Way back in 1995, a handful of Floridian brewers got together in a parking lot to casually share the fruits of their labors, swap stories and get to know one another.
“That was the first ‘festival,’” says Florida Brewers Guild Executive Director Sean Nordquist with a laugh, “and now it’s grown into one of the biggest beer events of the year.”
The guild itself actually came out of that parking lot beer-swap; it became active in ‘96. As its annual FBG Craft Beer Festival approaches once again — on March 2, it’ll kick off the eighth Tampa Bay Beer Week — it boasts more than 300 members statewide, from little neighborhood nanobreweries to full-scale production concerns with widespread distribution to the 100-plus non-brewery peripheral businesses that support the state’s craft beer community and industry. Primarily concerned with “preserving the rights and interests of all craft brewers throughout the state,” as its mission statement reads.
“You have the little brewers, and then the really big ones. They’re all on the same team but their needs are different. Cigar City’s needs aren’t the same as, say, Overflow’s,” Nordquist says. “They’re working toward the same goals, but they’re operating in two different worlds. We have to make sure the guild is there for both of them. So communication is a big thing, and with Florida being such a big state, you try to make sure everyone gets equal time and coverage.”
Events like the festival and annual conference and trade show (Aug. 6-8 in Orlando this year), like much of the craft beer industry as seen from the outside by those who don’t put in the countless hours putting them together, might make it seem like the guild is all fun and games. In reality, education is also a large part of the FBG’s process, and much of that is directed toward state lawmakers who’ve suddenly found themselves in the midst of an exploding homegrown resource about which they know very little — except maybe what they’ve been told by the larger forces in the global beer game that have controlled elements such as distribution since forever.
While Nordquist doesn’t spend all his time beating down legislators’ doors (the FBG has a lobbyist for that, who lives in Tallahassee), as executive director he remains plugged into those sorts of issues as a necessity in his role as a conduit between the nuts-and-bolts of legality and the members of the guild.
“Even though I’m not the lobbyist, I talk with our local guys, like (Republican state Senator) Jeff Brandes and (Democratic state Representative) Ben Diamond. They know me now, and they know if they have any questions about beer-related stuff they can call me,” Nordquist said. “The more we educate the legislators, the more they get on board. They recognize it from a bunch of different angles. These are economic drivers in communities, they employ local people that spend money locally. And breweries just help make communities better — people getting together, meeting each other, hanging out.”
With Florida closing in on 300 breweries statewide, Nordquist’s job, which he’s held for two years, is growing more complex. As the craft beer community grows, new elements of its makeup are revealed; the larger any group of diverse individuals gets, no matter how united they are on the subject that originally brought them together, the more complications arise. And Nordquist feels the guild has a responsibility to support the health of that community on every level for which it has the resources, not just in the state capital or City Hall.
“One thing we started talking about — and even had a panel on at our conference last year — was mental health issues, specifically within the brewing community,” he says. “We’re no different than any other group, people have struggles, and acknowledging that and creating a space where people can talk about it is something we need to do better at addressing. And with that comes substance abuse issues, too. While it’s not in our mission… these are really important things.”
Another issue to which Nordquist and the FBG have turned their attention is one of representation within the greater craft brewing arena.
“I’d like to see more diversity within the brewing world,” he says. “I think we’re seeing significant gains in people of color, women, LGBT brewers, but it’s still a mostly white male-dominated industry. But we’re seeing great strides… you can’t [forcibly] diversify, but I think you can celebrate it and open the door for more people… I think it’s important, we want everything in our industry to thrive and do well and be healthy.”
As more Floridians taste their first craft beer, find a passion for it and attempt to make it their livelihoods, the guild will undoubtedly see its role as emissary and support system become even more involved and multilayered. But Nordquist at least seems energized by the prospect, just as he’s willing to recognize his hometown as the place where, for Florida craft beer, it all got started for real.
“Central Florida and Jacksonville are exploding, Miami, you’re seeing it in the Panhandle. It’s really happening everywhere,” he says. “But Tampa Bay was really the epicenter — when things took off, they took off here first.”
This article appears in Feb 21-28, 2019.
