Gainesville’s newest addition to the craft beer community is coming downtown and receiving a warm welcome from veteran breweries.
Big Top Brewing Co., which started in Sarasota, Florida, will open its doors to the public in mid-October, said CEO Mike Bisaha. The brewery will be located next to Mark’s Prime Steakhouse downtown. Customers can choose from up to 100 beer flavors and a full menu, which includes gourmet burgers and tacos, Bisaha said.
The brewery will offer unconventional flavors of beers like PB&J, Pumpkin and Big Top’s newly award-winning beer, the Hawaiian Lion, which is a coconut coffee porter.
Bar-goers will find a casual atmosphere dimly lit by vintage Edison light bulbs and two garage doors that open to the outside at the new space. The bar will also boast an “open brew” system, where customers will have a direct view of the brewing process from their barstool, he said. Bisaha wanted the open concept to encourage visitors to ask brewers questions about how the beer is made.
“It will be completely open to the consumer, meaning you can sit on one side of the bar, and the entire brewing process is happening on the other side of the bar with no wall or glass between you,” he said.
Big Top has received about 400 applications for various positions at the brewery from bartenders and brewers to servers. Bisaha plans to keep the brewery a local affair, hiring local brewers, working with local farmers and partnering with local charities.
“We’re excited to be a small part of the growth of craft beer in Gainesville,” he said. “Local is key to us.”
Over the past few years, Gainesville has become a hotbed for craft beer, and current breweries including First Magnitude Brewing Company have extended a warm welcome to Big Top, Bisaha said.
“We really have a great camaraderie in our market of craft beers, and that’s really in general the way that it is,” he said.
Two streets over on West University Avenue, Alexander Whelpton runs Gainesville House of Beer. He hopes the new addition to the craft beer scene will draw more people to the downtown area.
“I think that a successful brewery downtown would help all of the local restaurants, bars and hotels, because it gives the people of Gainesville a good reason to come downtown,” he said.
After running Gainesville House of Beer for one year, Whelpton has learned the recipe for success in a college town is susceptible to seasonal swings, he said.
“I think if they provide a really good service, a really good atmosphere and a really good drink, then they shouldn’t have a hard time in marketing that,” Whelpton said.
Though Big Top will have to be on par with other successful bars like First Magnitude, Swamp Head Brewery and Gainesville House of Beer, competition should be the least of its worries, Whelpton said. He would love to serve some of Big Top’s beers in his own bar.
“I would be extremely excited for any breweries to be added to the downtown area,” he said. “I believe that hide tide raises all the ships.”
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect how long Alexander Whelpton has run Gainesville House of Beer.
Vintage Edison light bulbs illuminate the inside of Big Top Brewing Co. The new brewery will open next to Mark’s Prime Steakhouse downtown in mid-October.
