NOLA Brewing Company is coming to Florida, according Brown Distributing, which signed a distribution agreement with the New Orleans-based brewery to push its beer across the entire state. 
Photo by David Minsky NOLA Brewing hits the South Florida market next month.
Brown will be in charge of distributing NOLA Brewing beyond the Florida panhandle, from Tallahassee to Key West, the West Palm Beach distribution company said in a press release yesterday.
See also: NOLA Brewing Company in New Orleans: A Photo Tour
NOLA Brewing, or the New Orleans Lager and Ale Brewing Company, was started in 2009 by CEO Kirk Coco and Peter Cadoo, who is the former brewmaster for the now-defunct Dixie Brewing Company. After Dixie shut down in 2005, NOLA Brewing became the only operating production brewery in the city of New Orleans and Orleans Parish.
Brown will begin launch with Rebirth Pale Ale, Hopitoulas IPA, MECHA Imperial IPA and Irish Channel Stout. Their wheat beer, 7th Street Wheat, is slated to roll into Florida by Summer 2015.
Given the close proximity of the brewery, NOLA beers have been available in the panhandle for three years. The immense popularity of his company's beers is what pushed Coco to take the entire state of Florida. Coco also attributes the growing taste for craft beer in the state as another reason to expand, giving a nod to Broward's own Funky Buddha Brewery.
"Florida is becoming a very craft centric state with great local breweries like Cigar City, 7venth Sun, Funky Buddha, Pensacola Bay and many other up and coming breweries," Coco said in a press release.
The announcement follows a recent expansion of the brewery's taproom and months of negotiating since last summer.
Coco met with several Florida distributors but settled with Brown. "...when it came down to making the decision, we felt the folks at Brown Distributing just understood our brand, our growth plans and were the most capable team to support our beers," Coco said.
NOLA Brewing packages its beer in cans and kegs and will be available on tap and store shelves starting sometime in November. Irish Channel Stout, MECHA Imperial IPA and Hopitoulas IPA should be available in packs of four 16-ounce cans. Rebirth Pale Ale, the brewery's latest beer, is typically available in packs of six 12-ounce cans.
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