Super-new ‘Burg brewery Dissent was born when brewer Chris Price and his partner Dale Miller decided to leave their corporate jobs and chase their passion. That doesn’t mean they went in expecting shorter hours, less responsibility and an instant payoff, however. They did their research, came up with a business plan that fit their budget, and officially opened their self-financed, debt-free three-barrel system and cozy taproom in January.
“Going into it as a businesspeople, we try to do it as smart as possible,” said Price. “A lot of the feedback back when this was just a wild idea was that we were going into this too small. But it’s a lot harder to start off bigger and build demand while trying to cover all the costs... we wanted to build the brand, focus on the brand first.”
Not having to answer to outside investors allows their small team to be hands-on with the company’s unified look and contemporary brand identity, as well as focusing on service in the tasting room and the beer itself. And Price has clearly been focusing on their beer for some time. Among the little brewery’s offerings out of the gate are The Dissenter, a Belgian IPA that reflects both owners’ favorite styles, as well as an American wheat that incorporates just the right, surprising bite of ginger and a brown ale brewed with rooibis tea. These are thoughtful and exciting flavor combinations sure to set Disssent apart from other local breweries as the new concern hits the ground running.
“We know there are a lot of trends, like Florida weisse for instance, stuff like that,” Price said. “But we really haven’t chased that. We’re trying to do our own thing... obviously we may do some of that stuff in the future but right now we’re doing our own thing.
“We didn’t want to get caught up in the rat race. It’s pretty saturated around here with breweries, and at the end of the day we’re just trying to make good beer.”
5518 Haines Road N., St. Petersburg. 727-342-0255.
