History

The Brewer’s History …

As a Fort Lauderdale area native I began brewing at home in 1993. What began as a simple system on the kitchen stove yielding 5 gallons of beer soon led to a much more sophisticated brewing system welded together by a friend (paid in beer). With a 20 gallon fire brewed system in place I was definitely getting carried away with my passion. Brewing on my back patio, sometimes double batches (40 gallons), I studied every book available on the subject. In my travels I toured hundreds of breweries and developed lasting friendships with other brewers who like me, shared in the enjoyment of their craft.

After winning quite a number of local contests and even brewing my recipes at a local brewpub on a larger scale, I decided to enter the Samuel Adams sponsored World Homebrew Contest with my "extra special bitter". Out of 800 plus contestants I was one of 10 chosen as semifinalists and flown to Boston to brew my beer on their system. In the end I was one of three selected winners with a free trip to Europe, a cash prize and my recipe being bottled and distributed in the marketplace under the "Longshot" label. It was a great feeling of accomplishment personally, but beyond that I was also proud to be the second brewer in a row from Florida to win this prize. In my brewing journey I have met so many talented brewers from Florida.

Fast forward some 10 years and after encouragement from my friends (taste testers) Holy Mackerel Beers was born. At Holy Mackerel Beers we love beer whether drinking it, brewing it or simply talking about it. We are not just another marketing company. We test brew every beer we produce many times over on a small pilot system, at an undisclosed location, before it goes into full scale production at two small batch breweries in the southeast. Only then is it brewed under our strict supervision and according to our specifications.

We hope you enjoy our concoctions …

Robert K. Gordash

-- Founder & Brewer