For two years, Dennis Decker and Matthew Brown have dreamed of opening a brewery where they could bring their dogs, Jim and Reznick.
What started as a homebrewing project became Pinellas Ale Works (PAW).
Decker and Brown opened the brewery on Jan. 16 off First Avenue S and 20th Street.
The two placed doggy bowls throughout the beer garden, to invite patrons to bring their pups.
Their dogs influenced the brewery’s ambiance from the paw print logo to its canine-named beers like the Milk Bone Stout and the Sit Amber Ale.
Since opening a few weeks ago, Decker and Brown said the biggest issue is running out of beer.
“It takes us as much time to make the beer, as it does to sell out,” Brown said. “We’ve been brewing nonstop.”
They said the larger brewing system in their warehouse is roughly 95 percent complete.
“We are missing a few pieces for our 15-barrel system,” Decker said. “It takes as much time to make 25 gallons of beer as it does 250 gallons.”
It will be a few weeks before everything is up and running. Once in motion, PAW will be able to experiment with new beers.
The brewery’s completed just over six brews that circulate through the tap room, while also offering select beers from other breweries in the area.
The two said the beer they expect to be canned first is a wheat lager.
“We expect our most popular beer (will) be Harold’s, an easy-to-drink wheat beer. In fact, it’s named after the owner of a body shop that was in this building,” Decker said about the previous owner who passed away a few years ago. “We wanted the 50 years of heritage to stay in the building. We bought this place from his daughter.”
Decker and Brown said they opened their doors to bring great beer to the public and that they aren’t going to make gimmicks.
“We don’t want to be the court jesters,” Brown said.
“All the breweries in St. Pete are trying to make great beer, and that’s what we want out of ours.”
Interested in beer and brewery reviews? Devin Rodriguez runs a beer blog at www.pintinsunshine.blogspot.com
