E-Malt.com News article: USA, FL: Naples Beach Brewery opens for business

Local restaurants and bars are slowly rolling out Naples' first locally brewed beer, the next stage in a nearly 5-year-old plan to make Naples Beach Brewery a reality, naplesnews.com reported on January, 11.

The East Naples brewery was licensed about six weeks ago. Owner Will Lawson is now giving twice-weekly brewery tours and working on getting his beers on tap at even more venues.

"It took me almost five or six years to get this place open — thinking about it, critiquing my business plan, searching the Internet for equipment I wanted," Lawson said. "It's fun for me just to see it because I imagined it for so long."

All 60 of the brewery's kegs have been spoken for and are waiting to be tapped at a handful of area restaurants, which Lawson said were eager to serve the local brew. For now, the beers are available at South Street, the Old Naples Pub and The Dock at Crayton Cove.

Lawson also offers brewery tours, allowing beer enthusiasts to stop by for a quick lesson on how the beer is made, followed by a sampling of all six of his brews. For $15, tour-goers get 2-ounce samples of each beer, plus two 12-ounce pours of their favorites.

"It's fun for people to come to the brewery, learn about the brewing process, learn the story about how I got going and taste six different beers on site," Lawson said. "It's basically an open house. It's real chill, real low key."

The highlight so far has been having both permanent and seasonal residents stop by and remark on how great it is to finally have a local craft brewery, Lawson said.

"They're not just here to drink the beers; they're here because they want to support local business," he said. "Once they get here, they see how small and grass roots we are, and people want to get behind something like that."


23 January, 2013