USA, FL: Swan Brewing in the works for downtown Lakeland

Another microbrewery is in the works for downtown Lakeland, FL, The Ledger reported on September 30.

Swan Brewing passed its first major hurdle Sept. 20, earning approval of the Lakeland Planning and Zoning Board for a conditional use permit. That sets the stage for Monday, October 3rd’s public hearing on the project during the city’s regularly scheduled meeting at City Hall.

A second hearing is scheduled at an Oct. 17 commission meeting.

If all goes well, Swan Brewing could be up and running sometime next year in a space overlooking Lake Wire on the city’s west side, an area ripe for the kind of development going on in Lakeland’s core business district.

“We really wanted to bridge the west side of downtown,” said Dan Thumberg, a home brewer and founder of Swan.

City leaders appeared enthusiastic about Thumberg's project during Friday, September 30’s morning's City Commission work session.

"I'm pleased to see this move to the west," Commissioner Bill Read said.

Thumberg, 36, of Lakeland, said he’s negotiating to lease a former auto repair shop that’s been vacant for years. The building, owned by Anu Saxena, a Lakeland geotechnical engineer, sits adjacent to the U.S. Post Office on West Pine Street.

Swan Brewing would be the city’s second microbrewery operation, the first being Lakeland Brewing Co. & Old School Annex, which debuted in March 2015 on the north side of Lake Mirror, close to the city’s bustling, central business district.

The Brew Hub, a large-scale commercial brewery that helps increase brewing capacity for established brewers, boasts a successful following at its spacious taproom just off Interstate 4 in west Lakeland. It opened the summer of 2014.

Other brewing operations soon followed, including Auburndale’s BrewPop Brewery, Winery and Wood-fired Pizza in November; and newcomer Grove Roots Brewing Co. in Winter Haven, which had its grand-opening Sept. 17.

Lakeland’s city planners have been keen to expand commercial activity to the west of Florida Avenue, something Thumberg said helped shape his decision when searching for a rustic, warehouse-type space that could accommodate a commercial brewery capable of producing as much as 1,000 barrels of beer a year.

Thumberg said Lakeland’s and Polk County’s burgeoning beer community has plenty of room for growth, given ongoing interest in craft beers consumed at their source.

With 52 such breweries in the Tampa Bay area, and dozens more in greater Orlando, Lakeland is just now joining the party, he said. “We’re not anywhere near saturation,” he said. “And businesses like ours will help keep the younger generation in town.”

Swan Brewing will focus at first on making only enough beer for its patrons. Thumberg said he has no plans to jump into the wholesale end, though he expects to invite local brewers to sell their products at his establishment.

That kind of brotherhood is good for business, said Usman Faruq, a co-owner of Lakeland Brewing Co.

“We’re very happy that he (Thumberg) is coming to Lakeland,” he said. “I’m all for it.”

Thumberg has been a regular presence at Lakeland’s Downtown Farmers Curb Market, held most Saturdays, selling beer-making supplies. The brewery will be his first commercial operation, though he’s been making beer at home for 15 years.

A former route sales and distribution worker for an Anheuser-Busch distributor in Tampa, he has enlisted two partners to help operate Swan Brewing, though he declined to name one of them. The other is Christian Hood of Lakeland, another homebrewer.

Thumberg said his brewery will feature a stable of flagship beers that include a German wheat ale, pale ale, India Pale Ale and perhaps a stout or brown ale. Five styles will rotate with the seasons. An additional five taps will be reserved for what he calls pilot beers, things that are more experimental in nature. Additional taps will be reserved for guest products from Central Florida breweries.

There won’t be a kitchen on premises, but Swan Brewing will have a food truck parked on site. Thumberg also envisions a large, outdoor space facing the lake.

He said he chose the name because the swan has come to be the city’s unofficial emblem.

“It lets people know we’re part of the community,” he said. “We love everything the community stands for.”

02 October, 2016