Talking with Ben Porter about Copper Tap House
EatDrinkJax.com talks with Ben Porter, Owner of Jacksonville restaurant Copper Tap House.
1. Tell us about Copper Tap House
We’re a regional craft beer and craft food tap house. The craft beer craze is absolutely blowing up in this country. What we do different at Copper is we put our craft beer with excellent food. You can go into a lot of different tap houses and they’re fun, nice, casual environments, but we put a huge focus on the food aspect of it. That’s what sets us apart from the other tap houses. Our food quality allows us to compete with any of the top restaurants in the city. Everything here is made fresh. The only thing we don’t make fresh is our fries.
2. Why don’t you make your own fries?
Because when I asked our chef to come up with fries he told me these are better than anything he could do and they’re better than what anyone else is doing. We use a brand called Lamb Colossal Crisp Fries. People generally don’t buy them because they’re expensive. Our Sweet Potato Fries are a waffle cut and they’re also a Lamb Colossal Crisp variety. They’re superb. If we could hand make our fries better we would. You have to taste them to really see what I mean. When they’re cooked they come out very crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They also stay hot for a long time so they don’t go cold even if you don’t eat them right away.
Lamb Colossal Crisp Fries
3. What exactly is a tap house?
It’s a place where craft beer makers put their beers on tap. It’s different from a brew house, which makes its own beer. We don’t make our own beer - we showcase the best craft beers from around the country.
4. Where does the name Copper Tap House come from?
It comes from brewing beer, which started in the copper brew kettles. If you look at our tap it’s a replica of a 1930s brew kettle. That was the focus and the original idea. It just hit me one day - a year before we even thought about signing the lease. I wrote it down and stuck it on the wall. At the time I wasn't even thinking of another restaurant, I just thought it was a neat idea.
Now we have many elements that re-enforce the copper theme. We have awesome LED lights that glow copper and give a completely different ambiance to the place at night. The tables have inlaid sheets of copper on the top, covered with a clear epoxy.
Taps on the Copper brew kettle
5. Can you tell us about the pennies in the bar?
Those come from the copper theme as well. At our other restaurant, The Pier Cantina, we had sea shells embedded in the bar. I wanted to do something similar here so we put in 52,000 pennies along the top of the bar and covered them with a clear epoxy. We get a lot of great comments about them.
52,000 pennies in the bar top. Can you spot the tails?
6. And all the pennies are facing up?
Well, most of them. We placed them all by hand. So far we’ve found about 7 that are facing down.
7. What appealed to you about the location of Copper?
Being a beach guy, I was somewhat familiar with the location. But it really comes down to traffic count. I understand there have been other restaurants in this location that haven’t made it but the traffic is here and the restaurant has great visibility from Hodges. It also had the right square footage that wasn’t too big for our initial restaurant.
Copper - outside of restaurant
8. How would you describe the food at Copper?
We call what we do craft food.
9. What do you mean by craft food?
For us, we think about craft beer, craft food, or any craft item as bringing a special perspective to its creation. It involves taking a little more care and pride in what you’re doing. If you think about the people who make craft beers they usually start small and they’re constantly throwing together ingredients and trying a lot of different things. And they put a lot of passion into their effort. If you talk to anybody who makes craft beer, whether they’re making it in their garage or whether it’s the guys from Intuition Ale Works, they all love what they do. They love every aspect of it. We wanted to do them justice by making sure that everything that comes out of the kitchen here is at the quality level of their beers. I didn’t want to slap them in the face and put their great beers out here with some subpar food. So we take the same care and pride they bring to their beers and apply it to our food.
Pollo Diablo Slider. “Devil Chicken” tossed in Diablo sauce and topped with pepper jack cheese
10. What would you recommend to someone who wants to try out the food at Copper?
You can’t come into Copper and not get one of our sliders. They’re our main thing - and they’re not just regular sliders. We like to say that we’re re-defining the slider. They’re not just burgers anymore. Our sliders are both substantial in size and unique in the combinations we’ve put together. We have 18 sliders here on the menu that we categorize into six different regions across the country. You can order sliders a la carte or by one of the 6 regions. The Island region is our most popular slider region. It features a Hawaiian Beef Slider with Pineapple, a Kalua Pig Slider and a Scallop Burger with Cilantro-Lime Mayo.
Scallop Slider with Cilantro-Lime Mayo
11. Why do you think the Island region is the most popular?
I think it’s because it’s so different. Where else are you going to get a Scallop Burger?
12. Why did you choose a regional approach to Copper?
It helps to simplify things. Sometimes you go to a tap house and you see a wall of beers or a long menu of unfamiliar options. Often there may not be an order to it and it can be confusing. We wanted to simplify things. The regions can bring you back to something you’re familiar with. You may have taken a trip to New York or to the West Coast and tried a beer there that we’re featuring.
