After speaking briefly with Saint Arnold Brewing Company owner Brock Wagner, here are a few more details about Saint Arnold’s Florida Launch:
Saint Arnold has modest expansion plans- they sought a state that had a similar craft beer epiphany like their home state of Texas and Florida fit the bill. Florida was a late bloomer in the craft beer revolution, but now it is catching fire. The brewery also sought expansion around the Gulf Coast and felt a kinship with Floridians.
The first Florida-bound truck left the Houston brewery on Tuesday, 5 November 2013. That truck had Elissa IPA, Fancy Lawnmower Kolsch-style ale, and Christmas Ale. After this initial shipment, Florida will keep up with shipments of Saint Arnold’s regular seasonal rotations. Wagner also said that Florida would get very limited shipments of Saint Arnold’s Bishop’s Barrel Series (as there is not a lot of it anyway) in addition to shipments of their Divine Reserve Series, but there is no established time frame for these.
Saint Arnold is beginning distribution down the Gulf Coast with a small shipment going to the Orlando market. Wagner also has his eyes on Jacksonville, just not in the initial shipment.
Finally, while Wagner does not have any plans to collaborate with any Florida breweries on a beer officially, Saint Arnold is going to participate in the Homefront IPA national release in 2014. Saint Arnold plans to participate in Homefront every other year, and in 2012 they helped raise $125,000 for Project Homefront.