16 minute read
CRAFTING COMMUNITY
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
NOT 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. »
A LABOR OF LOVE
The Pensacola craft beer scene really began in earnest in 2010 with the opening of Pensacola Bay Brewery. Mark Robertson and his former partners formed the company in 2009. With its enviable location—nestled right between Pensacola’s historic district and Pensacola Bay—it’s no surprise that the brewery offers a vibe that is both historic and maritime in nature. Beer names like Desoto, Conquistador, Lil’ Napoleon, Lighthouse and Riptide all reference Pensacola’s unique history. While the location at the edge of Seville Square is ideal, being the first craft brewery in the downtown historic district came with its own set of difficulties.
“The city didn’t know how to license and permit a brewery because they hadn’t had one since Spearman Brewery,” Mark Robertson, Owner of Pensacola Bay Brewery said. “McGuire’s is a different ballgame because it was a restaurant first and then they got a brew-on-premise license, which is different. So at our location, all the restaurants on the square were zoned for 54 percent food sales before you could add alcohol. We weren’t going have food, so we had to deal with getting a zoning change. It took some time, but we were able to sell beer by the glass once that was taken care of. Initially, the health department didn’t know how to inspect us, so they used the template for a bakery, which was close enough because we’re making a food product. Once that got ironed out, we got going.”
Perfect Plain Brewing Company on East Garden Street opened in 2017 as the realization of a dream shared by two friends and former colleagues. Co-owner D.C. Reeves fell in love with craft beer when he was working as a sports writer. His co-worker at the time, Reed Odeneal, did a little home brewing for fun. The two of them thought it would be great to open up a craft brewery some day and in 2017, the dream became reality when they opened their modern, community-focused brewery.
“More than anything, I’m just drawn to authentic, vibrant experiences,” Reeves said. “As the craft beer scene grew and emerged in the United States, that was something that I felt was a great opportunity for us in Pensacola. I always thought in the back of my mind that maybe one day I’d open my own place, not thinking I’d ever actually do it. But the stars aligned for both of us in our lives. In November of 2015, we exchanged texts and said, ‘Heck, let’s go for it. Let’s figure out a way to do this.’ Two years later, we opened Perfect Plain.”
For Reeves and Odeneal, the planning, location and financing proved to be the most difficult aspects of getting the doors open at Perfect Plain.
“It was quite a project,” Reeves explained. “With any brewery, it’s a capital intense startup. You have to buy all of the equipment and reconfigure the electrical, the plumbing and all the logistics. Plus, the permitting—federal, state and local—is significant. It’s always a little more than you expected—they say it takes twice as long and costs twice as much. I think that pretty much holds true in every brewing project, but it makes it that much more rewarding when you finally get it
Initially, the health department didn’t know how to inspect us, so they used the template for a bakery, which was close enough because we’re making a food product. Once that got ironed out, we got going.” – Mark Robertson, Pensacola Bay Brewery
With any brewery, it’s a capital intense
startup. You have to buy all of the equipment and reconfigure the electrical, the plumbing and all the logistics. Plus, the permitting—federal, state and local—is significant. It’s always a little more than you expected—they say it takes twice as long and costs twice as much. I think that pretty much holds true in every brewing project, but it makes it that much more rewarding when you finally get it done.” – D.C. Reeves, Perfect Plain
done. We had three different buildings under contract at one point, including our final one at 50 East Garden Street, which really wound end up being our best option in terms of location. Certainly financing was a challenge, too. We talked to probably 15 or 16 banks and really only got a call back from two or three. When a sports writer says he wants to open a business, I’m sure they looked at that as a risk. I understand that. So that was a tough part of the process as well, but we had some people believe in us. It took a long time—two years from saying we’re going to do it until we actually opened.”
Friendship was also the spark that ignited Odd Colony Brewing Company in 2019. Friends since middle school, Pensacola natives Blake Foster and Brett Schweigert teamed up on a brewery after Schweigert spent years honing his brewing skills in Asheville, North Carolina and Foster built up his business acumen in a variety of larger cities. After a visit to Portland, Maine, Foster saw what a vibrant brew culture could do for a small town and he was ready to open his own brewery in Pensacola.
“I have a lot of business experience but zero brewing experience,” Foster said. “Brett is a great brewer who really keeps his eye on the pulse of the craft beer scene and I’m a big fan of his beer. So, naturally, I reached out to him, as a longtime trusted friend, and we got together and created a business plan. We were lucky enough to get some funding and jump through some hurdles to get open.”
