Florida Beer Podcast - Powered by FloridaBeerBlog.com

We are back in 2021! And let's really have some fun today, shall we? This is our first of back-to-back episodes in Miami-Dade County, and there's a lot to get through. We start with Ceiba--a new mead, wine, and cider producer coming to the Bird Road Art District. We chat with co-founder and head Sean McClain about sourcing honey and fruit in Miami-Dade, marketing their products to a decidedly diff...

Here's a big episode for everyone! A lot is going on in Florida Craft, so we are back with an extra-awesome episode of the Florida Beer Podcast! We start in Miami at Beat Culture Brewing not talking about beer at all! The Beat Culture team has been blowing up the Magic City with, of all things, mead! We spoke to co-owner Alan Espinosa about their history making meads, the styles they love to make,...

Funky Buddha Brewery in Broward County's Oakland Park has grown into one of the largest regional breweries in the state of Florida, and it was only natural they would throw their hat into the ring when it came to hard seltzers. To get more information, we spoke to Funky Buddha founder Ryan Sentz to get a feel for these new seltzers, their creation, and where they will be expanding the product line...

You read that right, a beer diet! Well, how do you build a solid, robust diet that will allow you to drink beer without gaining the stereotypical "beer gut"? We're talking to author and rugby aficionado Gary Greenberg about his book The Beer Diet and how you can have your beer and drink it, too. From there, we head to Orlando and Ellipsis Brewing, a brewery located so close to Orlando Internationa...

The Hard Seltzer craze starts us off today, as we check in with Ft. Myers Brewing and their Spkyd line of seltzers. They recently took home Best Seltzer from 2020 Seltzerland, so we'll chat with Co-founder Rob Whyte about the win, creating the seltzers, where you can find them, and his favorite flavor. After that, we're going into the vault again, this time to Ocoee and Toll Road Brewing. Duane Mo...

This week, we start with vodka, straight from Miami! Bernard Smalls is the creator of BALT Vodka, a 7-times distilled, gluten-free, South Florida strawberry-flavored vodka that is out of this world. He created it to celebrate the friends he lost to gun violence in Miami Gardens, and we'll talk to him about those experiences, the creation of BALT Vodka, and where you can find it. After that, we're...

In our series of current Florida legislative candidates, we'll be talking to Rep. Nick DiCeglie from Brooksville, who worked hand-in-hand with Brooksville's Marker 48 Brewing during the recent closures. We chatted with him about their work and how he feels the 2021 legislative session may go for Florida craft beer. From there, we'll talk with Tank co-founder Carlos Padron about working with The de...

Welcome back to the Florida Beer Podcast! Today is a big episode, but don't forget to go onto FloridaBeerBlog.com or our social media pages and download your #SupportFLCraftBeer image to post on Sept. 16th! We start with Big Storm Brewing, the massive multi-site brewery along Florida's Gulf Coast. They just purchased Big Blue Brewing in Cape Coral, so we'll talk to owner LG Govoni about plans for...

Florida State primaries are now over, and we now know the big matchups that will be decided in November. One of the most contencious districts is house District 15, comprising Downtown Jacksonville and currently represented by Wyman Duggan. Since he is up for reelection, we spoke to Rep. Duggan about the effect of current laws on breweries and craft beer bars, his views on how the Florida legislat...

Here on the Florida Beer Podcast, we are going to be getting a bit political. Elections are coming up, and you, as a voter, have the chance to send to Tallahassee Representatives and Senators that speak about your ideas and support the craft beer industry in Florida.    For our first interview, we are speaking to current Florida State Representative Heather Fitzenhagen, currently running for Flori...

Welcome to COVID-19 Episode 14 of the Florida Beer Podcast, powered by Floridabeerblog.com. We are going around the state to speak to brewers and others in the industry to see how the quarantine has affected them and what they are doing to survive in this temporary new normal.    Florida breweries are struggling to survive, and many have been affected by changing guidelines being delivered from Ta...

Welcome to COVID-19 Episode 12 of the Florida Beer Podcast, powered by Floridabeerblog.com. We are going around the state to speak to brewers and others in the industry to see how the quarantine has affected them and what they are doing to survive in this temporary new normal. Not only are we dealing with the current quarantine, but there is also a tremendous wave of social change and activism spu...

