Sarasota production brewery, JDub's Brewing, is in the works

A Sarasota production brewery, to be called JDub's Brewing Co., is in the planning stages. Founder Jeremy Joerger, a disabled former Army staff sergeant who recently moved to Sarasota from Washington, D.C., says he's selected a facility and is in the process of getting loans. He hopes to open in six to eight months.

JDub's Brewing Co. hopes to open in Sarasota this year. (Logo provided by JDub's Brewing Co.)

"JDub's purpose is to intrench ourselves in the Sarasota community by supporting local business, organizations and causes," Joerger said in a phone interview. "We hope to bolster the local economy by creating jobs and another attraction for the tourists who visit our beautiful city. We plan to make awesome beer for the residents of Sarasota to call their own."

"We've already got the No. 1 beach in America, it's about time we have our own beer," Joerger said, referring to his operation being the first production facility in Sarasota.

"I think the world of Darwin's and the Sarasota Brewing Co.," he said, referencing Sarasota's two brewpubs. "They make phenomenal beer."

JDub's has a head brewer under contract, Joerger said; the person's name will be announced soon. Their first beer will be an India Pale Ale. They plan to release three beers in their first year, three to four months apart, he said. They will keg and can their beer.

Joerger was born in the wine country of California, also a hotbed of craft brewing. His family owned a winery and he worked there for his first job. His military career took him all across the world, allowing him to enjoy a variety of beers.

He got into homebrewing while living in the Pacific Northwest, he said. He brewed his first batch and said it "turned out horrible, but I was hooked ever since."

"Getting into the beer industry full time has been my passion and focus for the past decade," he said. He said that everyone in the craft brewing industry he's talked to, from owners to brewers, has been so welcoming that he knows he's in the right field.

Joerger is also a participant in the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Program, in which the craft beer pioneer helps fledgling small businesses. Joerger said he attended a workshop where he go to pick the brains of Samuel Adams managers.

"Mad props to Sam Adams," Joerger said.

Local craft brewing looks like it's exploding in Sarasota and Manatee counties. We have no production breweries now, but if everyone's plans work out, the two counties will see four production breweries opening within about a year. (Last week brought word of a planned Bradenton brewery, likely to be called Motorworks Brewing; Michael Wagner is hoping to open his long-delayed Little Giant Brewery in Bradenton in April; and Sarasota brewpub Darwin's on 4th is working on a facility of their own.)

JDub's has a website and Facebook page.