Foster and Schweigert faced hurdles with financing, permitting and location as well, but the pair were well into the project before their biggest obstacle appeared.
“I literally shed tears over this,” Foster recalled. “We were tens of thousands of dollars into this project and we were approached by somebody who said, ‘Hey, ya’ll can’t really do a brewery here. You know you’re within 500 feet of multiple churches, right?’ We, of course, went into instant panic mode. I thought it was going to be terrible, and it ended up being a pretty inspiring situation. We started out with First United Methodist and they said, ‘Yeah, where do I sign? I’ll take care of this right now.’ They put it on letterhead and I left with a letter saying they were okay with us. So, it went on from there because there’s Episcopal Day School plus Church of Christ right across the street. We talked to Father Michael over there and he was like, ‘How can I help get this done?’ They wanted to make sure that we weren’t going to be open at 3 am or some kind of wild bar. Once we sent them our business plan and let them know it’s not that kind of place, Father Michael rallied the troops and both the school and the church signed off on it. So, once a couple churches signed off, it just kind of went from there. We got all those letterhead documents over to zoning and zoning approved it. It was pretty cool. It was
Odd Colony co-founder and head brewer, Brett Schweigert. Photo by Sarah Coleman
Emerald Republic Brewing founder and head brewer, Phil Zayas. Photo by Kris Rollason
There’s a lot of science involved in brewing. It’s not just like mixing a bunch of stuff and throwing it in the pot and seeing what happens. You have to understand the chemistry behind it. You have to understand the process of mash and boil, hops ionization, fermentation, water management and all of it to really kind of get the best product.” – Phil Zayas, Emerald Republic Brewing Co.
an awesome experience to get to know those guys and see the support from them.”
Emerald Republic Brewing owner and head brewer, Phil Zayas long dreamt of opening his own brewery. After working for beer distributors for many years, Zayas earned his Master Brewer certification from UC Davis in 2018.
“I felt like that education was important. There’s a lot of science involved in brewing. It’s not just like mixing a bunch of stuff and throwing it in the pot and seeing what happens. You have to understand the chemistry behind it. You have to understand the process of mash and boil, hops ionization, fermentation, water management and all of it to really kind of get the best product,” he said.
Zayas had already fallen in love with Pensacola and he felt the west side of downtown seemed ripe for a brewery that reflected both his approach to beer and his personal aesthetic. Emerald Republic opened in December of 2019 and quickly built a devoted following. Little did Zayas know, just staying open would prove to be the hardest part of bringing the darkly themed, laid back brewery to life. Just three months into his new business venture, he was forced to shut down due to COVID-19. Once Zayas reopened, he had to replace the roof due to significant damage from Hurricane Sally. Not to be deterred, Zayas forged ahead and Emerald Republic was open for a glorious seven months before a random microburst of wind tore the roof completely off of the building and caused major structural damage on April 10, 2021.
“When I got here, there was no roof. There was nothing there. We had a water main that runs into the brew house that snapped. There was a waterfall shooting up in the air and electricity sparking everywhere, because the power was still miraculously on somehow. It was just a really bad day,” Zayas recalled. “It’s just kind of weird because in those moments you’re not really thinking. There was water everywhere from the rain and from the water main being broken and the electricity was still on. I went into the electrical panels and I was standing there with water rippling on my feet. I was turning off electricity in standing water. But you’re not thinking at that point.”
While the damage was a serious blow to the business, Zayas is using it as an opportunity to significantly update and expand operations. He expects to reopen in late fall of 2021.
A COMMUNITY CULTURE
For these Pensacola brewers, all of the hurdles and setbacks are worth it because, to them, it’s really all about community building—both within the brewing community and throughout the local community at large. It’s that sense of community that seems to sit right at the core of the independent brewing scene. Unlike many other industries, most local brewers don’t necessarily see other breweries as competition and the general consensus seems to be—the more the merrier.
“All these new guys haven’t hurt my business one bit,” Robertson of Pensacola Bay Brewery said. “If anything, it’s probably increased it somewhat because more
very inclusive. The name references one of our big components in fermentation, which is mixed culture fermentation.” – Brett Schweigert, Odd Colony
people are coming in off the interstate because there’s more just one or two places. It makes Pensacola a brewery destination. We’re a pretty tight knit community, and we help each other out if we’re short on something— materials for making beer or cleaning. We share advice on plumbing or who does stainless steel welding. We share all that knowledge. Since we came into it first,
Reeves of Perfect Plain agrees that the brewing community is uniquely friendly and collaborative.
