Meet Corey Wilson of Crazy Uncle Mikes in Boca Raton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Corey Wilson.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My story starts in Lake Worth, Florida. Shortly out of college, I found a job doing web marketing for a Beer Making Supply store called Bx Beer Depot, owned by a boisterous and energetic woman named Sally. At that time, there weren’t many places to get craft beer in South Florida, and we were the only homebrew store in 3 whole counties.

I have always been attracted to cooking and the science behind it, but it was at the Beer Depot that I was first introduced to brewing. I loved brewing and craft beer, which were both reasonably unheard of in South Florida at the time. I’d teach brewing classes, give tasting lessons, host homebrew competitions, brew for various events, host beer and food pairings and so much more in my years at the Bx. I gained a strong base of skills and was lucky enough to spend a large amount of my time studying brewing techniques, ingredients and processes.

Most importantly, I met a lot of stellar people in my years running that shop. Due South, 26 Degrees, Devour, Ookapow, Nobo, Invasive Species, Dixie Brewpub and Grill, Odd Breed Wild Ales, Civil Society and more had to start somewhere. These guys all were avid brewers and regular faces, we’d see them at our events and brewing competitions.

Now, they’ve all taken this leap into the professional brewing world. It’s a pretty awesome thing, as we were lucky enough to ride the first waves of craft beer to sweep through Florida. These were all really cool people and talking shop, discussing brewing with them was always a blast. One of my greatest hopes is to keep that sense of community going by collaborating as much as possible and bringing South Florida Brewers together.

After Bx, I took a job brewing at Copperpoint with Great American Beer Fest award winning Matt Cox in Boynton Beach. He had just built this gorgeous new brewery in a warehouse and I got to learn under him during a year of around the clock brewing. This was really important for me as Matt, just had this wealth of knowledge and technique from years of professional brewing that you just can’t learn on your own.

I took a short stint in Denver, Colorado working at Copper Kettle Brewing Co following Copperpoint. I wanted to learn operations and really scope out a fully grown craft beer industry. CKBC has won numerous GABF gold medals with interesting twist on Mexican chocolate stouts and some insanely good barrel aged and high gravity ales. There were some fun moments here as I got to set up events, create a wide list of specially flavored beers, get an eye into the distribution sales market, and observe some extremely different methods of brewing than I had been used to before.

Once I got back to Florida, Mike found me through some brewery connections we shared. I had been helping open a few breweries in South Florida as a consultant when we agreed for me to jump on board.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think all in all, this has been a smooth ride. The real challenges have been the fact that craft beer and breweries weren’t even a thing in South Florida until relatively recently. There was nowhere to go once, I was ready to move forward! Other than that, it’s been pretty solid, brewing is hard work for low pay, but we all know that coming in and are rewarded with a job that we love. And beer.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Crazy Uncle Mikes is really unique. It’s a brewpub with a heavy focus on live music and entertainment. It’s important to us that no part of this project is an afterthought either. Whether it’s food, music, cocktails, beer, wine or service, we want to distinguish ourselves with excellence. Everything is thoughtful and elevated while still remaining fun.

The owner, Mike Goodwin is really what sets this business apart. He’s a really driven guy, he cares about his company, he cares about his customers, he cares about his employees. It really falls down to execution, because the vision for this place is just way too cool and I’m just lucky to be onboard.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was a bit of a nerd, which might explain why I ended up so interested in brewing. I used to be big into boxing and have always had a love for music and food.

Contact Info:

• Address: 6450 North Federal Highway
  Boca Raton, Florida 33487
• Website: www.crazyunclemikes.com
• Phone: 561-931-2889
• Email: info@crazyunclemikes.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/crazyunclemikes
• Facebook: facebook.com/crazyunclemikes

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