Southern Brewing and Winemaking Gets Liquor OK from City Council

Updated Dec. 9, 10:15 a.m.:

The voices of opposition were steady, but in the end the supporters of Southern Brewing and Winemaking outnumbered the naysayers at a Tampa City Council hearing Thursday night. And so the council voted 4-3 to allow business owners Brian and Kelly Fenstermacher to sell liquor at their combination retail store, pub and microbrewery now taking shape at 4500 N Nebraska Ave.

Kelly recalled the reaction in city council chambers immediately after the vote. ”Oh my gosh," she said, "there was a huge sigh of happiness throughout the crowd. I was abosolutely relieved and just thrilled. I cannot tell you how happy Brian and I are with the support we've received from the residents, and the neighborhood associations."

To appease city council and residents, the Fenstermachers have agreed to restrictions on liquor sales that would discourage the property from becoming a bar or package liqour business in the future. Liquor cannot be sold to go, or sold after 11 p.m. Outdoor amplified music is also not allowed.

The Fenstermachers are in the process of moving Southern Brewing and Winemaking from its current location at a warehouse office park on East Busch Boulevard. The first phase, a retail store which sells home beer brewing and winemaking supplies, should open within a week, Kelly said.

The second phase will include a microbrewery, a winemaking and microbrewing classroom, a pub tentativley named Fenstermacher's Brewhouse, and a beer garden with outdoor bocce ball court. Kelly said construction for that should start by July or August, and take about four months to complete.

From Dec. 7:

The owners of Seminole Heights' next prospective gathering spot will face a second vote before Tampa City Council Thursday at 6 p.m.

Southern Brewing and Winemaking impressarios Brian and Kelly Fenstermacher will seek final permission to sell liquor, with restrictions, at their business currently taking shape at 4500 N Nebraska Ave.

The Fenstermachers are relocating their business from a warehouse office park on East Busch Boulevard. With the move to the 7,000-square-foot former boat showroom, the couple plans to continue its retail homebrew and winemaking supply business, and add a microbrewery, pub and beer garden.

But their desire for a liquor license has kept the Fenstermachers on the defensive in the public perception arena. Since their first city council hearings in June, in which they won approval to sell beer and wine, a succession of residents have voiced concerns over the business becoming a nuisance-prone bar.

When Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association president Sherry Genovar-Simons sent out an e-mail alerting residents about Thursday's hearing, she said it sparked a rash of negative replies. “We don't need any bars,” and, “All we're going to have is another nightclub,” were among the responses, “Genovar-Simons said. “But I haven't heard anybody knowing what (the Fenstermachers) are actually going to do say anything negative.”

The Fenstermachers have in fact agreed to a host of concessions in exchange for their liquor license, which was preliminarily granted by a 4-3 city council vote in June. The couple have agreed not to sell liquor past 10 p.m., or to-go, or in a package store format. They've also agreed to keep any amplified music inside with the doors closed. These restrictions would remain with the property even after the Fenstermachers should sell it.

“The neighbors' largest concern,” said Kelly Fenstermacher, “is not what we're going to do in that location, but what could become of that location when we leave — a package store or some kind of rowdy bar. But there's really no way some kind of package store could operate with those kind of restrictions.”

Seminole Heights neighborhood activist Susan Long has been involved in negotiating the Fenstermachers' concessions, which she said has won the support of three of area's four civic associations. “I support it 100 percent with the restrictions we've put in place,” said Long. “I think (Southern Brewing and Winemaking) would be wonderful. I think it's kind of consistent with our kind of crafty weirdo neighborhood.”

Genovar-Simons is also a convert. “I am all for it,” she said of the business.
“Some of (the Fenstermachers') restrictions are a result of our working with them. And they never, ever said, 'We're not gonna do that.' They were reasonable all along the way.” 

Brian Fenstermacher said about half of the building's space will be devoted to the retail store, which should open within a week. The rest of the square footage will be developed into a microbrewery and pub, which he and Kelly have tentatively named Fenstermacher's Brew House. That part of the business should be completed by late 2012, Kelly said.

Outside, chain link fences and dirt lots will be replaced with decorative fencing, a beer garden, a bocce ball court, “and lots of heavy landscaping,” Kelly said.

Brian said they have no plans to provide in-house food service. “But we'd like to have food available,” he said. “So maybe we could have food trucks drop by, or work with local restaurants and have their menus here so our customers can get carryout delivery here. We have fantastic restaurants just down the street from us. So that just seems like a good match.”

The Fenstermachers started Southern Brewing and Winemaking in June 2008, which evolved from Brian's Southern Brewing Supply, a wholesale distributor of brewing ingredients in operation for the previous nine years. Before that, Brian worked as a brewmaster at Atlanta Brewing Co. and Ybor City Brewing Co. Kelly was a 15-year veteran of Wachovia, now Wells Fargo bank, before joining her husband at Southern Brewing and Winemaking.

The couple live in Riverside Heights.