Yeasty Brews is located just outside of Oakland Park, in the neighboring district of Lauderhill. This brewery is a first for the city. It is part of the City of Lauderhill’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and Economic Development initiative to create a Commercial Arts and Entertainment District on NW 38th Avenue. This initiative includes over $4 million worth of investment for infrastructure improvements to the Arts District.
The co-owners of the City of Lauderhill’s first brewery, Denielle Mizrahi and Daniel Pfaffenbach worked closely with the City to not only launch their business, but also expand their craft beer label. The City helped them work through the permitting process so as to streamline this challenging process. And they did all this during the pandemic no less! Certainly no small feat.
While the permitting process may be done, Yeasty Brews continues to shine a light on the plans for redeveloping the area while making a name for themselves as a local craft brewer.
Yeasty Brews Making a Name for Itself
The idea for Yeasty Brews came while Dan and Denielle were watching the Superbowl. During the commercials they saw one of those 30-second multi-million ads for a standard beer. The ad said that beer was made of hops, rice, barley, and water… clearly missing the yeast! Yeast, as Dan, a brewmaster in his own right knew, is a huge factor in what the flavor of the beer will be. In that moment they both knew they could offer so much more if they had more freedom to express themselves and their passion for beer.
Well, as they say, the rest is history and so the idea for Yeasty Brews was born. In late 2020, smack dab in the middle of the pandemic, they opened their doors. Despite what might be considered by most daunting circumstances, the artisanal brewery has not only survived but thrived, staking their claim in the world of craft brewing.
In fact, they share on their website that in 2022 they claimed three award winning beers from Best Florida Beer Championships 2022: Hop Bombs Milkshake IP, Heads Will Roll Pumpkin Spiced Milk Stout, Lord of the Trees Fruited Belgian Blonde Collab with Walking Tree Brewery.
Beer-Making Process
Beer-making is a team effort. As Yeasty Brews brewmaster, Dan brews all the beer. Denielle curates the recipes and flavor profiles of the beers. They conduct taste tests throughout the brew-making process to ensure the final product is smooth, balanced, and tasty.
The beers typically take 4-5 weeks to make. Thankfully they haven’t had issues sourcing ingredients to make their brews. They try their best to support local farmers and on some occasions have even had some customers donate fruits.
What’s in a Name?
With names like Oh My Sweet Valkyrie and Swamp Water: Series 2 you have to wonder how do some of these brews get their names?
Dan and Denielle told LivingInOaklandPark.com that sometimes the names come easy and sometimes they all sit around drinking the beer and bounce ideas off of their customers and friends. “Some names come from inside jokes or the way we feel about certain ingredients!”, the owners explain.
There’s Always Something New Brewing!
Yeasty Brews likes to have a rotation of different brew and food items. “We change beers on our menu every few weeks because we love to experiment and come up with new concoctions. We consider our beers artisanal because they are not your standard beer. Each beer has a distinctly different style and taste without being overly done”, explained Denielle.
As for their food items, Denielle tells us: “We have a simple selection with something for everyone including house-made Israeli hummus, vegan empanadas, BBQ chicken flatbread, etc. These staple items are comforting and something you can always count on”. The simple selection is by design so the flavors complement rather than take away from their artisanal hand-crafted yeasty flavors.
Fruit-Inspired Brews
Yeasty Brews likes to emphasize the use of fresh fruits in their beers. For instance, one recipe named Hula Girl is a guava passionfruit cream ale. There is also Rose Tailgate, which uses watermelon to enhance the flavors the way a crafted cocktail would. Some other fun beers you can find at Yeasty Brews are called milkshakes (because of their use of milk sugar lactose). These enhance the body of the beer and adds a touch of sweetness.
For those lactose intolerant fret not since Yeasty Brews has got you covered with a vegan-friendly option of coconut milk for those that are lactose intolerant, vegan, or that just love that fresh, sweet coconut flavor! The beer they are best known for is Banana Slinger, which is a milkshake hefeweizen using lactose and Madagascar vanilla beans.
What’s in the Future?
Yeasty Brews goals for this year include wanting to increase awareness of their business and continue providing an exceptional product in a friendly, fun atmosphere. They have the space to connect and support other local businesses and they can’t wait to see the impact they can make.
They have a lot of events planned for this year and make use of their large parking lot to host food trucks, craft vendors, games, music, axe throwing, beer fests and other events. They hope to draw crowds of 200-300 people. You can see all of their events on their social media pages like Instagram and Facebook.
Yeasty Brews: 3944 NW 19th St., Lauderhill, FL 33311
