Creating and nurturing a community is one of the great qualities breweries can boast. Florida Keys Brewery is doing just that, and it has some Canadian brewing expertise behind it too. Here, Paul Knowles explains all.
Craig McBay is from Burlington, Ontario. And yes, he fits the stereotype of beer-loving Canadians. Cheryl McBay is from the Florida Keys. And yes, she fits the stereotype of “Conchs” born in the Keys – fun-loving, sun-loving folk who enjoy having a good time, and providing the same to guests.
Craig credits his first experience with making beer to Cheryl’s mother, who, knowing his affection for beer, gave him a beer-making kit. At that time, Craig and Cheryl were living in an apartment in West Palm Beach, and Craig ended up with 400 bottles of home-brewed beer stored in sundry locations in his apartment.
Cheryl was not a fan of mainland life. And Craig happily moved with her, back to her home territory – the unique and very special region called the Florida Keys. It was an appropriate decision – after all, he met in a bar in the Keys while Craig was on a one-year job assignment in Florida. The couple admits that “Hooking up in Heaven” hooks don’t usually result in ongoing relationships, but in their case, something clicked in a big way.
When Cheryl and Craig moved back to the Keys, they soon noticed something that was an immediate challenge for beer lovers – the bars and restaurants they frequented (and there is no lack of bars in the Florida Keys) did not serve local beers.
They overheard patrons asking about local brew, only to be told the establishments only served the well-known national brands.
Craig admits that Cheryl had the idea first: why not turn his love of beer-making and her interest in design and event management into a craft brewery? Why not give beer-lovers some more interesting options?
Craig knew that his 400-bottle experiments in an apartment did not prepare him adequately for work as a professional brewmaster, so he contacted craft breweries and asked if he could “hang out” with them and learn the trade. Everyone agreed. “Craft brewers help each other,” explains Craig.
So, ten years ago, Cheryl and Craig made the leap. They opened the Florida Keys Brewery in the “Morada Way Arts and Culture District” in Islamorada. And the rest is history – albeit, hard-fought, patience-challenging history. Success was definitely not immediate. Craig smiles, today, admitting that “our bartenders were sleeping on the counter” because there were no customers.
And let’s be honest: maintaining a business started in 2015 meant surviving the wrath of Hurricane Irma, which slammed Islamorada in 2017, and then the horrendous impact of Covid, starting in 2020. Although the couple point out that Covid actually provided an opportunity, because of a plan already in place – they had acquired a nearby building with a big back yard, which they converted into an open-air beer garden.
So during the pandemic, people could still gather, drink beer, and enjoy live entertainment in a safe environment.
And it turns out that the McBays have a gift for creating, not only great beer, but great experiences. Cheryl’s retro decor means that guests at the Florida Keys Brewery can kick back in an ambience reminiscent of a Grateful Dead concert.
When they check out the extensive list of beers on tap, they are choosing between “Stoned Iguana”, “Alligator House Light Lager”, “Hurricane Hole Red”, “Death by Mermaid,” “Honey Bottomed Blonde”, or any of the frequently available quaffs – a frequently changing list.
Craig continues to hold the role of brewmaster, and he supervises production of 40 different beers each year. A few of those will probably be one-offs, never to be replicated, the result of Craig’s continued exploration of his craft. Or, he admits, the result of an accident that produces something really great and very drinkable, one time only. Customers can order from a range that includes Kolsch, IPA, lager, ale, red, stout, sour, and more.
The beer is brewed in the McBay’s original, rented, quarters, which today is full of tanks and kettles and storage space for 270 barrels. It’s only a few steps away from the tap room and beer garden that is now action central for the brewery.
The tap room is also the swag shop, and the McBays have discovered that their love for psychedelic colour and design is contagious – their guests eagerly snap almost anything with the Florida Keys Brewery logo and wild colour combinations.
That logo, by the way, is very special.
A small but crucial detail is found near the bottom – a symbol that is half red maple leaf and half conch shell. Canadian Craig and Conch Cheryl, with their love story pictured right there on their business’s logo.
Their business is a brewery, but much more than a brewery. Their beer garden has been honoured as the best music venue in the middle Keys. There is almost always live music happening in the beer garden, featuring many of the truly talented, local Keys musicians like Leah Sutter, The Barstool Sailers, Micah, The Sunshine Band, and David Feder.
Feder, self-described “hillbilly flamenco guitarist”, is acknowledged to be the unofficial godfather of Keys music. He organises a huge charity festival that funds scholarships and provides hundreds of instruments to budding musicians. Although they are designated as fundraisers, the concerts at the festival are free of charge.
Most of the money is raised through beer sales. And Feder told me that all that beer is donated by the Florida Keys Brewery, just one of many acts of community charity and commitment carried out by Craig and Cheryl.
The McBays have come a long way from Craig’s high school days in Burlington, Ontario, and from an apartment where he home-brewed hundreds of bottles of beer. They have created a truly magical place in Islamorada, where they welcome thousands of visitors, where they provide work for two dozen Brewery employees and many local musicians, where they raise their family (they are parents of twins), and where they have seen their international love story turn into a unique, thriving, highly entertaining brewery.
