Don’t let the cleverly cute name and cartoon manatee mermaid logo fool you.
Chubby Mermaid Brewing is serious about its beer. In a fun way.
Gary Fortin and Josh Hoover opened Southwest Florida’s newest brewery to the public on Oct. 26. It’s in Causeway Commerce Park (the longtime site of Causeway Lumber), off Old 41 Road in Bonita Springs, behind The Industry Standard Kitchen + Bar (which took over for Causeway restaurant ).
“We’ve each been home brewing for 15 years,” Hoover said. “I guess I always imagined I’d someday own a brewery.”
The road to brewery ownership started years ago when the duo met through YouTube.
“It’s a small community,” Hoover said. “At first you’re leaving comments and the next thing you know you’re taking beer vacations with the same group. Gary came up with the name BrewTubers.”
Hoover was in San Diego at the time, while Fortin started in Maine, then Pennsylvania before retiring from the Army nine years ago “to pursue this.”
“He was thinking about bringing someone in when I came in,” Hoover said. “We had only met in person three or four times. Of the people he was considering, we didn’t have kids or a mortgage. We were just young and dumb enough to do it. When we came out here in July 2022, I had never been to Florida.”