Brew Insight: Q&A With Justin Clark of Cigar City Brewing

Cigar City's Justin Clark.

Happy New Year, everyone! South Florida Beer Week is fast approaching, and we've got some exciting beers that will be on tap from local brewers. Stay tuned for more on that, as we'll be announcing some tap lists at the end of this week. Needless to say, we're super excited to be featuring a slew of local beer during Beer Week, including a few breweries that have yet to be tapped in the South Florida market.

But of course, you can't talk local beer without mentioning Cigar City Brewing out of Tampa, FL. Perhaps the most buzzed about craft brewery in Florida, Cigar City has made a name for itself nationally thanks to innovative new beers aimed squarely at the beer geek in all of us. That's to say nothing for it's flagship beers -- Maduro and Jai Alai chief among them -- that are quickly becoming go-to favorites for folks across the state. Add to that a slew of recent announcement from the brewery, and Cigar City is quickly becoming one of the most talked about breweries in the southeastern United States.

In preparation for Cigar City's big splash during Beer Week, we spoke to Vice President Justin Clark, who told us a little bit about the brewery's upcoming plans.

Brew Insight: Q&A With Bob Gordash, Founder of Holy Mackerel Beers

Above: Bob Gordash of Holy Mackerel
stirs a batch of his award-winning brew.

Part of what makes local craft beer special is the stories -- the tales of spirit and passion that drive people to turn this obsession (read: beer!) into a career. So each week on the South Florida Beer Week Blog, we're going to try to give you a little glimpse into those stories by talking with the people behind the beer.

For this first Brew Insight column, we caught a big one: Bob Gordash, founder of Holy Mackerel Beers (née Gordash Brewing). Based in Fort Lauderdale, FL and brewed out of Greenville, South Carolina, Holy Mackerel is known for its compact but ultra-potent line up of Belgian-inspired ales. It's Special Golden Ale is highly drinkable, even at 8.5% alcohol by volume, while it's Mack in Black imperial stout is a beast of a beer with layers of tart pomegranate and chocolate malt. Holy Mackerel's latest brew doesn't relent either -- Panic Attack strong ale, released in 2010, clocks in at a whopping 10%. Talk about big boys.

Still thirsty? We wrangled Mr. Gordash into a little Q&A session to tell us more about his past as a brewer and the foundation of his company, and give us his thoughts on the Florida craft beer scene.

SFBW: Hey Bob! Tell us what Holy Mackerel Beers is all about.