There’s a seven-foot Statue of Liberty behind the bar in the new Rock Brothers Brewing tasting room and cocktail bar. She’s ditched her famous torch and has picked up an electric guitar in its stead. The sculpture — designed and built by Rock Brothers co-founder Tony Casoria and his mother over the course of five days — has the axe held in two hands over her head, ready to smash it to pieces. A few months ago, Lady Liberty could’ve symbolized the powers that be smashing the Rock Brothers’ own dreams of an Ybor City brewery and concert venue to pieces.
“We were getting so beat up by the negative setbacks that I honestly believed the universe didn't want us to open,” Kevin Lilly told CL. Rock Brothers’ other co-founder said the operation was supposed to be ready last spring, but the remodeling and restoration of a 122-year-old building lent itself to a lot of surprises.
“At one point I wasn't sleeping,” Lilly said. “I was sick to my stomach and we almost lost it all when a financial setback kicked us in the nuts.”
“There were a lot of struggles, but there always are when opening a new concept,” Casoria, 37, added. He says the process showed him how well he and Lilly work together when faced with huge challenges. “We are different in every way, yin and yang, but we have this way of dividing and conquering whatever is in front of us, most of the time without communication or delegation.”
The pair have been collaborating since 2011, when they started Attic Records and produced an album with Forrest Hoffar. They organized Whigfest music festival in 2012 and founded Rock Brothers in 2013. Today, they operate with the help of partners like Miami real estate developers Dev and Nitin Motwani, Bloomin’ Brands’ Jon Ahrendt, and Tampa real estate developer Dale Hunter, to name a few.
Rock Brothers makes its name creating custom suds for bands across the country. There’s Hootie’s Home Grown Ale (an American blonde made for Darius Ruckers’s most famous band), an Amber Ale for Nebraska rock outfit 311, and even Nothing Too Fancy, a pale ale brewed in collaboration with Boulder Beer Company for Colorado prog-jam band Umphrey’s McGee. The most impressive offerings, however, come in the form of projects with Sunshine State bands. JJ Grey’s name is on Nare Sugar Brown, a Belgian-style brown ale dressed up with hints of chocolate, coffee and vanilla sweet cream, but “nare sugar” — which a nod to the way the northern Florida swamp-folk legend likes his coffee.
All of these acts have played beer release shows for Rock Brothers. The shindigs have happened at some of the Bay area’s storied rock clubs and even in its glossed up theaters (Hootie’s Home Grown was celebrated at The Mahaffey in St. Pete), but now Rock Brothers have a venue to call their own.
The Attic, a 150-person listening room above the tasting room, was given a temporary permit to operate on December 9. Rock Brothers hosted concerts that very weekend, including back-to-back sold-out sets from Grey. They’ve got 20-plus more shows booked over the next couple of months, and Lilly has been speaking with “just about everyone” in the Bay area, as well as promoters from all over the Southeast, as he fills the calendar.
“I see us having shows three to four nights a week once we are fully online,” he said.
All told, Lilly said Rock Brothers have invested just under $100,000 in audio and visual elements for the room, which features an L-Acoustics system installed and operated by Tampa’s own ESI audio. The venue is unique for Ybor City and will be a nice complement to what’s shaping up to be a changing live music scene within the district. A walk up and down Seventh and Eighth Avenues simply won’t reveal a single room where artists like Shawn Mullins play an acoustic set to a fully seated room.
“We hope it contributes to the amazing live music scene that already exists in Ybor, by attracting a different kind of music and different kind of artist,” Casoria said. “If we succeed I think it will allow other new businesses to feel confident about coming into Ybor, and hopefully gives entrepreneurs the license to get funky and creative with their concepts.”
For now, Lilly and Casoria will show off their own funky vision. The downstairs tasting room is adorned in rock memorabilia commemorating milestones in their business partnership, and the cocktail menu even features beer-tails that mix liquor with their signature beers. A friends, family and industry grand opening is set for Wednesday, and Orlando southern rockers Thomas Wynn & the Believers headline a ticketed show in The Attic on Friday night. The tasting room gets busted wide open on Saturday as The Attic also hosts free concerts featuring Bay area songwriters like Will Quinlan, Lauris Vidal, Geri X and more; Have Gun, Will Travel, whose name appeared on High Road (an award-winning, hopped-up American pale ale that was the very first Rock Brothers beer) headline a ticketed evening show after the free sets come to end. Lilly and Casoria will be there, but will probably be too busy tidying up the guest experience to fully enjoy it.
“It all hasn't sunk it yet because we are still working around the clock to get online and there’s no time for congratulations,” Casoria said.
“Things will settle down soon, and I'll finally be able to relish in the complete joy of making it to this point,” Lilly added. “Having my own venue was an absolute dream come true for me, and I am grateful beyond words.”
