BUSINESS
TEMPTING TASTE
The local owners caught the brewing bug by tasting homebrewed
beer, wondering how it was made, and then researching
it exhaustively.
Buchholz was living in Portland, Ore., 20 years ago when
he first tasted a home brew and loved it. A friend made up a
six-pack and he took it home.
“I said, ‘I have to learn to do this,’ ” he recalls. But work
and life got in the way and he didn’t brew his first batch
until five years ago when he was invited to work with his
son’s father-in-law on their first home brew. “He had taken
a course in brewing and I’d already learned a lot so when he
called I didn’t hesitate one second to say yes.” Together they
created an Irish red ale, and Buchholz pronounced it perfect.
From then on he was hooked.
He started buying equipment and filled up his back patio.
Then he filled up the carport.
Then he decided he’d better rent a little place on Village
Green Drive just to have a place for his hobby. The problem
with his hobbies, he says, is that they turn into businesses.
And this one was no different. “I outgrew my new space in
less than a year,” he says, “and that’s when I realized that it
was time to turn it into a business.”
SUDS TO SAMPLE
He rented an even larger space, this time in a stuccoed
building once occupied by Port St. Lucie Glass, right off U.S.
1 and still on Village Green Drive. He turned the front into
his tasting room (sometimes called a tap room) where he
serves his customers 2-ounce samples or larger glasses, or
fills their 32- or 64-ounce growlers (large containers) to take
home. There are various theories about how they came by >>
34 Port St. Lucie Magazine
ED DRONDOSKI
HopLife co-owners Rob Tearle, left, and Kelly look over the architectural
plans that are turning a warehouse in St. Lucie West into a microbrewery.
RUFFINO’S
RISTORANTE & PIZZERIA
772.335.2988 | www.Ruffinos.net
1145 S.E. Port St Lucie Blvd., Rivergate Plaza, Port St.Lucie
/www.ruffinos.net
/www.drummersonly.com
/www.Ruffinos.net