Accomplice Brewery & Ciderworks Signs Deal With Brown Distributing, Soon to Be in Stores

West Palm Beach will be adding a brewery to its list of attractions in the coming months, as Accomplice Brewery and Ciderworks has announced that it will soon be sending its brewed products out into the market.

"It's official!," announced the brewery over social media. "In just a few short weeks you will be able to begin enjoying our ciders at your local pubs and restaurants in South Florida! Big thanks goes out to our new friends @ Brown Distributing!"

The upstart brewery seeks to bring a new market niche to the South Florida brewing scene. Owners Felonice Merriman and Matt Stetson are seeking to produce fermented beverages that are a little bit outside the norm. 

"I come from the wine-making background," Stetson told us, sharing that he used to make beer with his father as a teen before making a name for himself in the Michigan beverage distribution industry. It's from this wine-oriented background that Stetson grew into the almost sidelined styles of alcohol beverages, though styles that are making a big comeback in the national conscious. Styles like cider, perry, mead, Makgeolli (a Korean rice wine), alternative grain beers, and sake. Stetson is seeking to make these and more.

"I do weird things that they don't normally do in beer-making. I started applying those wine techniques to beer... We are trying to distinguish ourselves from everyone else."

One approach that will reach new consumers is the use of nonbarley grains in some of their beers.

"In my recipes, I’m using alternative grains: sorghum, millet, rice, milo... It's a little overwhelming at first," for the brewer, he explains. "You end up doing your own malting and such."

With the brewery facility in place and the distribution contract settled up nicely, the time for a taproom is at hand. When is that current expected timeline?

"Plans to open our official tasting room have been accelerated to November 1," they say, though we won't have to wait another six months before getting our hands on these beverages.

Stetson was happy to share what will be coming down the pipeline. "Our lead products are the extremely popular Strawberry Cider, Bone Dry Cider, and the delicious and hedonistic Golden Cider made with Florida Cane Sugar," he says. "When we open the tasting room, we'll have some killer fresh Florida — local offerings like Mango Cider and Carambola Cider, both made from fruit from right here in Palm Beach County."

We'll keep a look out for places serving these handcrafted beverages. As the brewery shares, "Get ready WPB! It's cider time!"

Doug Fairall is a craft beer blogger who focuses on Florida beers, and has been a homebrewer since 2010. For beer things in your Twitter feed, follow him @DougFairall and find the latest beer pics on Clean Plate's Instagram.