You can’t always believe everything you hear, but if you’ve heard that Intuition Ale Works has finally signed a lease, BELIEVE IT!  It’s true.

Last week we got the keys to 720 King Street – in what’s now the “Riverside Brewing District.”  You might have heard that we originally planned to lease a space across from Bold City, on Rosselle Street, but lease negotiations didn’t go as expected.  In the end it worked out for the better, and we’re still not far from our brewing friends at Bold City.

The warehouse at 720 King Street – where the brewing equipment will be housed – is massive.  We’re talking about 12,000 square feet. The space will provide a lot of flexibility as Intuition Ale Works evolves and grows, and we’ll have plenty of space for events and concerts and tours.

Instead of cramming the taproom into the same space as the brewery, it will have a house all to itself!  The taproom will occupy the first floor of a building attached to the brewery and will be open four days a week.  We plan to demolish all of the walls that are in there right now in order to give the taproom a very open, loft-style feel.  We’ll sell growlers and have 12 beers on tap (including brews from other Florida breweries).

We’re just down the street from the King Street District, which is really blowing up lately.  We are very excited to part of the ‘hood and to be neighbors with not only Bold City but also our friends at Kickbacks, theLOFT, and Walkers.

Engineers and contractors and architects visited the space this week and they’re going to get to work soon.  The hope is that Intuition Ale Works will be open in September.  We’ll be documenting the build-out here on the website and also through photo albums on our Facebook page.  Make sure to become a fan so you can follow our progress!

Sorry for the delay since my last update…

I recently completed 4 weeks of training at the Siebel Institute/World Brewing Academy in Chicago. It was very informative and intense.My class had 40 students and it was great as they were as enthusiastic and entrepreneurial as myself.

One morning our German instructor emphatically told  us “You are not making beer! You are making yeast!”  His important and memorable point was that the key to great beer is growing and maintaining healthy yeast. Hmmmm…I never knew that!

Last week I had the opportunity to purchase four 10 barrel fermenters from a brewery up in Wisconsin. The tanks will be delivered on Friday and stored in a top secret location until they have a home. They will be joined by our 10 barrel brewhouse and remaining equipment once they arrive from So Cal in about a month. Pictures to follow.

Beer lesson of the day: The US brewing industry uses the term barrel as it’s standard volume unit. A barrel is 31 gallons and a standard US keg is called a half barrel or 15.5 gallons.So with our brewhouse we will be brewing 10 barrels or 20 kegs worth of beer at a time. That’s a lot of beer when you consider I have been brewing 10 gallon test batches at a time.

All in all the project is moving along and everyone’s interest and excitement for Intuition Ale Works keeps me chuggin’ along.

Cheers and thanks for the support!

Ben

After getting into the Iceman building and kicking the proverbial tires, I decided it was not a good fit for what I wanted Intuition Ale Works to be.

Our whole mission is to make kick ass beer and not get side tracked by anything.

So I am back to the drawing board and still hunting for a location.

I never thought it would take so long but it is worth the wait as there are no redo’s once you get all of your equipment installed.

I will keep everyone posted as we move along and thank for everyone’s support.

IAW