The Sip: Ulele restaurant to offer its own craft brews

TAMPA Beer knowledge pours out of Tim Shackton like strong German doppelbock from a tap.

During a recent tour of the new brewhouse at the upcoming Ulele restaurant at the former Tampa Water Works building, Shackton spelled out the process of making beer in minute detail.

For almost 90 minutes, he walked me through his glimmering 15-barrel stainless steel brewing system, from the grist mill used for releasing starches from the malted barley to the refrigerated service tanks where the finished beer will flow to the restaurants bar, beer garden and kegs.

The restaurant is in the final stages of construction along the Hillsborough River after more than two years of planning by restaurateur Richard Gonzmart and the Columbia Restaurant Group.

Shackton, who formerly worked as a brewmaster for the Hops restaurant chain, was hired more than a year ago to create craft beers for Ulele as well as for the seven Columbia restaurants.

The beers he plans to make are enough to make you thirsty for a cold one.

Shackton says he will start with a handful of core beers on the menu. The list includes a light cream ale, a honey lager, Rustys Red American amber red, a mixed berry fruit Wedding beer, a Water Works pale ale and a seasonal beer that will swap out every three or four months. That might include a Belgian wit beer or hefeweizen during summer, a doppelbock in late spring and an Oktoberfest brew in September and October.

Uleles brewery, which is housed in the former water works pump room which in recent years was used as a city of Tampa TV studio, got its license to operate two weeks ago. The room might have been finished sooner, but construction workers discovered an elaborate network of old pipes and a water cistern that had to be excavated. Some of those pipes were saved to be used as table bases.

For more than a year, Shackton has been busy making homebrew versions of the beers, collaborating with executive chef Eric Lackey on menu pairings and giving tastings of his experiments.

Ive not seen a woman who has sipped that fruit beer who didnt finish it, Ulele managing partner Keith Sedita said. Even women who say they dont like beer love drinking that beer.

Read this article:
The Sip: Ulele restaurant to offer its own craft brews