First Magnitude Brewing Company — Restaurant in Gainesville

Not a good experience. Beer was ok. Staff had all the personality of an empty cardboard box, but it gets better...I ordered cider for my two teenage daughters while my wife and I ordered beer. Shortly after sitting down a staff barmaid came to the table and said we can't 'do that' in the state of Florida. When I realized that she was referring to my daughters drinks I said, oh no, these are ciders. She then informed me that they were alcoholic ciders. I was surprised, thinking they were non-alcoholic, but moved them from my daughters immediately and apologized. My wife had ordered pizza from the truck outside and I said to get them a soda when they got the pizza, which she did. Feeling pretty silly for not realizing it was alcoholic cider, I went back up to the bar and looked more closely at the cider listing. It did indeed say that it was alcoholic, I had just missed it and again apologized to the same barmaid. She didn't respond. Went back to the table, ate our pizza and my wife drank the cider. We were having a few chuckles about having made the mistake and were commenting that the cider did taste good and there was no alcoholic taste. I told my daughters that they could taste it again if they wanted. They took a sip. Immediately after that, a young bearded man approached our table and began to lecture us that it was not ok for them to drink the cider. I started to explain that we ordered it thinking it was non-alcoholic, but he cut me off with his lecture. He then stated that he was an off duty police officer and if he saw them drink it again he would call his buddy who worked the area and they would come and shut the place down and alluded to trouble for myself and left abruptly. Now, I don't condone underage drinking and would never allow my daughters to sit there and consume more than a sip to taste it. The young bearded man was obviously not an off-duty police officer, but rather an employee sent to try to intimidate me. I take offense to this. I did nothing more than finish my beer, pay the tab and leave, but I will not return and I would caution others that if you want some ok beer and crappy service, and potentially have an employee impersonate a police officer and try to intimidate you, visit First Magnitude. All of these things can happen and did happen to me. Good luck.

Thank you Christine. I appreciate your thoughtful response to my review. I'm sorry that I felt compelled to write such a review, but felt that it was deserved at the time. Your effort to explain your position does help. If that young man did not work at the brewery, I apologize for suggesting that he did. The likelihood that he was a police officer is very low as persons of his apparent age do not find themselves in undercover roles often if ever and bushy beards are not acceptable as a uniformed officer but more common in brewery employees. I know this because I was once an officer myself. As for the bar staff and their level of friendliness, there is room for improvement. The night we were there it was slow and there should have been no reason for the disengaged attitude that I received. I bring this up as the former owner of a business and know the importance of making your customers feel appreciated. I hope this helps in guiding your employees to be more aware of their outward demeanor in spite of their inward feelings. Best of luck with your...

We were in town doing business one of the owners of this company. But the funny part was, we didn’t realize he was part owner of the company until I said something to him about a beer I had at the hotel the night before. Haha. Small world!

So we were working in the lobby of our hotel and all they had were a few cans of local beer. A few of us being beer lovers, decided to give them a shot. At first sip, we were in love! Good local beer with tons of flavor. The best part, they were just enough in alcohol content to make you feel warm, but not too strong that prevented you from enjoying multiple beers. I ended up sampling 3 or 4 and loved every single one.

When I told Wells, one of the owners, how I loved the beers; he said we had to do a tour of the facility. Of course we jumped on the opportunity. Being a home brewer myself, I was very interested in seeing a large scale process in person. The facility was amazing! Their process was above what I expected. So clean, precise, fun, and very family oriented. When I say family, I’m not talking about bringing your family. I am talking about how the employees interacted and worked together. They seemed like a family rather than coworkers. I guess that is why we work so well together in his other business. We are a family oriented company too.

Speaking of family, we continued our tour and viewed the tap rooms and outdoor park. This is where you can bring your own family. They have places for kids to play, parents to enjoy music and games, or just a spot to relax and enjoy great beer.

Unfortunately when we took our tour, the facility was closed for the day so we didn’t get to enjoy live music or play games. But, we all agreed when we are in town next, we will ONLY do our entertaining at the brewery here. Good beer and good employees in a fun atmosphere equal the perfect combination to a great place.

We look forward to visiting...

I've been going to First Mag for over 5 years. The beer is great. Unfortunately I recommend drinking their beer on tap somewhere other than their brewery venue. The service there is shockingly rude. Pre-pandemic a bartender told me she would not serve me a second beer because I was a woman alone and I needed to protect myself... I was with friends but approaching the bar by myself. Once I was approached by a bartender while sitting outside with my co-workers, singled out, and was the only person asked to show an ID although I was carded while purchasing the beer. Post-pandemic I've been yelled at for pulling my mask down to take a sip of water inside the brewery while in line (yes, raised voice actual yelling from a bartender man) but then asked to remove my mask to see my face when being carded? Another time there was a very long line at an event so I asked to purchase 2 beers for myself so I didn't have to wait in line again. I was told they would only serve me 1 beer per ID. I understand being cautious and trying to create an environment that does not cater to an undergraduate crowd. But I am a small framed petite woman who is 28 years old. It is such a shame since their venue is close-by and I enjoy a beer after biking the Hawthorne trail. It's very disappointing as someone who is a long...