Colorado native Rebekah Mandeville Gelvin, who worked as a financial qualitative analyst before managing an internal medicine practice in Sarasota, always found herself visiting a favorite beer garden in Denver whenever she returned to the Centennial State.
She was a corporate trainer for a brewpub before coming to Florida and earning her financial degrees.
“I always enjoyed beer and thought it part of my makeup and your soul,” the Siesta Key resident said of growing up in Colorado.
“Once I was old enough to drink I started drinking New Belgium Fat Tire,” she said of the beer that has created many craft beer fans.
Over glasses of Avery White Rascal at the Denver beer garden she asked her brother, "Why don't we have one of these places in Sarasota?" She said he asked: "Why not? Why don't you do it?"
So she did.
Mandeville Beer Garden is scheduled to open March 1 at 428 N. Lemon Ave. in Sarasota's Rosemary District. The garden will be built in front of the building. (Staff photo / Alan Shaw)
She's spent almost 18 months working on Mandeville Beer Garden, which she hopes to open March 1 at 428 N. Lemon Ave. in the Rosemary District.
"Mostly I want to celebrate what local Florida breweries are doing," Gelvin said. She is working to create a place that's unique: she says it's "somewhat of an intangible experience." It's not a restaurant (though it does have a kitchen), not a sports bar (though it will have three TVs) and not a full-fledged bar (because it won't have liquor), she said.
The beer garden will have "a really great selection of beer" on 30 draft lines behind the long bar, Gelvin said, with bottled beer in coolers and a wide wine selection. She wants to feature Florida beer and brews from the southeast, but she will also feature some of her favorites from Colorado and the west. Her top brewery? Stone Brewing Co. in California.
Large garage doors will bring the outdoors inside at Mandeville Beer Garden. (Staff photo / Alan Shaw)
The main element of Mandeville Beer Garden will be the outdoors, she said, with large garage doors bringing the outside inside. But her place won't be just for the cooler months, she said: The garden (in front of the building) will have shaded trellises with misters and umbrellas for when the weather gets hot. And those garage doors will close to air condition the inside.
She wants the beer experience to be more than just drinking, and has nooks cut into the walls for a library of beer-related books. She's become a Cicerone certified beer server (a program that bills itself as "the industry standard for identifying those with significant knowledge and professional skills in beer sales and service.") and hopes to have her staff become certified as well.
Mandeville Beer Garden will feature 30 beers on draft behind its long bar. (Staff photo / Alan Shaw)
The place will have a full menu, Gelvin said. She's hired Christian Hershman of State Street Eating House fame as a consultant to design a menu of "good food that's comfortable, delicious, local" but one that also features "quirky, almost whimsical things" like fried pickles and a Philly cheesesteak sandwich made with Cheez Whiz.
"I'm creating this unique, indigenous Florida beer garden," she said; one that will be family friendly.
"You can't take your kids to a bar, but you can take your kids to a beer garden," Gelvin said. Mandeville Beer Garden will have a tire swing and games like table tennis and Foosball, she said.
Mandeville Beer Garden will be open Tuesday through Sunday, she said.
