BUSINESS
SIGNIFICANT OPENING
Side Door Brewing Co. opened Dec. 5, 2015, 82 years to
the day after the 1933 repeal of the 18th Amendment, which
ended prohibition. “I think that’s fitting, don’t you?” owner
Dwayne Buchholz says, clearly enjoying the significance of
his opening date. A retired contractor by trade, Buchholz
worked on the interior of his brewery and says he thoroughly
enjoyed designing and bringing it to life.
HopLife is taking over a former warehouse on Enterprise
Drive in St. Lucie West just north of Tradition Field where the
New York Mets hold spring training. Turning a space formerly
occupied by a juice company into a brewery is taking a
lot of hard work but he hopes to be finished in April.
Because breweries are categorized as industrial businesses,
HopLife co-owners Jim Kelly, Rob Tearle and Jeff Blitman
had to find space in light industrial zoning. While this puts
them out of the eye of the driving public, word-of-mouth and
craft beer fans have already netted the trio 759 Facebook page
“likes.” Their own website isn’t up yet, Kelly says.
Side Door is also in light industrial zoning but Village
Green Drive is a major shortcut from U.S. 1 to Walton Road
and Tiffany Drive at St. Lucie Medical Center and most buildings
Port St. Lucie Magazine 33
are quite visible to drivers.
HopCat plans to build a $2 million, 7,500-square-foot waterfront
brewpub next to Panera Bread on Meeting Street in
Tradition. It will seat 280 people indoors and 100 outdoors. A
drawing of the building shows a long, pale yellow building
with black outdoor lights and black shutters, somewhat reminiscent
of New Orleans. He says the company hopes to open
late this year or early next year, spokesman Chris Knape says.
Barfly Ventures, headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich.,
owns 13 HopCat brewpubs. >>
RENDERING PROVIDED
HopCat plans to open a brewpub on the lake at Tradition. It will seat 380 people who will be able to choose from 100 kinds of craft beers.
PHOTO PROVIDED
Jim Kelly, co-owner of HopLife, grows hops, which are used in beer-making,
in his backyard.