When we did this interview, their name was Most Wanted Brewery but recently they changed it to MIA Brewing Co. Same guys, same great beers, just a different name so as to prevent trademark issues down the road. They are one of the new breweries opening in the near futere in Miami-Dade. We tried some of their beers and then got Eddie Leon to agree to an interview.

I know that there are a couple of guys behind Most Wanted. Tell us a little about yourselves.

Most Wanted has 3 partners; Kevin Smith, Johann Beckford, and Eddie Leon. We started our careers as architects, but had a mutual passion for 3d animation so we started a company together providing 3d services for other architects and real estate developers. Our business was successful but suffered during the “great recession” as the volatile real estate industry tanked. We licked our wounds and learned some important lessons on the need to protect yourself by diversifying your business. After some soul searching and various false starts for new startup ideas we zeroed in on opening a craft brewery.

How did each of you become so interested in beer?

As young college students, we each began our appreciation for beer at parties, but after a while, funneling Budweiser lost it’s appeal so we naturally began to develop our palate. needless to say, in the mid-80’s there was a limited supply of quality beer in South Florida. The best beers we could find were German imports, such as, Spaten & Hacker-Pschorr. We didn’t know what craft brewing was or that it existed in the US. After a trip to Boston in 1990, I stumbled across Sam Adams and Harpoon at the local bars. Around 1993, I was given a home brewing kit by my wife to further my newfound interest in craft beer. The first brew I made was a Sierra Nevada clone that was remarkably good for a first try. Soon after I went on a brewing hiatus since we were poor college students and lived in a small non air-conditioned apartment that wasn’t adequate as a place to brew.

Opening a brewery is a big undertaking, what inspired you to do it? How long has it been in the works?

My brewing kit collected dust for years and my wife would occasionally elbow me about getting back into brewing. It wasn’t until a trip to Schnebly Winery with some friends early last year that my interest was rekindled. We went there for a tasting of their fruit wines, but I noticed they also had a tasting for beer. After sampling their four new brews I couldn’t help but think back to how much better some of my homebrews were. So, the proverbial light bulb went off in my head and I got back into home brewing. Soon after, I realized that starting a brewery in Miami would be a viable business venture. So, technically, our brewery has been in the planning stages for less than a year and it wasn’t until last December that we leased our warehouse and ordered the new brewhouse.

Are you guys mainly self-taught or were you mentored by anyone?

I’m the brewer of the 3 partners and I’m purely self-taught. I developed the basic recipes for our beer lineup, but we now have a much more experienced brewer helping us to improve and refine them. His name is Piero Rodriguez and you might know him from Subvert Ales, which is a successful local home brewing club. Recently, his new version of Hops & Robbers won best brew at the Miami Beach Brew Fest.

If we were to open your fridge, what beers might we find?

I love all Belgian styles. You might catch me with a Leffe or a New Belgium Trippel, but at the moment I have 2 Hunapuh’s in my fridge that are begging to be opened. Just waiting for the right moment to share with some friends. I’m generally not a stout or porter drinker. I like them, but since I like to have at least one brew every night before dinner, I generally try to keep my choice relatively sessionable and lower in calories.

What makes the Most Wanted Brewery different from others?

Making great beer is a given in our industry. You can’t start a brewery and succeed by just making mediocre beer. So, even though we strive to make great beer, we don’t think that that alone will help us stand apart in an increasingly saturated market.

We hope to connect with people as a lifestyle brand that reflects a certain rebellious freedom in all of us. I think we all have a little badass in us. We also all have a passion for things that are genuine and local. Our hope is to make those connections and establish some sort of lifestyle conversation with everyone that is both fun and engaging.

How did you guys come up with the idea to use invasive species in recipes?

We were inspired by the Melaleuca trees that have been invading the Everglades for decades. These trees are crowding out native plants and animals and have been causing serious ecological problems. We hoped to find a solution by harvesting the trees and commercializing them in some way. Other than turning them to mulch, nobody is using them for other promising products that can come from them, such as, the essential oils from their leaves and their teak-like wood. We found that the essential oil from the trees are anti-bacterial and anti-septic. It can be used as a bittering agent and preservative in beer. The wood also contains tannins and can possibly be used for barrel aging beer. We tried the oils in a Gruit style beer, but haven’t tried using the wood yet. We hope to continue experimenting with other plants.

So far what ones have you experimented with? What’s worked the best?

So far, our greatest success has come from using Brazilian Pepper Honey in our Crimin Ale wheat beer. It’s a delicious local honey that comes from bees that pollenate the local brazilian pepper trees. This plant is also considered invasive, but not as problematic as the Melaleuca. No actual plant product is used in our beer, but by using the honey and other products we hope to bring attention to the plants and the issues in our local environment.

Are you going to have a set group of core beers? Like what?

We will have a core lineup of at least 5 beers. They will be selected based on all the great feedback we’ve been getting at the local festivals. We hope to have a good range for all palates, but the clear leaders so far are our High Noon Hefeweizen and our Hops & Robbers IPA. Our Hops & Robbers Pale Ale with ginger molasses has been very successful, but it will be renamed since it’s not really a hop-forward beer. We might have a naming contest for it soon.

The other top beers on the list are Pink Posse, Crimin Ale, and Smokin’ Barrel. Pink Posse is a hibiscus ale that’s actually pink. We are not sure if people really love the tart flavor or just like asking for it because of the name, but the beer is intended to be a unique flavor that appeals to the local palate so we will keep refining it. Crimin Ale is based on traditional Wit Bier style with the added twist of local honey. It’s a nice and refreshing beer, but I’ve been a little underwhelmed by it so we are going to strengthen it’s overall character and increase it’s ABV as well. Smokin’ Barrel is our darkest beer so far. It’s a chicory porter and it’s been very well received. Piero made a special version for the recent Sprung festival with Cacao Nibs and vanilla beans. It was a big hit.

When can we expect to see your beers in the market?

Our plan is to have our beer on the market by August if there are no major delays with construction.

Will you initially be focusing on draft or will you be doing any bottling too?

It’s typical for a new brewery to focus first on keg distribution the first year or two of operation. We are already looking into the costs of a bottling or canning line, but are prepared to just do some good old fashion hand-bottling for some special releases if necessary.

What's your initial brewing capacity going to be?

Our brewhouse is a Premier Stainless 20 barrel - 3 Vessel system. It can produce 620 gallons per batch and because of the separate whirlpool we can easily schedule 3 batches per day. However, our bottleneck will be in our fermentation capacity. Our (3) 40 barrel tanks can be filled in just 3 days. We would then need to wait 2 weeks for the next brewing cycle. We hope to add more tanks as quickly as possible.

Is a taproom in the plans?

The taproom is a very big part of our plans. We have a relatively large space for it and would like to make it as relaxing and enjoyable as possible. In addition to a nice long bar with lots of tap handles, we plan on adding a stage for local bands and a game area with a pool table.

A few other things we would like to point out about our taproom is that we will support other local and Florida craft breweries by having them on tap. We will have regular releases of seasonal, special edition, and barrel-aged brews. Unfortunately, we won’t have a kitchen since production breweries are not allowed to have one in Florida, but we will have packaged snacks and on weekends and special events we will have food trucks.

Leran more about Most Wanted Brewery on their website, www.MostWantedBrewery.com