First Magnitude Brewing Company

First Magnitude Brewing CompanyFirst Magnitude Brewing Company
First Magnitude Brewing CompanyFirst Magnitude Brewing Company
Brewery, Bar, Beer-to-go

1220 SE Veitch St
Gainesville, Florida, 32601-7917
United States

(352) 727-4677 | map
fmbrewing.com
BEER STATS
Average:
3.87
Beers:
118
Ratings:
413
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.25
Reviews:
12
Ratings:
37
pDev:
9.88%
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by cambabeer:
Photo of cambabeer
Reviewed by cambabeer from New York

4/5  rDev -5.9%
This is a great new place in Gainesville, Fl. We've had SwampHead in the area for a while, and they're fantastic, but it is nice to see the craft beer scene blossoming in our town. Nice atmosphere, you can play large sized jenga or corn-hole in the brewery, or head into the air-conditioned tasting room, The Source, where there's plenty of seating and boardgames. They have about ten taps, three of which are brewed on location currently (with three more in the fermenters... get excited). They also have brews from around florida. Great little place, hope to see them do well!
Sep 09, 2014
More User Ratings:
Photo of Billolick
Reviewed by Billolick from New York

4.46/5  rDev +4.9%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.5
I loved everything about my visit to this spot...super friendly and chill vibe enveloping all aspects of the place, multiple indoor rooms and outdoor spaces. Food truck out back, serving up tasty burritos and tacos. Great beer on draft to stay and in tall cans to go. Multiple options and flavors including the desired hazy/juicy options. Super friendly staff and diverse crowd including young/old/families....I would be a regular if I was local
Jul 27, 2022
 
Rated: 4.2 by Jcarriglio from Florida

Jan 04, 2019
 
Rated: 5 by jsmc1331 from Florida

Jul 03, 2018
Photo of Gatch
Reviewed by Gatch from Massachusetts

4.76/5  rDev +12%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.75
Really cool spot in a nice area. Near downtown and the UF campus. Food is provided by a rotating food truck each day. Huge beer selection and everything I had in the flight was awesome. Great space for people of all ages, especially kids. Outdoors, indoors, it’s all comfortable and chill. Can’t recommend this place enough.
Mar 11, 2018
 
Rated: 4.33 by Vandelay1863 from Florida

Jan 29, 2018
 
Rated: 4.68 by egrissom from Georgia

May 31, 2017
 
Rated: 3.96 by Beachops from Florida

May 25, 2017
Photo of Reef
Reviewed by Reef from South Carolina

4.59/5  rDev +8%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4.25 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5
Visited on a Friday night, all the taps were their own beers,. Four or five "pilot batch" beers. The only year round beer that I had was Wakullkah, their Hef, which was very nice. I also enjoyed a black IPA and Belgian IPA.
Large outdoor area with kids playground. No Dawgs allowed. Always been a food truck when I visited. TV's and games available. Capacious bike parking with a cool mural.
Apr 14, 2017
 
Rated: 4.14 by Chasegator from Florida

Jan 02, 2017
 
Rated: 4.71 by ParaCAD from Florida

Nov 15, 2016
 
Rated: 4.28 by chloebc1 from Florida

Oct 27, 2016
 
Rated: 3.84 by CalebM from Florida

Oct 10, 2016
 
Rated: 4.23 by Graham19840 from Florida

May 25, 2016
 
Rated: 4.61 by KensWorld from Florida

May 14, 2016
 
Rated: 4.72 by StevenMilligan from Florida

Apr 17, 2016
Photo of xt0n1cx
Reviewed by xt0n1cx from Virginia

4.1/5  rDev -3.5%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.25
Small brewery with a the right feel. All beers I had were excellent. Really enjoyed the barley wine and like the options available for flights. Did not have a beer I didn't like!
Dec 23, 2015
Photo of PorterLambic
Reviewed by PorterLambic from Florida

4.58/5  rDev +7.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5
Opened early on a Sunday for a U. of Florida graduation weekend, we were the first in just after noon.
The place is expansive, with tons of seating inside and out. Casual, welcoming and with good lighting, natural & artificial. Music isn't too loud. Staff is accommodating and helpful if not overly friendly.
Beer selection is huge, 16 of theirs on tap, 7 guest taps. Growlers to go, flights of 4. What's not to like? Location stored in GPS for future reference.
Dec 20, 2015
 
Rated: 4.2 by Chris-1911 from Illinois

Oct 31, 2015
 
Rated: 4.36 by cuvtcuv from Florida

Oct 15, 2015
 
Rated: 4.06 by papajohn56 from Florida

Sep 11, 2015
 
Rated: 4.28 by TomB from Florida

Jul 27, 2015
Photo of Jason_cs
Rated by Jason_cs from Florida

3.13/5  rDev -26.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.25 | service: 2 | selection: 3.5
Service was pretty bad. Not very helpful, boardering on rude. Other than service it is a really nice place. Great set up with lots to do.
Jul 09, 2015
 
Rated: 3.89 by nickfl from Florida

Jun 25, 2015
Photo of flbrewdaddy
Rated by flbrewdaddy from Florida

4.85/5  rDev +14.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.75 | selection: 5
Great atmosphere. Family friendly. Staff is the best. Bar none!
May 13, 2015
 
