Little Havana Brewery Serves Up Beer And History
KARINA REY / THE REPORTER
Little Havana’s first craft beer brewery—Nightlife Brewing Co.—hopes to serve up a frothy adult beverage while educating its patrons about Miami’s history.
Nightlife Brewing Co., 1588 N.W. 7th St., opened its doors on Oct. 7. Each can has stories printed directly on them detailing the history of Miami and its relationship with bars and beers.
The company’s co-founder John Cooper said he was introduced to the world of craft beers while he was in the hospitality program at Florida International University. That is when he took a course with professor Barry Gump.
Cooper and his classmates were challenged to bring a new and unknown beer to each session to discuss beer down to a science. He became deeply involved and obsessed with the art of crafting beer. When the class ended, he and one of his classmates began “home” brewing.
“I was brewing a new beer five nights out of the week,” he said.
Cooper remembers having beer fermenting in his closet, his bathroom, even in his parents’ closet. Anyplace that was dark and cool, there was beer.
While Cooper was brewing all over his home, Juan O’Naghten was also brewing. The duo were later introduced by their mothers and eventually Nightlife Brewing Co. was born.
The nearly 10,000-square-foot facility is ready to give Miami a taste of history.
O’Naghten and Cooper introduced their Gunfighter Blonde hefeweizen, Next Thursday pale ale, Spitfire Redhead rye saison, and Daring Brunette brown ale at the grand opening.
The Gunfighter Blonde is a German inspired hefeweizen with an alcohol by volume level (ABV) of 6.1%. It’s light on the tongue and has hints of banana and clove.
Next Thursday is a nice and easy paleo made with Mosaic hops, giving it a tropical fruit aftertaste. It’s the perfect ‘baseball beer.’
Spitfire Redhead is uncharacteristic by nature because it has a particularly bitter after taste
The Daring Brunette has a warm, roasty feel. It is a brown ale that has hints of coffee and has an ABV of 5.5%. It sits on the palette smoothly and is almost sweet.
The duo plans on offering different specialty microbrews every Thursday to test out new flavor combinations and textures. On Tuesdays they have Flip Night where you can flip a coin for your beer. Wednesdays are Ladies Night meaning all women get get $5 beer and wine.
For a complete list of brews, events and links to their social media, patrons can visit Nightlife Brewing Co’s website at www.nightlifebrewingco.com/
