The Brutalist, King State’s New St. Pete’s Bar and Brewery, Softly Opens March 10 | Openings & Closings | Tampa

Brutalist art and architecture rose to prominence in the 1950s for their clean, geometric style. King State owners Nate Young and Tim McTague will apply the same simple methodology to their new St. Petersburg contract brewing facility and taproom that shares a name with the minimalist-era inspiration.

The Brutalist and its dining room counterpart, Temple of Beer, will soft-open March 10 in St. Petersburg for the first-ever King State Lagerfest — a new Tampa Bay Beer Week heavy hitter that will be the first opportunity to taste the first Brutalist beers.

Flying Boat Brewery will hold its last day at 1776 11th Ave. N on January 30, just weeks after breaking news of its sale, before the somewhat seamless transition to The Brutalist began.

Although the back-to-back announcements of Brutalist and Lagerfest appear to be a mark of exponential growth for the Tampa-based roaster, brewery and brick-and-mortar cafe, Young and McTague tell Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that it all sounds like a back home in a sense since brewer Aric Parker was already making King State beers on-site at Flying Boat.

“We now have King State beer in the Flying Boat tanks, and on February 1, they will just become our tanks,” Young says.

King State and the soon-to-be-closed Flying Boat have had a close relationship since KS’s inception began.

“Flying Boat is where we were able to become the brand we are now,” says Young. “The Brutalist will be able to brew as much KS beer as we need, but the long-term goal is to add enough tank space to provide full service to other breweries, the same way we’ve been helped by others.”

Parker has been brewing at Flying Boat for nearly three years now, and was recently joined by Vinny Giusto, who is known for his work as a brewer at Tampa Heights-based Hidden Springs Ale Works. The dynamic duo will “touch every drop of beer coming out of Brutalist,” according to Young and McTague.
Although the brutalist is associated with King State itself – with KS beer in the tanks and its coffee roastery moving to the new headquarters in St. Pete – the multi-faceted contract brewing facility will fill a need niche in Tampa Bay’s boutique beer community, completely separate from the KS brand. A complete back-pressure canning line will be installed in May, an aspect that the two owners say will set Brutalist apart from its Bay Area counterparts.

“You can do it here, you can store it here, you can brew it here, you can do anything,” McTague told CL in a phone call. “We can really be an incubator or an expansion model for anyone who really fits the mold.”

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Flying Boat Brewing Co., which will close to make way for The Brutalist Dining Room and Temple of Beer on January 30.

And almost anyone can fit into the mold. Whether you’re from Tampa Bay or elsewhere, Young and McTague seek to work with anyone who upholds the brutalist ethos of good, simple beer. Although no formal agreement has been reached and no affiliated brewery has been confirmed (apart from Flying Boat which stated on Instagram that it will continue to brew in the same building), Young and McTague say that they seek to establish long-term relationships with new tenants (the establishment can accommodate up to five or six at a time). Some Tampa-based breweries they want to work with are Woven Water Brewing and Magnanimous Brewing, both in Tampa Heights. Also on this list is Tripping Animals Brewing Co. (King State recently partnered with the Miami brewer to craft its tart amber with hints of guava, vanilla, and lime).

Along with King State’s house beers and beer from its yet-to-be-determined tenants, a Brutalist-branded beer will also be made at the new facility.

“The idea of ​​stripping everything down to the rawest elements will be the methodology on the brewing side of the brutalist,” McTague shares with CL. Brand.”

As expansion and construction unfolds at the rear of the brewing facility – with over 90 new barrels already installed – the customer-facing tap room will also get a facelift, again inspired by the era brutalist design. The beer temple’s aesthetic will be simple, yet inviting, and certainly won’t distract the star’s patrons from the whole brutalist model – very good beer.

House beer from Brutalist, King State, Flying Boat and other contract brewers will occupy the rotating list of 20 draft beers at Beer Hall. And while there will be some sort of food element, the bar itself won’t have a kitchen, and the Flying Boat’s tradition of having semi-permanent food trucks may start again someday soon.

Although The Brutalist and the Temple of Beer are expected to open softly during King State’s Lagerfest in early March, the duo understand that not all details will be ironed out by then. After Lagerfest, the Brutalist will hold an official grand opening event which will be announced via Instagram (@thebrutalist.beer) in a few months.

And as for the highly anticipated King State Lagerfest, it won’t be the over-the-top start you might expect. The exclusive beers presented will be affordable and simple.

“A lot of Beer Week events feature live entertainment and food trucks, and we’re going to do a little bit of that,” Young shares. “But Lagerfest will really be a throwback to the brutalist ethos, with a focus on brewers and their killer beer.”

In addition to exclusive products, Lagerfest will present numerous collaborations with other breweries in small quantities. The owners of KS have teamed up with beer event veteran Kris Marino, known for his Miami beer festival “Free the Whales”, to create the unique celebration that is Lagerfest.

“Every day the Lagerfest lineup gets cooler and cooler,” says McTague. “There are breweries that we have admired from the start and are part of it.”

Neither Young nor McTague could reveal which beers will make the Temple of Beer tap list or be featured at the first Lagerfest in March, but they have a host of exciting collaborations to be announced in the coming weeks ahead of Tampa Bay Beer. . The week. A new Instagram for King State’s Lagerfest just popped up, so expect the latest updates and a ticket link from @kslagerfest next week.

The only information listed on the Tampa Bay Beer Week website is when King State Lagerfest will take place, from noon to 4 p.m. on March 10, but tickets will be available for purchase on January 28 through kslagerfest .com.

Although Flying Boat Brewery customers will miss its location on N 11th Avenue, Young and McTague want to reassure the surrounding St. Pete community that the neighborhood vibe isn’t going anywhere. While their loyal customers can still sip their beers at Beer Temple, Flying Boat is working on opening another physical store elsewhere in the greater Tampa Bay area.

“We love Brutalist being in a neighborhood the way King State is in a neighborhood — that’s what we love about it,” McTague says. “We hope the community appreciates us as much as we appreciate them. Honestly, it’s only going to be an easy transition.

And speaking of easy transitions, Young and McTague – who also play in popular hard-rock bands Anberlin and Underoath, respectively – are just as surprised as perhaps their clients that the King State brand has grown. exponentially since starting his coffee. in 2019. Taking away the years that COVID-19 has imposed on us, King State is only about 9 months old. Even with this major dive into the world of production and facility management, the owners haven’t broadened their investor base at all.

“At this point, we all have our original investors, which are mostly our friends, family, and some people we know in the music industry,” McTague says. “We didn’t really need to diversify beyond that. There are no major players or real estate money coming in.

Both Young and McTague credit King State’s success to the strong relationships they have built with their co-workers and loyal customer base.

“There’s been a lot of ebb and flow, dodges and weaves, but our relationships really got us here,” Young says. “It’s amazing to be in this place and I really thank our whole team. It’s been a crazy few years.

“To be able to grow so much during a pandemic is really rare, but amazing,” McTague noted.

The King State train is really on a roll, all the way to its new headquarters in St. Petersburg, which will open to the public during Lagerfest in March.