Offering craft beer and sourdough pizzas, new brewpub opens Saturday in Fleming Island
Featuring 15 craft beers on tap and signature sourdough Neo-Neapolitan pizzas, Barley & Pie Brewing Company debuts Saturday at 1605 County Road 220, No. 145, in Fleming Plaza shopping center on Fleming Island.
Barley & Pie Brewing Company is the first gastropub from husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Philip and Kara Maple. A veteran craft brewer, Maple previously co-founded and served as president and brewmaster of Wicked Barley in Jacksonville.
Barley & Pie is independent and unrelated to Wicked Barley despite the similarity in the names, he told the Times-Union.
Maple said that Barley & Pie was the opportunity to focus on combining his passions for hand-crafted pizza and craft beer making. Fleming Island, he said, was the perfect location to open a craft brewery with a full liquor bar and restaurant with sourdough pizza.
"It was an ah-ha moment of there's no brewery out here. I know that people will support it. Because I'm in the community it had to happen in Fleming Island," he said.
It all starts with 'Sharon'
Barley & Pie is unique. It appears to be the first and only sourdough pizzeria in Northeast Florida.
"We have a sourdough starter that is five years old. Her name is actually Sharon and I feed her twice a day, every single day," said Maple, noting he and his wife make the dough in the mornings and sometimes they're there for six to eight hours cranking out dough.
The dough will firm up 72 hours before it's ready to bake.
"It's light. It's airy. It's got a very puffy crust. I like to call Neo-Neapolitan," he said of the pizza they bake in a rotating deck oven that keeps the flame consistent. "It's just something different. You can eat it and the next day you don't feel bloated."
Their pizzas also have a lower gluten content because of the sourdough and long fermentation process, he said.
Barley & Pie offers 10 specialty pies including:
Off the Wagon Vodka Ravioli ($19): House-made vodka sauce, mozzarella, ravioli, asiago and parmesan cheeses
Quattro Formaggi White Pizza ($22): Hand-dipped ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, Pecorino Romano, Sicilian oregano, lemon zest and olive oil
Margherita ($17): Tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, pecorino romano, basil and olive oil
Sausage, Peppers, Onions ($20): Red Sauce with orange blossom honey, mozzarella, asiago, Italian sausage crumbles, red bell peppers and pickled red onions
Appetizers include Fried Carbonara balls, which feature pasta, egg, parmesan and bacon "fried to perfection" then served with house-made garlic lemon aioli, the menu shows.
In the coming weeks, they plan to start selling fresh sourdough loaves, brioche buns and sub rolls to go. They also plan to introduce sandwiches on the menu, Maple said.
"A lot of good things are coming. We're not just a pizzeria. We're also a real-deal sourdough bakery," he said.
Craft beers on tap
Barley & Pie brews its craft beers on-site.
Tangerine Spite IPA, which has fresh tangerine puree in it and is "very balanced with low bitterness," leads off their signature beers, he said.
In homage to Fleming Island and Clay County, Barley & Pie offers Clay Lite, a beer meant to be enjoyed on "boater skip day, on Black Creek, Doctor's Lake or on your porch with friends," he said.
Pints are priced from $4 to $6.50 each, Maple said.
The brewpub also will have a full bar offering craft cocktails. Among them is Brackish Smash, which has Brackish vodka, light rum, banana liquor, pineapple and orange juice topped with grenadine, according to the menu.
'Teddy bear of a dog' brewpub mascot
The Barley of Barley & Pie is the Maple family dog — a gentle affectionate 150-plus pound brindle bullmastiff. The couple chose Barley as the brewpub logo. It shows Barley as a puppy with a slice of pizza in his mouth.
"When we started the concept we knew we wanted to come up with a name that captured obviously the beer component because we are a craft brewery, and also a sourdough pizza component," he said.
Kara Maple came up with the name — combining Barley and pie.
"It was one of those 'ah ha' moments. … It just really made sense using and turning his real puppy photo into a logo to use," Maple said of Barley, now almost three years old but still puppy adorable and sweet.
"He's a big boy and he is a teddy bear. He's great with our kids … and he is the sweetest dog," Maple said.
Maple said Barley & Pie Brewing Company will be open 3 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday through Sunday and closed on Mondays.
Jacksonville-area brewpub closures
The Barley & Pie opening follows a series of separate and unrelated closures of Jacksonville-area craft breweries and taprooms.
Most notable among those is A1A Ale Works, which closed May 26 after 29 years of serving craft beer and upscale pub grub at the foot of the Bridge of Lions in historic downtown St. Augustine.
Other closures include:
Hyperion Brewing Co., 1744 N Main St. in Jacksonville's historic Springfield neighborhood, closed in March after more than six years
Brewer's Pizza, the home of Pinglehead Brewing Company, 14B Blanding Blvd. in Orange Park, closed last November after 14 years
Lemonstreet Brewing Co., 2100 Dennis St. in Jacksonville's Rail Yard District, closed last December after four years
Tabula Rasa Brewery, 2385 Corbett St., also in the Rail Yard District, closed last August after five years
Teresa Stepzinski is the dining reporter for the Times-Union. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @TeresaStepz or reach her via email at [email protected].
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Barley & Pie Brewing Company opens in Fleming Island, Florida
