{"id":15790,"date":"2019-09-18T13:35:47","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T13:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/?p=15790"},"modified":"2019-09-18T13:36:17","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T13:36:17","slug":"architect-of-craft-beer-eddie-leon-96-maa-98-is-ready-for-2019-nomi-brewfest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/2019\/09\/18\/architect-of-craft-beer-eddie-leon-96-maa-98-is-ready-for-2019-nomi-brewfest\/","title":{"rendered":"Architect of craft beer Eddie Leon \u201996, MAA \u201998 is ready for 2019 NoMi BrewFest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2013By David Drucker for FIU News<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Eddie Leon \u201996, MAA \u201998 wanted to be an inventor as a kid. Now, he has his laboratory: a 21,000-square-foot brewery in Doral.<\/p>\n

Inside the warehouse of M.I.A. Beer Company, blue and pink neon lights\u2014reminiscent of Miami Vice\u2014splash onto the long walls. A sprawling chalkboard offers more than 50 types of craft beer: \u201cBaby Got Brut\u201d and \u201c305\u201d are M.I.A.\u2019s creations, while \u201cHopstilavista\u201d and \u201cSocial Club IPA\u201d hail from other local breweries. Beyond the taproom, in the offices in the back, it smells like marijuana; but it\u2019s really hemp being tested in a new brew. Polished silver barrels perfect the recipe.<\/p>\n

Safe to say, Leon\u2019s lab has come a long way from the home brewing kit that inspired the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI call it \u2018liquid architecture.\u2019 I like coming up with ideas,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The abbreviation “M.I.A.” could stand for several things: missing in action, Miami International Airport or simply Miami. For Leon and his company, it stands for “Miami-Inspired Ales.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leon was not a beverage management major. The Miamian studied architecture at FIU, earning bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees. While working on his master\u2019s, he was given a home brewing kit by his wife. The graduate student began experimenting with craft beer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a while, you kind of get bored of drinking Budweiser,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n

Upon graduating, Leon went on to start an architecture company. But he saw that Miami\u2019s real estate market was volatile, and didn’t want to have all his investments in that one business. He and his two business partners moved to create M.I.A. Beer Company.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeer is something that people are going to drink whether times are good or bad. They may not buy the same type of beer, but they are still going to drink,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n

While transitioning between businesses, Leon\u2019s knowledge from architecture didn’t go to waste. He and his partners designed the brewery\u2019s taproom themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cArchitecture is a really good base for a career. It taught me how to solve problems, how to visualize ideas and execute on them. It wasn\u2019t a hard transition for me,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n

Today, M.I.A. Brewing Company exports beer around the United States, but Leon still makes time to experiment. In November, Leon and his fellow brewers will unveil their newest beers at the 2019 North Miami BrewFest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Leon has three tips for NoMi BrewFest attendees: Eat light and often, drink plenty of water and start with the lighter beers: \u201cWhen you haven\u2019t had a beer yet, and you drink it for the first time, you\u2019re going to get a lot more aroma out of it. After a few double IPAs and stouts, you may not perceive some of the subtleties of the beer.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The NoMi BrewFest invites master brewers and casual beer fans alike to dive into the flavors of Florida\u2019s craft beer scene. Local South Florida breweries are preparing more than 200 different beers, including several brand-new tastes; so every attendee can try something new.<\/p>\n

Leon has participated in the festival since its beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be beer that you\u2019ve never tried before, I\u2019m sure. Even people who think they know a little bit about beer, they will always be surprised by something different,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n

At the Festival, brewers will be pouring their beers themselves. This is a unique opportunity for both the consumers and the brewers, Leon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great because you get to bring out your experimental stuff, have people try it and get feedback on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The North Miami BrewFest will take place on Nov. 16 at Moca Plaza. Proceeds from NoMi BrewFest support the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.\u00a0Tickets<\/a>\u00a0are available now.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2013By David Drucker for FIU News Eddie Leon \u201996, MAA \u201998 wanted to be an inventor as a kid. Now, he has his laboratory: a 21,000-square-foot brewery in Doral. Inside the warehouse of M.I.A. Beer Company, blue and pink neon lights\u2014reminiscent of Miami Vice\u2014splash onto the long walls. A sprawling chalkboard offers more than 50 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[369],"tags":[453,415,149,12,478],"class_list":["post-15790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-spotlight","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-association","tag-chaplin-school-of-hospitality-and-tourism-management","tag-fiu-alumni","tag-nomi-brewfest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15790"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15796,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15790\/revisions\/15796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}