Gulf Stream Brewing Company
know people aren’t going to kill themselves?’ ” recalls Lavernia, a 32-year-old Fort Lauderdale entrepreneur who opened the Cuban bakery Colada in 2015 but sold it May 1. “You know, the normal questions one would ask when you talk about handing people sharp axes to throw around.”
Those initial misgivings turned to excitement after Lavernia and Rusch toured popular ax-throwing bars in Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Tampa, where the pastime is part of a growing national trend.
The idea to combine axes, beer, wood and boredom migrated south from Toronto, spawning recreational ax-throwing leagues and ax-throwing ranges across the United States, Lavernia says.
But why throw hatchets in Fort Lauderdale, not exactly the lumberjack capital of the world?
“The common theme at all the bars we visited were the diversity of people we saw, and that all the axthrowing sessions were booked for weeks in advance,” says Lavernia, who says he’s received requests from “10 to 15 companies” for advance bookings thanks to early word of mouth.
An ax-throwing session costs $35 and lasts 90 minutes, and visitors must sign waivers before they begin. Patrons will then be paired with “ax-perts” who will coach them about the best way to achieve the satisfying, wood-splitting thud of a hatchet sticking the target. Ax-perts will also teach ax-throwing games and encourage roundrobin-style competitions.
Meanwhile, a 10-tap bar will serve local craft beer, wine and cold-brew coffee, along with snacks such as chips, jerky and popcorn. Food trucks will also be on hand during business hours.
Lavernia says reservations for ax-throwing lanes will be available on the Chops and Hops website sometime in August.
1105 NE 13th St., Fort Lauderdale; 954-766-4842 or GulfStreamBeer.com
McKay Ferrell and Ty Eriks are Pacific Northwest natives who planned to open their brewery in craft beer-saturated Portland, Ore., until they found a 5,300-square-foot warehouse in central Fort Lauderdale, down the street from Warsaw Coffee Company and Milk Money bar.
When the duo’s 10-barrel brewhouse opens in July, it will become the sixth brewery in Fort Lauderdale. The brewery was originally set to open in August 2017, and again in February, but permit issues delayed the opening, Ferrell says.
Ferrell says the taproom will be modern-industrial chic, with brick walls and Edison lights, and will specialize in low alcoholby-volume, easy-drinking suds.
Mike Demetrius, formerly of MIA Beer Company in Doral, will become Gulf Stream’s head brewer in early June.
Ferrell says he’s still mulling beer names, but the opening tap list will include a red ale, a brown ale, a kolsch, an English-style porter, a Bavarian-style hefeweizen and West Coast IPAs. The brewery will also offer experimental brews with different hop and yeast strains.
Hours of operation are 4-11 p.m. Monday to Friday and noon-midnight Saturday and Sunday.