Ministry of Pain
Footballguy
Was a long time customer and will be turning 50 next year, tired of working or doing things I don't truly enjoy so i simply approached the owner who does not drink much of the beers he sells, and I asked him if he was interested in selling it to me. He's owned it 8-9 years, I met him when I first moved into the area and we chat often when i am in the store.
-This place sells the kinds of beers you simply cannot buy elsewhere or i will say the local grocery store. Total Wine? Perhaps but most of their beers do not sit in coolers and when you start getting into the sour beer market which is running rampant right now, you could buy a beer that has been sitting on their shelf for several months when it clearly is listed that it should be stored in a cooler. And I hear about it from the people who frequent our store.
Back to the story, I approached the owner about taking over the store and buying him out...his honest response was "I don't know what i would do" and I quickly did a pivot and started talking about expanding his business and getting a 2nd location started anywhere like downtown WPB, Ft Laud, MIA, wherever a price insensitive beer market exists, we need to service them.
-We sell plenty of Cigar City Jai-Alaii for $12,99 a 6-pack, in fact we stock a lot of $12.99 craft beers but we also carry some exotic **** the likes I had never experienced like "Ever Haze" by "Trippin Animals" out of Miami/Doral, simply the best Hazy iPA these lips have ever experienced and I'm sure there are others that are better. It also cost $21 for a 4-Pack of Tall Boys...let that sink in a minute. I know some of you don't even blink but it gets a lot pricier for even more exotic brews like "Other Half" which I can't even hardly get delivered, always out of stock.
And just to share with some of you, for me to open a 2nd location, gonna take a 7 days a week commitment, we can barely staff the store we have now. 10am-8pm, we don't even try to sell into the dark hours, the drive-thru is fun and all (I get to see everyone in the little city) but it becomes a liability after the sun goes down. Anyone driving thru there after 8 is typically intoxicated, we just prefer to pass on that business. Honestly, MoP would like some of that business but better thinking heads prevail here.
Here is my Top 5 Craft/Hipster Breweries in Florida from all my visits in the last 12-18 months
1. Tripping Animals-Miami/Doral...Simply the Bomb! No Mames(Mexican Lager) Ever Haze (Hazy IPA), Koopa Troopers(Pislner), and just about every Sour Beer I have tried from them just explodes in the taste buds and mouth. I have not visited the Brewery in person and honestly, their code of conduct almost scares me from making an in person visit. Look 'em up, I'm sure many of you will flock there on your next visit to Miami. How good is their beer if I am ribbing them a bit and still they are a clear #1 on my list. "Hounds of Hades" amazing marshmallow beer mix sour. And one more, they released a Triple-IPA with a hazy/citra vibraton called "Irie Jungle" and it's 10% and it's JUICY as Fruck, I bought every last can we had, they sit in my fridge waiting to be popped one a t a time on special nights.
2. Ellipsis Brewing- O-Town, best Sours pretty much across the board for me. They have a blue marshmallow that is outstanding and will make your wives/special someones want to jump you on Saturday Nights.
3. Woven Water- Tampa...Failsafe, Czech-Pils and a nice price point at $12.99, want to step up to their Hazy IPAs? They make incredible beers and small batch releases on the Sours that rock. .
4. 3-Sons-Dania Beach/Hollywood, They make a bunch of good ones but their Dopalicious which is a Hazy IPA inspiration, Nighty Night Night. i took a bunch of them with me up into NC on a Brew Tour, that should mean something.
5. Angry Chair and Ology- I have visited both in Tampa although they originate out of Tallahassee. I could tell you all about the stouts that built Angry Chair but the reality is all we get is Space Grass and then IPA releases like "The Rake" which is a Double-IPA but you never would know from the can which has almost nothing printed or identifiable on it. Which is why i started a color coding system i stole off Willards in St Pete/Largo, now there's a name drop baby. They have IPA-Greens, Stout/Porter-Brown, Pils-Yellow, Sour-Blue, etc...we started putting magnet tags under these crazy crafts so folks know what they are looking at.
I didn't say much about Ology but they sell a lot of Rose Colored Glasses-Sour and they have a nice citra-hazy we can't always get shipped because they run out.
Ask any questions you like, Im not a sudden beer aficionado but I have a pretty good idea what sells and what's pretty darn good. That said, there's a lot of IPAs we sell that i do not care for such as "077XX" I think is the name and it's a NJ Brew, we get a lot of folks from the Northeast and we try and take requests. This East Coast style IPA did not make me feel good, yet a lot of folks seem to like it.
-As a special aside to those that have reached out to me, I understand doubling down and getting involved in beer distribution is not what some of you want to hear. But I've never been happier
-I get the controls all day on Saturday, it's our biggest sales day by a mile and I've increased sales a lot since I took over. One of the things I implemented was better music, we play Underground House all day on my Soundcloud App/Account.
