A few weeks ago, LauderAle opened in Ft. Lauderdale, just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Port Everglades. Literally. Due to construction, you presently have to make a U-Turn in front of one of the security drive-on gates to get to LauderAle’s location. It’s the labor of love of two friends and homebrewers, Kyle Jones and Joey Farrell.
Starting small, there are usually 4 of their beers on tap, plus a guest tap or two. LauderAle is open Fridays through Sundays at the present time. As is my custom, I will review LauderAle’s brews, but at a slightly later date. While I was there, however, I had the pleasure of sitting and chatting a bit with Kyle Jones, one half of the new LauderAle Brewery.
Kyle Jones, LauderAle
What is your background?
Jones – I’ve been working in real estate for the past 10 years. My partner (Joey Farrell) works in marine engineering. He actually works next door.
What got you both interested in craft beer?
We were big beer drinkers, but started with standards like Miller Light and Coors Light. We were hanging out at places like The Laser Wolf and Tap 42, and discovered craft beers. Once we did, we never went back.
What are your favorite beers?
There are so many, we usually change. I really like Lagunitas and Torpedo from Sierra Nevada.
What is the process for deciding what beers to brew next?
We try to focus on drinkability. But we also want to brew off the beaten path.
LauderAle logo.
That’s an interesting logo. How did you come up with it?
We went through 20-30 different iterations. All the logos looked like a badge, so I cut the shape in half and stretched it out length-wise. From there, I added the typewriter-style font, because I really liked the old-school feel. We both are avid boaters, and like boating the the Bahamas. Joey is also a pilot, so we added the prop to the logo to represent that. The funny thing is, we figured out later that the logo looks like the outline of a boat. If you think about that, then we put the prop in the wrong place!
How do you feel about the future of craft beer in Florida?
It’s great, exciting. It’s neat to see other people people popping up; seeing homebrewers taking initiative and trying to grow.
What’s next for LauderAle?
At this point, we’re really trying to perfect our beers. We just tapped our first hefeweizen, and we’re very good at making our coffee porter. I’m a perfectionist and I’m pretty hard on myself. I want to get the beers to where I’m happy with them.
Joey is actually in New York, getting his graduate degree in business and running the business end of things there. We’re planning on growth and looking at brewing systems, so by the time he gets back, it’ll be ready to go. But we’re a small, home-grown brewery. We’re trying to grow at the right time, not grow too fast and run out of beer. But people are telling us they really like our beers, and we have plenty of people asking for us.
Drink Florida Craft,
Chris
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