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Craft beer has become a staple of American culture in the last five years, but not of the American diet.
These American specialty beers are often known for their harsh, bitter taste and require an educated beer palate for consumption, but in the case of Cold Storage Brewery on Florida Avenue, the goal of owners Andy Delaparte, Brent Berthy and Bruce Talcott has been to create an original, flavorful and drinkable beer.
"Our whole plan was to introduce the public to a craft beer that isn't heavy and hoppy (bitter)," Talcott said. "When people think craft beer, they think of a heavy beer, but we wanted to make something you can drink all the time. It's like cooking, you can make the flavors you want."
After approval from the city just last week to create a full time tasting bar on the brewery grounds, Cold Storage will open seven days a week to customers beginning August 17 and 18 when they hold their grand opening.
Cold Storage Brewery
4101 North Florida Avenue
(813) 374-2101
Getting into Beer: Delaparte, Berthy and Talcott all had other careers when they came into the business of making beer. These days, only Talcott, a retired Verizon executive, is able top devote all of his time to it as Delaparte still operates an electrical construction firm and Berthy a business based in Gainesville.
The Beer: The trio has created a number of flavorful beers, most notably their Florida Avenue Ale and its blueberry version which are not uncommon at bars around the city. They've responded to requests by adding an IPA and brown ale to their repotoire.
The Trifecta: "It's worked out perfect because there is three of us and Bruce is the managing partner," Delparte said. "The tasting room is my ongoing project, Bruce does the brewing and production side and Brent does more the contracts and legal side of it."
Opening up to the public: "In states like Colorado and Massachussetts you have more than 2,000 breweries," Delaparte said. "In Florida you have maybe ten, but I think the state is up and coming in the beer world. We built this space so that we could welcome servers, bartenders and people who can sell our beer to learn about it, but now we want to open it up to the public more than the third Saturday of every month."
30 years of brewing: "I brewed for 30 years but I couldn't get consistency in home brewing. When we set out on this venture, we hired a professional brewer so that we get the same thing every time. I made good beers before, but with my level of expertise, I couldn't make the same beer each time," Talcott said.
Monthly Tour: To this point, the only way for the public to see the inside of Cold Storage Brewery was to come on third Saturday of the month for a tour. Those days have provided the owners a chance to meet the public and get feedback on the beer. "I love seeing the people come out and enjoy the beer," Delaparte said. "When you see people come out and enjoy the brewery as a destination, I like that. We got into the beer business to make a good product so it's a lot of fun to see the public come in and react the way they have."
New career: "After working for Verizon for 36 years, I can honestly say I've never worked harder than I do now," Talcott said. "This has been good for me personally because I feel like the brewery has been quite a success. I still have new things I want to achieve with this all the time."
Gerard Walen
9:09 am on Monday, July 23, 2012
Just wanted to point out a couple of misconceptions in this article. Saying that "American specialty beers are often known for their harsh, bitter taste and require an educated beer palate for consumption" is incorrect. In the case of some hop-forward styles, such as IPAs, there are bitter brews that might take some getting used to, but the range of styles in the American craft beer scene encompasses myriad flavors, from coffee to chocolate to fruity to sour, and a good deal of them are very mild. The difference is that they are brewed in smaller batches with distinctive flavors developed from the brewers' knowledge and skills. With all due respect to Mr. Delparte, there are far more than 10 breweries in Florida - in fact, there are at least 15 in the Greater Tampa Bay area alone. There are more than 50 breweries and brewpubs with on-premise production in Florida, as evidenced by this map: http://beerinflorida.com/florida-brewery-map-list/. He may have been talking about breweries that produce beer for off-premise consumption and had his quote taken out of context. Even so, there are likely more than 10 of those as well, though their distribution areas might be geographically limited. And more breweries are coming online in the next few months and years.
amber casey
3:11 pm on Saturday, July 28, 2012
I went to the last tasting at Cold Storage and I must admit I had a great time!! The beer was great, I tried the seasonal summer brew and the orignal Florida Ave brew. All the employees were super friendly and welcoming, I can't wait to go back. The only thing I'd suggest is a change in the music. It was quite loud and little unexpected considering the crowd. They could have gotten away with the loud part if it wasn't early 2000 hip-hop. I found myself stepping outside to have a conversation so I didn't have to yell for my friends to hear me talk. Despite the music, we had a great time and I'd like to return soon. Pool tables, foosball, darts or something else to do in there would be awesome, too, because they have plently of room.
MarkSindone
2:30 am on Monday, April 8, 2013
A flavorful craft beer? That sounds like something I would like to try. But I have a feeling changing the true taste of craft beer will not sit well with true craft beer fans. If they had wanted a flavorful alcoholic drink, why not buy cocktails? Beers should be bitter anyway. Nonetheless, I would give Cold Storage Brewery a thumbs up for trying to innovate the taste of craft beer.