According to a recently passed New Hampshire law, a nanobrewery is defined as a brewery that brews less than 2,000 barrel of beer a year. They are popping up all over the country and are giving new brewers a chance to experiment with a few brews in a concentrated group of consumers. Enter Alligator Brewing. They were incorporated in 2007 and are nestled inside of Tall Paul’s Brew House in downtown Gainesville. A good friend of mine who bartends at Tall Paul’s, gave me the opportunity to tour the tiny facility. 

I started the night by sampling various brews from Tall Paul’s 30 tap list. One excellent one was Tartare Rouge by Bear Republic, also Hop Gun by Funky Buddha. Then I had a flight of Alligator’s brews, including Procrastination Brett(anomyces) Pale Ale, Pineapple Basil Saison, Devil’s Milhopper IPA, Habanero Smoked Ale and Baron, Lord, Knight – a strong ale. All were flavorful and exhibited unique tastes. I liked the Habanero Ale and Saison the best. Now I was ready for the tour.

He opened the room to reveal a space the size of a walk-in closet. To the right was a plastic container with some fermenting beer. Next to it were a few recipes with some interesting looking future brews, including a Black Widow Wit and an Orval clone. Above that was some cultured yeast in erlenmeyer flasks. In the middle was a crate of fresh pineapples for the saison and behind that some boil kettles. In a little refrigerator were some kegs and oak barrels for aging. Down a small hall were some maturing tanks. Even for such a minute operation, it was still really cool. 

Now that I have toured Gainesville’s beer scene I need to go around Florida and hit up some good breweries like Intuition, Bold City, Cigar City, Funky Buddha and Due South.  If you are ever in the Gainesville area, take a ride downtown to 10 SE 2^nd Avenue and experience the taste of Gainesville in beer form.

Adam Shugan, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits beer consultant - Gainesville

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