Rated: 3.73 by Pearlstreetbrewingco from Florida

May 06, 2015
Photo of IckyT2012
Reviewed by IckyT2012 from Florida

4.08/5  rDev -4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4 | selection: 4
A great spot to spend the afternoon. Lively bar area, vibrant open space in the brew room with lots of games, and a peaceful area outside with space for kids to play. Beer quality is constantly improving.
Apr 18, 2015
 
Rated: 3.85 by Beer21 from Florida

Apr 10, 2015
Photo of Dayvcrocket
Rated by Dayvcrocket from Florida

4.56/5  rDev +7.3%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4
Love this place...picnic tables outdoors...indoor tables...food trucks and good craft beers...very nice atmosphere.
Mar 13, 2015
Photo of DoctorZombies
Reviewed by DoctorZombies from Florida

4.4/5  rDev +3.5%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.25
Fun, family friendly brewery with tons of indoor/outdoor seating with games. Tonight, a group was hanging out playing ukuleles! Oh yeah, very good beer too!
Mar 12, 2015
Photo of chinchill
Reviewed by chinchill from South Carolina

3.75/5  rDev -11.8%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 3.75 | service: 3.75 | selection: 3.75
Furnishing consist of high and low picnic tables and benches, both indoors and out.
3 Flights available, increasing in cost as guest breweries or limited release FM brews are added. Board games and free wifi available.
2 flatscreen TVs inside offer sports.
Feb 19, 2015
Photo of Bentleypkt
Reviewed by Bentleypkt

3.3/5  rDev -22.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 2.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3
Brewery had promise but the beers all fall short in flavor and quality. It was like Budweiser decided to tackle the craft brew market. Hopefully they will start to produce better in the future.
Jan 31, 2015
 
Rated: 4.4 by chigator from Florida

Jan 03, 2015
Photo of BMMillsy
Reviewed by BMMillsy from Florida

3.99/5  rDev -6.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.75
Massive spot out of the way in Gainesville. I can’t believe how big the property is. Went in on a Thursday night and there was a Vet School get together so it was packed and hoppin’ pretty good. Good tap list with some fun guest taps from Funky Buddha and others from Florida. Nice outdoor beer garden area with plenty of seating and plenty of space to wander, and even a fire pit. Food truck out front serving up stone fired pizza. Nice service. Only complaint was the line for the bathroom. Maybe it’s not always thtis busy, but being a place of this size, they’re going to have to stick in a couple more toilets. Overall definitely worth checking out as they expand their selection. They do a couple styles really well (the Tub ESB is recommend, especially for fans of the style).
Dec 20, 2014
 
Rated: 5 by kwkurdziel from Florida

Nov 23, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Thors_Bounty from Florida

Oct 02, 2014
Photo of fmccormi
Reviewed by fmccormi from California

4.35/5  rDev +2.4%
This place is fantastic. They have a big, open, warehouse-type space south of downtown in Gainesville. There are two parts to the space: a big, semi-open area with a few picnic tables, old, industrial-sized cable spools that act as tables to stand around, a couple of oversized Jenga sets made from 2x4s, space for a cornhole set, and a lack of a back wall that opens right into their (roped off) brewing area, which is awesome. It's always fun to see brewers at work, with their ingredients and equipment right in front of you.

The other half of the space is the tap room, which also contains a mixture of bench-style tables and higher tables that you can either stand around or sit at on tall stools. There's one TV in the taproom, which is nice if you're jonesing for whatever the most prominent sports programming on TV might be at the time. And then, there's the bar.

At the bar, you can get a pint or get a growler fill (32oz or 128oz/1 gallon, because of Florida's goofy regulations on getting beer to go) of whatever their house beers might be at the time. Right now they always seem to have their three (current) core offerings: Siren Blonde, 72 Pale Ale, and Drift English Mild, which are always available for growler fills. In addition, they may have one or two rotating or seasonal in-house brews, which generally are not available for growler fills. Beyond that, they have something like ten-ish guest taps available, all of which (from what I can tell) are from other Florida breweries, and not just Cigar City—up and coming breweries from around the state, and interesting brews, too!

First Magnitude has no kitchen or food available in house—BUT, they very frequently (as in, basically every night that they're open) have a local food truck, which in my experience is always interesting and good food, for pretty reasonable prices. This is one of my favorite trends in the business side of breweries these days: hosting local food trucks or vendors in a community-focused, economically symbiotic relationship. How great is that?

Overall, First Magnitude is absolutely doing it right. Their beer is (so far) decent to very good, they have a roomy, kick-ass space set apart from the zoo of downtown but not too far removed, they encourage people to get comfortable with their surroundings, their service leaves nothing to complain about, and it's easy enough to get in and out of the brewery.

My ONE suggestion might be to make a dedicated line/counter space for growler fills. Right now it's just an open, L-shaped bar that functions the way most bars function: whoever gets up there and gets the attention of the bartender first, regardless of what they want or who else is waiting to be served, gets served first. It's how bars work, but there might be ways to operate it a little more smoothly at a brewery, where some people know what they want and could get in and get out a little faster. But this is a MINOR gripe, to be sure. First Magnitude truly is doing right.
Sep 20, 2014
First Magnitude Brewing Company in Gainesville, FL
Brewery rating: 3.87 out of 5 with 413 ratings