Thirty hours later, he exceeded the goal.

And by now, more 300 backers have pledged more than $91,000 to J. Wakefield Brewing on CrowdBrewed.com.

“I never could have imagined it would have happened like that, not ever,” Wakefield told The New Times Broward-Palm Beach. “Kinda blown away [by it]… it’s very overwhelming in a good way. We’re going to continue going with the campaign. The bottling line is paid for, the tasting room will be done. We might have the ability to maybe buy two more fermenters.”

J. Wakefield Brewing plans to launch with a full production 15-barrrel brewing system in January.

Read more about crowd-funded breweries in Tapping Community, a feature story from the Vol. 33, No. 4 issue of All About Beer Magazine.

Gainesville, FL

Brewed at the end of each year, Sciaenhops is a celebration ale that uses all of the tidbits left over after a year’s worth of creations. This Imperial red ale features five hops (Centennial, Columbus, Amarillo, Simcoe and Cascade) and eight malts (pale ale, Munich, amber, biscuit, chocolate, wheat, Cara-Pils and crystal).

ABV: 8.3

ABW: 6.6

COLOR: 18

BITTERNESS: 65

ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1068

AVAILABLE: FL

OAKLAND PARK, FL—Funky Buddha Brewery is pleased to announce that Alex Postelnek will become its Lead Brewer, overseeing all production at its new Oakland Park facility. Mr. Postelnek is an accomplished brewer with extensive production experience at facilities throughout Asia and America, and a graduate of Seibel Institute in Chicago. His expertise will instantly bring an increased level of precision to Funky Buddha Brewery’s practices, ensuring that its celebrated craft beers continue to meet a high standard as it expands throughout the state of Florida.

“Alex’s combination of experience and technical knowhow make him the ideal fit for our growing team,” says Head Brewer and co-owner Ryan Sentz. “He’s really embraced our creative nature and we have no doubt that he will improve everything we do.”

A Florida native himself, Mr. Postelnek has spent six years working in the brewing industry, including three years as a consultant to major breweries in India, China, and Singapore. He’s sourced, fabricated, and installed production brewhouses at Toit Brewpub in Bangalore and Geist Beerworks in Doolally, and played a major role in the installation of Helm’s Brewing in San Diego, California. Mr. Postelnek began his brewing experience in 2005 shadowing iconic brewer Lee Chase of Stone Brewing Company, worked for Heineken International as a market analyst in Western and Southern India, and proctored extensive training for Cerana Imports – then the first importer of craft beer to India, including brands such as Chimay, Schneider Weisse, Brooklyn, and more.

“I’m very excited to be brewing in Florida where I grew up,” says Mr. Postelnek. “My travels have brought me full circle and given me the opportunity to craft beers for Funky Buddha at its new facility.”

As Lead Brewer, Mr. Postelnek will supervise day-to-day production, maintenance, and quality control at Funky Buddha Brewery. This appointment will allow Head Brewer Ryan Sentz to continue to focus on creating unique recipes such as Sriracha-Pineapple Hop Gun, No Crusts Peanut Butter and Jelly Brown Ale, and Maple Bacon Coffee Porter.

For questions and media inquiries, please contact John Linn at 561-755-7456, orjohn@funkybuddhabrewery.com.

Now, a vibrant beer world flourishes in the Southeast. World-class imports, locally-produced microbrews and specialty brews from the rest of the country have achieved unprecedented popularity in the region. Southerners are realizing that beer can be a varied and vibrant part of meals, social gatherings and life as a whole.

The Bad Old Days

The South’s love affair with robust, old-world beer styles is a relatively new trend that trails other regions of the country. There was a long, bland beer legacy to overcome.

The bad old days of southern beer were pretty bad. The smattering of southern breweries in the 1800s could not begin to compare to the hundreds found in northern parts of the country. German immigrants who founded the early breweries of the Northeast and Midwest never settled in the South in any great numbers, and the oppressive heat of the lower states made beer production extremely difficult.

The modest group of southeastern breweries that existed in the early part of the twentieth century was completely squashed by Prohibition and the Great Depression, and grain rationing during World War II drove many post-Prohibition breweries out of business.

Religion has also exerted a restraining influence on beer in the south. In his book, Liquor in the Land of the Lost Cause: Southern White Evangelicals and the Prohibition Movement, Samford University professor John L. Coker explains that prohibitionist sentiment was not popular in the South before the Civil War because the temperance movement was associated with the northern anti-slavery movement. After the Civil War, however, southern Protestant leaders reinterpreted the ideals of temperance and prohibition to be compatible with southern culture. By 1915, alcohol had been officially forbidden by most southern churches.

This Protestant holy war against alcohol never occurred in the Catholic state of Louisiana, which explains many of the state’s liberal alcohol laws. Prohibition, however, was a different matter. Wolfram Koehler, owner/brewmaster of New Orleans’ Crescent City Brewhouse, reflects, “New Orleans, with 22 operating breweries at the turn of the 20th century, was truly a brewing capitol of the South, but almost all were lost due to Prohibition. When I arrived here in the 1980s, Dixie was the only surviving brewery in the Big Easy. When we began Crescent City Brewhouse in January of 1991, this was the city’s first brewery opening in over 70 years.”

Besides the sultry climate and an oppressive church, what other factors held beer back? State laws did not help matters. Microbreweries and brewpubs were illegal in most southern states from Prohibition right up until ten to twenty years ago. And a lack of any ingrained brewing tradition in the South allowed the big national brands to completely dominate the region after Prohibition.

Ironically, even though most southern states outlawed high alcohol beers in the past, strong spirits have always been a staple of imbibing southerners. Whereas barley and hops were scarce in the South, corn and other grains used in the production of distilled spirits have always been readily available. Moonshine was in wide, albeit illegal, production over the past 150 years—especially during Prohibition. It was much easier to hide a still than a brewery, and a small volume of spirits was easier to produce and transport than a much larger volume of beer. Spirits weren’t filling in the heat of the summer and were easier to carry in small flasks to conceal from religious folk. Locally distilled beverages reigned supreme in those days, and the South simply lost whatever taste it had for beer.

Another reason the South trailed other parts of the United States in beer appreciation may have something to do with its early population. Affluent intellectuals settled the Northeast, European immigrants with strong beer backgrounds gathered in the Midwest and adventurous risk-takers made their way to the Northwest. Farmers, laborers and many individuals on the run from the law populated the old South.

Low incomes, long hours of hard work and a conservative, stubbornly traditional nature seemed to help solidify the cheaper light lager preferences of many “old school” southerners. Scott Maitland of the Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery in Chapel Hill, NC adds, “Craft beer is more of a white collar thing, at least in the beginning, and the South has only recently started a transformation from an agriculture-based economy to an informational one.”