.   Pretty good stuff.    Glad to see all of the beer places opening up!   Hopefully this one will find its home in Riverside as well!   I'd love to see a "beer district" start to take shape over here!   

[Tacachale]

Captain, I don't think you'll be disappointed with a trip to Brewer's Pizza. Michael is the most knowledgeable beer guy I know, and both their house beers and their other selections are about the best in town. The pizza's damn decent too.

The new brewery will be exiting. I've been helping him look for places to set up, probably either in San Marco, or in Brooklyn. Keep an eye out.

[Captain Zissou]

Captain, I don't think you'll be disappointed with a trip to Brewer's Pizza. Michael is the most knowledgeable beer guy I know, and both their house beers and their other selections are about the best in town. The pizza's damn decent too.

The new brewery will be exiting. I've been helping him look for places to set up, probably either in San Marco, or in Brooklyn. Keep an eye out.

Is there a proposed name for this brewery??

[Tacachale]

Captain, I don't think you'll be disappointed with a trip to Brewer's Pizza. Michael is the most knowledgeable beer guy I know, and both their house beers and their other selections are about the best in town. The pizza's damn decent too.

The new brewery will be exiting. I've been helping him look for places to set up, probably either in San Marco, or in Brooklyn. Keep an eye out.

Is there a proposed name for this brewery??

yes, Aardwolf. He was going to use that name for a brewpub restaurant he was planning before he got involved with Brewer's Pizza, but the new incarnation will be a distribution brewery.

[TPC]

This is awesome news. Bold City, Intuition, Green Room, now this. Jacksonville has been making some big leaps lately when it comes to craft brews.

[river4340]

 Brewer's is a good place and Michael does know what he's doing when it comes to beer. But it is on Blanding in Orange Park, and that's pretty difficult to handle.

[Tacachale]

As of yesterday, Michael has officially left Brewer's to work on the brewery full time. He's being replaced by a new brewer who he trained, Keegan.

Finding a suitable location for the brewery will be the next step.

[blizz01]

Dropped this into another thread yesterday:  Looks like we can add another brewer to the nice mix that has developed in North Florida:

St. Augustine brewery to open soon

The next addition to the Northeast Florida beer scene looks like it will be in St. Augustine. Mile Marker Brewing has its federal license and hopes to have its state license and be open for business in about a month.
It's located in an industrial park on Agricultural Center Drive out near the outlet malls on Interstate 95.
Michael Fierro and Vance Joy are planning a brewery that will ship bottles and kegs to area stores, bars and restaurants. And they'll have a tap room at the brewery.
The tap room, he said, is about 70 percent finished.
They've got two 15-barrel systems (that's pretty big to start with) and a bottling line. They've been making beer for several months, but aren't able to sell it. Fortunately, they've found enough friends to give it away to.
If their state license moves as quickly as they think it will, the tap room should open about the middle of August with the beer showing up in area stores and restaurants two weeks after that.
They don't have a distributor yet, though.
Fierro runs the business side of things. He's got about 20 years in the beverage business, starting off in beer sales before moving to developing non-alcoholic beverages such as Vitaminwater.
Joy is the brewer with about 10 years of home-brewing but no commercial experience.
Ed Canty, longtime brewer and founder of the Florida Brewers Guild, is a minority partner and consultant.
Fierro said they plan to start off with four fairly mainstream beers aimed at distribution: A kolsch, an IPA, a red ale and a honey ale made with local honey.
"We're not going crazy, not yet," he said. "We're trying to get some really smooth drinkability. We want to get something that appeals to everybody, not to the extreme."
The tap room, he said, will probably have eight or nine beers and be a little more extreme.
The partners wanted to be in downtown St. Augustine and looked closely at the old ice house on Riberia Street, but that was just too expensive right now.
"Five years down the road, I'd envision us there," Fierro said.

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/428360/roger-bull/2011-07-20/st-augustine-brewery-open-soon

[Tacachale]

^I saw that. Very cool news. There's another group of guys in town who want to start up a brewery, but unfortunately I don't think there's much chance of them getting financing.

[MusicMan]

Quote from Tacachale:

"Finding a suitable location for the brewery will be the next step."

Should not be hard in this market. I know of a couple spots. Send me a personal message and perhaps we
can do business together. 

[acme54321]

I've got an idea for a place to put his new brewery.....  how about the Riverside Brewing District

[Atari007]

I've got an idea for a place to put his new brewery.....  how about the Riverside Brewing District

I second that!   

[Intuition Ale Works]

Quote from Tacachale:

"Finding a suitable location for the brewery will be the next step."

Should not be hard in this market. I know of a couple spots. Send me a personal message and perhaps we
can do business together.

Michael Payne is the most talented brewer in Jacksonville and I would be very stoked to see him come to Riverside.  Last Saturday at RAM I was crushing his Belgian Tripel. Probably why the night got a little fuzzy.

Finding a suitable location for a packaging brewery is very challenging in this city. You need at least 14' high ceilings, at least 5000 square feet,  a lot of power and water. Those are just the basics.

Throw in the taproom needs and it takes a very unique spot that is capable of a vibrant retail biz and handling the  manufacturing needs of a brewery.

It took me almost two years to find a spot and we are very happy here in the "District".

Ben