“I think overall it’s a much more welcoming industry compared to others,” Reeves said. “I think people are excited when another brewery opens. I think it’s great, too. I mean, 85 percent of our tourism comes here to go to the beach—their average stay is six days and their household income is strong. I’m thinking to myself, the more craft beer culture we have, the better—for all of us. It’s already inherently a collaborative industry in that you want to help each other. I mean how many other industries can you call another brewery that would technically be a competitor and say, ‘Can you help me today?’ and everybody always jumps at the chance to do it? The cool part about it is that we’re all in it to support each other. We all know the value of having a great craft beer scene. We’ve seen it in other communities. You see it in Asheville, North Carolina. You see it in Colorado. The impact and the power that a great craft beer scene can have—that’s what we all want here. The more that we can accomplish that together and build each other up, I think the more likely we all are to succeed.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Pensacola was once home to a major brewery— The Spearman Brewing Company, which was located at 1600 Barrancas Avenue from 1935 until
it closed in 1964. The brewery was founded by Guy Spearman, who also owned the Crystal Ice Company—an ice facility housed in the iconic icicle building on Davis Highway. The Spearman brewery grew to be a major player, producing, at its highest point, almost 100,000 barrels a year and 6,000 bottles per day. Spearman’s signature brew, Straight Eight Beer, was very popular among the military at nearby NAS Pensacola, perhaps in part due its eight percent alcohol content.
Tip: Try Emerald Republic’s Guy Cream Ale. This beer is reinterpreted from historic documents in honor of Guy Spearman and the Spearman Brewing Company.
Alyssa Doty + Ryan Godwin of Pensacola Bay Brewery. Photo by Black & Hue Photography
For Zayas and Emerald Republic, that sense of community is very personal.
“When we shut down after the microburst, Gary’s Homebrew came and purchased whatever raw materials we had that didn’t get damaged so we wouldn’t have to take that loss on insurance,” Zayas said. “Odd Colony also helped us out with a wedding we had on the books. I felt so bad, there was a couple that was supposed to have their wedding the following weekend after the roof came off. They had already canceled their wedding four times because of COVID. Odd Colony scrambled to get them set up over there and get them through that. Spahr allowed us to brew at their facility for distribution to at least have some sort of income. The Five Barrel bought our beer to support us. Perfect Plain bought our beer for Perennial. So yeah, there’s a tremendous amount of love within that. And, there’s an understanding of the bigger picture of survival and how we can all help out.” Reeves sees the craft beer lovers and the community at large as essential pieces of the puzzle as well.
“When you talk about community and craft beer it should be a two way street. And what I mean is, it’s easy for a craft brewery to say, ‘Hey, we’re local buy our beer.’ And, a lot of the reasons people do support us is because we are local. But, I also feel like we have an obligation to give back to the community and not just in ways that are beneficial to the brewery,” Reeves said. “During COVID, we made hand sanitizer and we did the Bridge the Gap fundraiser to help all these Gulf Breeze businesses that were negatively affected by the bridge closure. We don’t just us talk the talk with these projects; we try to walk the walk when it comes to putting our resources and time and energy into making this a great community. I think that is what’s so cool about being in the craft beer industry—that idea is second nature to so many craft breweries here. It’s not just what can you do for us, it’s what can we do for you?”
For Odd Colony, community, culture and inclusivity is part of their core values. The brewery’s name reflects that commitment in a unique way.
“Obviously, Pensacola has a lot of colonial history,” Schweigert said. “We wanted to play on that in a fun way that also reflected our values. We wanted to be very inclusive. The name references one of our big components in fermentation, which is mixed culture fermentation. We do a lot of barrel aging sour beers, which is what all these oak vessels are for. The story of that is that you’re introducing a lot of wild yeast bacteria mixed microbes, and you create this very diverse, eclectic, ‘kumbaya around a campfire’ kind of thing. Which is why our logo is just that. We hope our space is kind of telling that same story—that it’s like a welcoming place to everybody. It’s a mixed bag of people and we promote diversity both in our product and our service.”
These craft brewers and their many local counterpoints are reshaping Pensacola history. Imagine what we might be famous for 15 or 20 years from now? I suspect it could have a little something to do with beer.
Note: While we couldn’t feature every Pensacola brewery in this story, please check out our craft brewery directory, also in this issue, for a complete list of local craft breweries (unless another one opened since we went to print—we wouldn’t be surprised!). •
