photo by Guy Stevens
From Left to Right: Mark Roberston of Pensacola Bay Brewery, Brett Schweigert of Odd Colony Brewing Co., and Phil Zayas of Emerald Republic Brewing Co.
CRAFTING A COMMUNITY Pensacola’s Booming Craft Beer Scene by Kelly Oden
N
OT TOO LONG AGO, McGuire’s
Irish Pub was the only option available for Pensacola beer enthusiasts looking for something unique and local. Cut to 2021 and the craft beer scene has exploded, not just downtown, but all across the greater Pensacola area. In 2020, there were 8,764 craft breweries in the United States, according to the Brewers Association, a nonprofit organization of brewers. Of those, about 368 were in Florida. By our count, the Pensacola area is clocking in with an impressive 16 craft
breweries. That’s a 4.5 percent share of the Florida craft brewery market. In fact, a 2019 study by market research company, C+R Research, ranked Pensacola as the city with the ninth most breweries per capita— pretty cool for our once sleepy little town. For this special beer-centric issue of Pensacola Magazine, we talked to four local breweries about some of the hurdles they faced in establishing their businesses and how the craft beer culture creates unique communities both internally and externally. »
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