First Magnitude Brewing Company celebrates second anniversary

On Saturday First Magnitude Brewing Company celebrated its second anniversary — with a 12-hour birthday party.

Several local bands and specialty beers greeted the crowd, which at times grew to 400 people in size.

For Meg The Losen, her husband Wells and their two close friends, who started the brewery two years ago, the party was long overdue and well deserved.

Since the brewery first opened its doors, the company has doubled its staff, expanded its distribution reach and increased its production, she said.

“We are really grateful to the community,” she said.

Lane Abraben, the event and project coordinator at the brewery, said the company started out as a 15-barrel brewery, but it has since expanded to 250 barrels.

Two weeks after the brewery opened, it began selling its beer in Gainesville. Within two months, it added distributors in St. Augustine, Tallahassee, Ocala and The Villages to its list of customers, she said. This May, it began reaching Orlando.

Plans for the future of the brewery include the possibility of a second location, as well as bottled beers by the company and further distribution of the beers to other cities in Florida.

According to The Losen, she believes the brewery has done so well because of, well, the beer.

“I think and hope that it’s the quality of the beer,” she said. “We also have a great team of brewers that are obsessed with quality.”

Tina Nguyen, 26, a third-year UF pharmacy graduate student, said she was excited to go the party. Two years ago she went to its grand opening.

“We start classes on Monday so it’s a way to hang out and have some fun before classes start,” Nguyen said.

Head Brewer John Denny draws a sample of fermenting beer in order to test its density. Testing for density, also known as specific gravity, is used to determine how much sugar the yeast has consumed.