BRADENTON –The folks at Motorworks Brewing invite you to join them in celebrating American Craft Beer Week through Sunday, May 18.

Located at 1014 Ninth St. W. in Bradenton, near McKechnie Field and the Village of the Arts, Motorworks Brewing is a beer connoisseur’s paradise that also operates as a full-production brewery.

Beer enthusiasts will appreciate the constantly evolving draft menu that features more than 30 craft beers on tap; some brewed on location, and some brewed elsewhere in America, Canada and Europe.

Last week’s menu featured Motorworks Brewing Cascade IPA, Kölsch-style, Scotch Ale, and a Coffee Porter “with chocolate and prevalent coffee notes.”

Additional offerings included Boulder Brewing’s Hazed and Confused, Lexington Brewing’s Kentucky Bourbon Ale and the Italian-brewed Birrificio del Ducato Brett Peat Daydream.

Drafts range from $4.50 to $10, with more than 100 varieties of bottled beers also available, as well as wine, liquor, specialty cocktails, cigars and food.

Guests can sit inside the cavernous, but cozy, industrial chic taproom and wine bar or sit outside in the expansive beer garden. Interior amenities include a music stage, large-screen televisions, electronic dartboards, video games and a pinball machine. The beer garden features a second stage, 16 cornhole sets, two Bocce courts, a three-hole putting green and a deck positioned beneath a beautiful old oak tree.

A rotating fleet of local food trucks, including the Traveling Kitchen and South Philly Cheesesteaks, provides the food service. Diners can order from their server or walk up to the window and order directly.

“We focus on what we know and love, which is the beer,” said Marketing Manager Barry Elwonger, noting that the food truck partnerships alleviate the need to run a commercial kitchen.

Brewing business

Owned by Denise and Frank Tschida, Motorworks Brewing opened in January. The 27,000 square foot, two-story brick building dates back to the 1920s and formerly housed automotive dealerships and an electrical company.

The installation of an expanded 30-barrel brewing system provides the capacity to produce 30,000 barrels of craft beer per year. In addition to selling these products in-house, the business model calls for Motorworks kegs to be distributed to area restaurants and bars, and cans to be distributed to stores.

The brewing team consists of Head Brewer Bob Haa, Assistant Brewer Jose Martinez and Production Manager Dave Byrn.

With the recent opening of Darwin’s, and the pending opening of the Little Giant Brewery, downtown Bradenton is poised to become a craft beer destination.

“Craft brewers compete against each other, but we treat each other as partners because the more we educate the consumers, the better we all do,” Elwonger said.

Celebrating beer

American Craft Beer Week specials include daily $5 beer flights that consist of four different four-ounce drafts, served on a wooden paddle in a traditional manner that encourages tasting and comparison.

A Vienna lager and dry-hopped versions of Motorworks’ IPA and Kölsch-style beers will be released this week, as will daily beer infusions created with a Randall filter that allows additional flavors to be incorporated into a beer before it is served. Taking place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., the Thursday, May 15, Brewer’s Hour discussion will feature a special beer and food pairing. At 8 p.m., it’s Flights & Flicks, the weekly Thursday event that pairs $5 flights with classic films shown on the 250-inch beer garden projection screen.

The Steve Arvey Band will perform Friday night and the Burke Brothers on Saturday night.

Sundays always begin with a dog-friendly Beer Brunch served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and featuring dollar discounts on all drafts, $3 Bloody Marys and mimosas, and brunch by the Traveling Kitchen.

“We call it ‘Yappy Hour,’ our special day of the week when we supply complimentary dog treats,” said Social Media Director Kristin Martin, noting that well-behaved dogs are always welcome on the patio.

Sunday afternoon’s open-mic session starts at 1 p.m. and provides entertainers an opportunity to audition for future gigs.

“We’re trying to support local music, and it would be nice to get some bands from the Island,” Martin said.

When asked about visitors from the Island, Elwonger said, “We’ve had some, and we’d love to have more.”

Motorworks Brewing is open 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Beer, food, wine and cocktail menus can be viewed at www.motorworks brewing.com.

MOTORWORKS BREWING

1014 Ninth St. W., Bradenton

Sunday-Thursday
11 a.m. to midnight

Friday & Saturday
11 a.m. to 2 a.m.
www.motorworksbrewing.com.

 

In the last two months there has been a big change in how investors are viewing investing in technology companies. For most of 2013 and the first month or so of 2014 investors couldn’t get enough of what I like to call “new” technology companies. These are companies like Amazon, Twitter, Netflix, Facebook and others. In a way they aren’t really even technology companies other than the fact they use the internet to facilitate consumer commerce and communications.

Investor excitement about these fast growing firms drove them to very high prices and extreme valuations. It was a bit reminiscent of the 1999 to 2000 period where technology and dot.com companies were bid up to stratospheric valuations, which ultimately culminated with the NASDAQ market declining 80% in value when the bubble burst.

What seems different this time around is that the overvaluation seems to be confined to these new technology companies and is not widespread. Old technology companies even appear to be reasonably valued and some are making new 52 week highs, while the new tech companies are down 20 to 30 percent, or even more in some cases.

For example, the big three old technology companies - Apple, Intel and Microsoft trade at price to earnings ratios of 14, 14, and 15 respectively, while paying dividend yields of 2.3, 3.4, and 2.8 percent respectively. Amazon trades at a PE Ratio of 450 and Netflix at 160. Neither company pays a dividend to shareholders.

The problem with companies that trade at very high valuations is they need to continue to grow at very high rates so that the earnings of the company can justify such a lofty stock price. The reality of the situation is that growing at very high rates for many years just isn’t that easy. When the inevitable mistakes are made by management or the economy takes a turn for the worse, investors don’t hesitate to dump these high flying stocks. Prices can easily decline by more than 50%, a process which now appears to now be unfolding for the new tech sector.

The old tech companies can also decline in price in a general market correction, but with valuations much more modest, the floor would appear to be closer than for some of the high fliers. The payment of the cash dividend is also supportive of higher prices in the long run because most old tech companies are raising their dividend on a regular basis, just as Apple recently announced.

I think the time is right to own the older technology companies which continue to grow and pay rising dividends, rather than the over-valued new technology sectors.

Tom Breiter is president of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing. Visit www.breitercapital.com.