"SeanAngela" in case you want to reach out, I have over 250+ sets linked on there. Breaks/House and other stuff, lot of old school from the 90s.
Cheers!
-This place sells the kinds of beers you simply cannot buy elsewhere or i will say the local grocery store. Total Wine? Perhaps but most of their beers do not sit in coolers and when you start getting into the sour beer market which is running rampant right now, you could buy a beer that has been sitting on their shelf for several months when it clearly is listed that it should be stored in a cooler. And I hear about it from the people who frequent our store.
Back to the story, I approached the owner about taking over the store and buying him out...his honest response was "I don't know what i would do" and I quickly did a pivot and started talking about expanding his business and getting a 2nd location started anywhere like downtown WPB, Ft Laud, MIA, wherever a price insensitive beer market exists, we need to service them.
-We sell plenty of Cigar City Jai-Alaii for $12,99 a 6-pack, in fact we stock a lot of $12.99 craft beers but we also carry some exotic **** the likes I had never experienced like "Ever Haze" by "Trippin Animals" out of Miami/Doral, simply the best Hazy iPA these lips have ever experienced and I'm sure there are others that are better. It also cost $21 for a 4-Pack of Tall Boys...let that sink in a minute. I know some of you don't even blink but it gets a lot pricier for even more exotic brews like "Other Half" which I can't even hardly get delivered, always out of stock.
And just to share with some of you, for me to open a 2nd location, gonna take a 7 days a week commitment, we can barely staff the store we have now. 10am-8pm, we don't even try to sell into the dark hours, the drive-thru is fun and all (I get to see everyone in the little city) but it becomes a liability after the sun goes down. Anyone driving thru there after 8 is typically intoxicated, we just prefer to pass on that business. Honestly, MoP would like some of that business but better thinking heads prevail here.
Here is my Top 5 Craft/Hipster Breweries in Florida from all my visits in the last 12-18 months
1. Tripping Animals-Miami/Doral...Simply the Bomb! No Mames(Mexican Lager) Ever Haze (Hazy IPA), Koopa Troopers(Pislner), and just about every Sour Beer I have tried from them just explodes in the taste buds and mouth. I have not visited the Brewery in person and honestly, their code of conduct almost scares me from making an in person visit. Look 'em up, I'm sure many of you will flock there on your next visit to Miami. How good is their beer if I am ribbing them a bit and still they are a clear #1 on my list. "Hounds of Hades" amazing marshmallow beer mix sour. And one more, they released a Triple-IPA with a hazy/citra vibraton called "Irie Jungle" and it's 10% and it's JUICY as Fruck, I bought every last can we had, they sit in my fridge waiting to be popped one a t a time on special nights.
2. Ellipsis Brewing- O-Town, best Sours pretty much across the board for me. They have a blue marshmallow that is outstanding and will make your wives/special someones want to jump you on Saturday Nights.
3. Woven Water- Tampa...Failsafe, Czech-Pils and a nice price point at $12.99, want to step up to their Hazy IPAs? They make incredible beers and small batch releases on the Sours that rock. .
4. 3-Sons-Dania Beach/Hollywood, They make a bunch of good ones but their Dopalicious which is a Hazy IPA inspiration, Nighty Night Night. i took a bunch of them with me up into NC on a Brew Tour, that should mean something.
5. Angry Chair and Ology- I have visited both in Tampa although they originate out of Tallahassee. I could tell you all about the stouts that built Angry Chair but the reality is all we get is Space Grass and then IPA releases like "The Rake" which is a Double-IPA but you never would know from the can which has almost nothing printed or identifiable on it. Which is why i started a color coding system i stole off Willards in St Pete/Largo, now there's a name drop baby. They have IPA-Greens, Stout/Porter-Brown, Pils-Yellow, Sour-Blue, etc...we started putting magnet tags under these crazy crafts so folks know what they are looking at.
I didn't say much about Ology but they sell a lot of Rose Colored Glasses-Sour and they have a nice citra-hazy we can't always get shipped because they run out.
Ask any questions you like, Im not a sudden beer aficionado but I have a pretty good idea what sells and what's pretty darn good. That said, there's a lot of IPAs we sell that i do not care for such as "077XX" I think is the name and it's a NJ Brew, we get a lot of folks from the Northeast and we try and take requests. This East Coast style IPA did not make me feel good, yet a lot of folks seem to like it.
-As a special aside to those that have reached out to me, I understand doubling down and getting involved in beer distribution is not what some of you want to hear. But I've never been happier
-I get the controls all day on Saturday, it's our biggest sales day by a mile and I've increased sales a lot since I took over. One of the things I implemented was better music, we play Underground House all day on my Soundcloud App/Account.
"SeanAngela" in case you want to reach out, I have over 250+ sets linked on there. Breaks/House and other stuff, lot of old school from the 90s.
Cheers!
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