This year has been good for the beer industry in Miami. Three breweries opened and the latest, J. Wakefield Brewing Company, even received official recognition from the city of Miami.
In a Facebook post dated December 12, the brewery displays what appears to be its official building certificate from the City of Miami. Brewery owner Johnathan Wakefield and crew are not wasting any time. On Monday they started brewing their first beer, a "huge" batch of Nothing Imperial Stout, a heavy Russian imperial stout sitting at 13 percent alcohol-by-volume.
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No date has been set for the brewery's soft and grand openings. Wakefield could not be reached for comment about the latest update despite several phone calls. Quite understandable since he probably has a lot of work to do. Nevertheless, lots of time, effort and money has gone into getting Miami's newest brewhouse up and running.
But the announcement came via Facebook last Friday:
"Today's an exciting day for us at the brewery, we're brewing up a big batch of our Nothing Imperial Stout as our Inaugural batch of beer on the big system. A lot of keg cleaning and prep work to come."
Wakefield's brewery is the third located along the 24th Street corridor in Wynwood. Wakefield made a name for himself brewing the Florida Weisse style of beer, or low-alcohol ales brewed with fresh, exotic tropical fruits grown locally.
The arts district seems to be the spot for local craft beer. Concrete Beach Brewery, with a tentative opening date in February, is also located along 24th street, as well as Wynwood Brewing Company. It appears that 4th Age Brewing will be setting up shop there as well.
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