Amicus Brewing Ventures nears opening, scores beer fest win
from Tallahassee Democrat
Danny Aller – TLH Beer Society
So then 2022 turned to 2023 and Amicus still was not open, you knew by then that they had to run into their fair share of issues.
But guess what? As each one arose, they might the challenge head on and solved it quickly. And one of the reasons they were able to do that is because sometimes eight heads actually are better than one.
Families in the business
Laura and Tom Barrett, Alison and Tim Denny, Mary and Sheldon Steen, and Laura and Shaun York are the eight owners of Amicus.
4 families, 4 couples and 4 sets of friends who are quite literally and figuratively “venturing” into the craft beer business together.
Some are good at brewing. Others are good at finance. Some are digitally savvy. And at least two members of the ABV team are talented hard-hat designers and builders who have overseen the entire build out from jump of Tallahassee’s next craft brewery.
And very soon, you are ALL going to see the fruits of their nearly two years of labor at the old City Waterworks building in Downtown Tallahassee when Amicus opens up there VERY soon. And when they do, they will already have a trophy on their wall. But we’ll get to that in a minute.
“We are so close to being to announce our opening date. We’ll be able to announce it soon as we get past our final inspection. Stay tuned to our social media channels for the big announcement soon,” Amicus co-owner and head brewer Sheldon Steed said, adding it was great to finally be able to see the finish line.
“Not much left to do, honestly. We just need to finish running our glycol lines and then we can start brewing. Otherwise, it’s just a bunch of little things to get the taproom 100% ready. The space is pretty much done and we think people are really going to love it. A.T. Home Contractors and all their subs have done an amazing job.”
Getting the doors open
The goal this year has just been to get the doors open and get Amicus’great beer in your hands. And we know it’s going to be great because we have tasted it at almost a dozen events over the last 2 years that they have graciously donated to. But even after they open the work will continue to make the space exactly how they envisioned it, Sheldon told us.
“The biggest ongoing project will be to connect even more with the community to create the kind of space that serves them best. We’re so proud of the space we’re in and the privilege of being able to play a small part in Tallahassee’s history. We can’t wait to show it off and let the community experience it,” he said.
“We also have three other buildings on the property that we haven’t decided what to do with (other than clean them up and make them more presentable). We have some ideas for them down the road, but we’re definitely open to suggestions!”
So how many new beers from Tallahassee’s newest brewery can you expect from them when finally open? Hopefully a full slate!
“We have 12 taps total and are hoping to have as many of them ready as we possibly can for opening day. We likely won’t have all 12, but between our full brewhouse and our pilot system, we should have a great variety of beers for folks to try. Plus some homemade root beer!” Sheldon said.
Winning beer
And some of those beers on draft will be the same ones that they poured at last weekend’s 5th Annual Tallahassee Beer Festival, where they had long lines all day and walked away with a pretty special piece of hardware: The “Best Brewery” trophy.
And being that he leads ABV’s brewing operations, Sheldon said it was a great omen of good things to come.
“It seriously meant the world to us. It was so unexpected that it took some time to really sink in. Winning awards is always fun, but this one was really special. We’ve loved serving at events and getting to meet people. Winning our local beer, based entirely on the feedback of the attendees, is one of a heck of a feeling,” he said. “Now we feel like the expectations are even higher, as if they weren’t already high enough with trying to keep with other phenomenal local breweries! But we couldn’t be more excited to embrace that challenge or more grateful for the opportunity.”
So there you have it. That’s your official update on the next brewery coming to our small – but mighty – scene.
And we, for one, can’t wait! Cheers to all the hard work already completed and best of luck in the home stretch, Amicus!
Read the full story at https://tallahassee.com