Brewery Spotlight: 3 Daughters Brewing

Brewery Spotlight isn’t some run-of-the-mill beer talk involving heady aromas or exotic Sriracha-malt flavors. It’s about the faces behind the beer, and what keeps them coming in every day to create something delicious. For the brewmasters, the salesmen, the bartenders, the cellarman; everyone. Brewery Spotlight is for them—Because what they do is for us. For the love of beer, this is our Brewery Spotlight.

 

When you mix together a passion for great beer and a love for family, you may end up at 3 Daughter’s Brewing in St Petersburg, FL. Following the heels of a very successful beer-battered fish recipe, Mike Harting and Ty Weaver opened 3D Brewing in December of 2013. Named after owners Mike and Leigh Harting’s three daughters, there is a very strong sense of family and community at 3 Daughters Brewing. 3D beer is brewed right next to a massive game room where you can find visitors of all ages on any given night. The team at 3Daughters is as passionate as ever about their beer and they share it with everyone.

We caught up with 3D Brewer Steve, a man with an extensive knowledge of beer and the facial hair to match his wisdom. Steve discussed the origins of 3 Daughters Brewing, the future of craft, and growlers full of sours.

 

How long have you been brewing for?

Steve: 3 Daughters has been opened for two and a half years and before that I’d say 2 and a half more years of brewing.

You, Mike, and Ty came from the same restaurant—how did you end up brewing beer?

Yeah, we’ve all been working together for a while actually. When beer was becoming popular in the area, Mike asked Ty if he could learn to make some beer. So we started to get the process right and when we brewed it at the restaurant it was a hit. We started brewing beers every week—we wanted everyone to try our beer.

Was the amount of work surprising?

Hm, no not really. Coming from the restaurant, I’d say it’s less stressful. There we dealt in minutes. Here we deal in hours, days. We all really enjoy doing this a lot more. But for a long time we all worked both the restaurant and at 3 Daughters.

There’s been a lot more breweries coming up in the area. What do you think about the craft scene now?

I think it’s growing really fast. Which is great, but there’s so much product out there right now and stores don’t know what to do with it. So many breweries want to become a nationwide player right off the bat and that’s not the only way to measure success, you know? You go to a great beer town like Nashville or San Diego, and you’ll see that many breweries don’t even sell out of state. You can make good beer and make a good living while still making a good quality product that will always sell.

Now, what beer would you give your worst enemy?

Oh man, I don’t think anyone should drink sour beer. It’s the next trend, you know? Sour beers are like the emperor’s new clothes, if you don’t like them then you’re not a real craft beer lover. And, you know, everyone has different tastes. My girlfriend likes sour beer. We actually had a sour beer here on tap in the tasting room and there was a guy who would come in and fill his growler with the sour. He liked it, so to each their own!

 

3 Daughters will be one of the many great local breweries that will be attending the next Brews With Attitude. Buy tickets here!

Can’t wait to try 3D’s core beers? Use Pepin’s Product Locator to find where you can get your hands on a 6-pack.