Proof brewery to move into historic south side building

 

Proof Brewing Company has been a major feature in Railroad Square Art Park for the last three years. In that time, it has grown at an impressive rate. As it stands, it is the biggest lot in the park and arguably, sees the most foot traffic. Not to be just a local beer manufacturer, Proof has proven a local staple by also holding a “backyard beer garden” complete with games, a music stage and a food truck.

In this short time, Proof has enjoyed significant success. It is due to this success that the business has elected to move locations to accommodate the growing demand for its ales. The new location is a former Coca-Cola canning plant on South Monroe Street.

Proof co-founder Byron Burroughs is eager to make the move. “I’m ecstatic. The best part to me is that now we own the building and we are no longer in a leasing situation so we can grow in a way that we just couldn’t before,” he said.

Burroughs pointed out that he felt Proof’s impact on the community is what makes it unique. “ There aren’t any other breweries of our kind in Tallahassee so we hope that we can be a standout opportunity to find new talent. We get to be the ones to teach people how to become brewmasters and how to become refiners so we have a unique chance to provide the area with something that nobody has before.”

The new facility will be just over 2,100 square foot and be complete with larger tasting rooms and beer garden, respectively. The new address will be 1320 South Monroe St. and the company projects that it will produce over 10,000 barrels of beer in 2019. The projected opening is in January.  

Lilian Frye, property manager of Railroad Square, said, “They decided to move due to the simple fact that they outgrew their space. They’ve been in Railroad Square for about three or four years and have tripled in size.” Frye said that while having the brewery in the art park was advantageous for the sake of adding diversity of establishments, the relationship hasn’t always been mutually beneficial. “While we loved having Proof here, this is still an art park and they didn’t necessarily ‘blend’ with the overall atmosphere of Railroad Square so this move is good for them.”

Frye also mentioned that Proof’s location helped increase the overall visitation of the area.

Bryan Smith, the events and sales director for Proof, said the brewery has enjoyed being in Railroad Square. “Railroad Square is a unique art community,” Smith said. “Beer is, in a way an art; It’s our form of art and being located in Railroad Square was the start to our success. “We always thought we were making great beer. We won many awards and done 100 percent growth and our production has doubled since 2012. We thought we would be in our current location for at least 8-10 years before we even had to think about moving but Tallahassee has greatly helped,” Smith added. “Last year we did 6000 barrels of beer and now are struggling to even fit in the space are in now.”