The current pandemic quarantine has hit the hospitality industry pretty hard, but there have been a number of organizations that have come forward to create benefits to help affected workers. Two such programs come from Florida International University's Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. We spoke to Michael Cheng, Dean of the Chaplin School about those benefits programs, how ot...

When preparing for a recent episode of the Sunshine State Happy Hour, we were approached by Jacksonville brewery Main and Six, who wanted to chat a bit about beers in the Bold New City of the South. So, of course, we had to bring them in! Owner and brewer Dennis Espinosa joins us for today's episode to chat about their expansion and the difficulties they face as they prepare to open. Listen in......

We are starting to see signs of life coming back, but South Florida isn't ready to reopen just yet. On today's episode, we reach out to Carlos Padron, lawyer and owner of The Tank Brewing in Doral to see what they are doing to get ready for a potential reopening. We also want to understand a little about how this is affecting their on-premise cigar store La Familia, and the release of their new be...

Pensacola is starting to dig its claws in as another exploding hotspot of Florida craft beer. One reason is Perfect Plain, the craft brewery nestled deep in Pensacola's downtown. Their owner, D.C. Reeves, sat down to speak to us about how they are changing their business model to suit the quarantine, plus take out options and their relationship with other breweries in the City of Five Flags. We al...

Miami Brewing Co. and their sister winery, Schnebly Redland's Winery, are located in the Redlands area of Homestead. We chat with owner Pete Schnebly about how they're doing right now, renovations to their incredible brewery/winery/restaurant operation, and how they came to their decision not to be open at this time. I'm continuing my coverage of COVID-19 on the Florida Beer Podcast, powered by Fl...

It is no secret that my family and I are big fans of St. Augustine, and watching their rebirth as a neat little craft beer hub in Florida has been amazing. Leading that charge is the largest brewery in our nation's oldest city, Ancient City Brewing. We sat with co-owner Greg Tuttle to understand the fate of their distribution networks, two taprooms, and how this tourism-dependent community is fari...

We welcome JoAnn Elardo, owner of Cape Coral's award-winning Wicked Dolphin rum distillery, to today's show. She and her team have been hard at work producing as much hand sanitizer as they can to keep Lee County safe. We chat with her today to understand what it takes to make the hand sanitizer at the distillery and at their brewpub Big Blue Brewing, how much COVID-19 has affected their community...

Jose Herrera is our interview for today, co-owner and co-founder of Islamorada Beer Co. Their original tap room and pilot brewery is located in Islamorada, with the main production facility in Ft. Pierce. With so much distance between them and the current blockade of tourists coming into the Keys, we speak to Jose about everything he and his team are doing to get by. And pre-made cocktails. Listen...

We head to our state capitol of Tallahassee today, speaking to Proof Brewing co-owner, Byron Burroughs. Byron gives us the lowdown in what's going on in Tally and how he and his team at Proof are adjusting to this temporary new normal. Listen in... Link to Sound File for Sight Impaired:   Click Here Host: David Butler of the Florida Beer Blog Producer: Jaime ("Jemmy") Legagneur, Chief Enthusiasm O...

We're in Riverview today, going to social media heavyweights, Leaven Brewing. Owners KJ & Jillian Lynch called us from the road, as they headed back to the brewery with a fresh batch of empty crowler cans to help satiate the beer consumers of Tampa. We talk to them about some of the recent challenges they've been facing and how they've tackled them, all while documenting everything on Instagram (w...

Today we go to Coral Springs and Big Bear Brewing, the recent winner of the 2020 Best Florida Beer competition. Our conversation is with Head Brewer Jeff Evans and his assistant, Shane Davis, as we chat about how their restaurant operations have changed and filling growlers for the first time in the restaurant's 20+ year history. Jeff is also a Coral Springs firefighter; so, we also spoke at lengt...

As we are now in our first week of our Coronavirus-induced quarantine, breweries around the state have felt a significant impact on their current and future business. To get an understanding as to what is going on, we called Mike Harting, current President of the Florida Brewers Guild. In this conversation, we check in to see how Florida's breweries and brewpubs are doing with the current economic...

Welcome to another episode of the Florida Beer Podcast, as we prepare for another festival! This time it's the renown FemAle Brew Fest on March 21st. This one is notable as it only allows breweries with female ownership or female staff on the brewing team. Much to my delight, this festival has been growing in size for the past few years, and is now going to be held at the brand new Dania Point. We...