Fried Grouper Slider, panko-breaded and drizzed with Atlantic Beach Aoili
13. Why did you choose to focus on sliders?
I wanted to do something that no one else is doing. I may be crazy in doing that, but I truly believe there is some genius in there.
14. Besides the sliders, are your other menu items regionally based?
They are. We try to give descriptions on the menu of where a certain dish comes from. Take our She Crab Soup for example. It’s a Charleston, SC staple that was born in the 1700’s. We prepare it in the authentic way it’s done in Charleston. The name refers to the use of roe, which are the eggs from a female crab. We make our soup in a 5-gallon batch and use one pound of crab roe and about 4 pounds of crab per batch. The dish is very delicate and the roe gives it a wonderful, distinct flavor. When you cook the roe it has a cheesy texture that makes it seem like there’s cheese in the soup, but there’s not. For people who haven’t had She Crab Soup before, they’re often surprised that when it’s served it’s not really hot. But because of the roe it can’t be heated too much without destroying the flavor. That’s what I mean by the soup being delicate. Flying in the roe and being true to the recipe is what gives our soup its regional authenticity.
She-Crab Soup
We take a similar approach with our other items as well. Our Fresh Avocado Salad is drawn from the Escondido California area. It’s made with a lot of avocado, red onions, and cilantro on a bed of organic spring mix. We add our house made Basil-Aioli sauce and a little coarse black pepper and kosher salt. It can be a meal by itself but it’s healthy and light tasting. So, it’s not just sliders, but our full menu that is based on regional influences.
Fresh Avocado Salad
15. What’s your favorite slider?
My favorite has to be the Wasabi Duck Slider. It’s fantastic.
16. Is there anywhere you’d suggest someone new to Copper start in terms of the sliders?
I’d start with the Wasabi Duck or Scallop Burger. They’re delicious, they’re unique, and they show off what our food is all about.
If that’s too out there for someone then I’d say that even on the basic level our Buffalo Chicken is phenomenal. We make everything from scratch, including the sauce that goes on the chicken.
Our slider buns are not your typical dinner roll either. We bake everything in house every day. Any buns left over at the end of the day go to the Mission House in Jacksonville Beach. Being absolutely fresh is a big part of our focus and what sets us apart.
17. Do most people order a la carte or by region?
By region. You get a wide range of options within a region and it gives people a good chance to try something a little different along with something more familiar.
18. What would you suggest people try after the sliders?
Our entrées are the more substantial side of our menu. You will not leave Copper hungry. For something different that shows off our craft food approach, I’d recommend the Loco Moco. It’s the national dish of Hawaii. It starts with a bed of Hawaiian rice. On top of the rice are two ground beef patties topped with eggs and our in-house demi-glace. The Loco Moco is a huge favorite. It’s big and impressive.
Loco Moco
19. What’s Baked Goat Cheese Pomodora Dip?
It’s made with a California goat cheese. The Pomodora aspect refers to the Italian flair of the dish in terms of the spices, fresh diced tomatoes, and olive oils we use.
20. What’s a Bolillo?
Bolillo means “white bread” so it represents a traditional Mexican sandwich that is popular in Texas. It’s made with ground up chorizo sausage that’s formed into a patty. We grill the chorizo patty and add pepper jack cheese, jalapeños, onions and tomatoes.
21. Are there any hidden gems on the menu that people may not think to try right away?
Absolutely - our desserts! We have a European trained pastry chef. We start early in the morning making the desserts at the same time as we’re baking our rolls.
22. Do you have a dessert favorite?
The Tortuga Rum Cake is hard to beat. It’s another regional Island specialty from Hawaii. We make it with Whaler’s Vanille, which is a Caribbean rum. It’s got fresh strawberries and white chocolate on it. It’s hard to describe, but it’s fantastic. And it pairs well with some of our craft beers.
23. Dessert and beer?
Yes! Beer is great with everything. The Tortuga Rum Cake goes perfectly with our Breckenridge Vanilla Porter beer. It’s a perfect combination.
24. Do a lot of people order beer with their dessert?
Absolutely! If my wife allowed it I’d order dessert and beer as my meal.
There are a lot of good combinations. Our Tres Leches is a Latin American dessert made with 3 different milks. It’s a light dessert and goes well with something like a light wheat beer.
Craft beers lend themselves well to pairing with all our food, not just dessert. The Rib Eye has a little kick to it and pairs well with an IPA. We also use craft beer in a lot of our cooking. For example, we make our in-house demi-glace with a touch of stout and our Arrogant Bastard Pepper Jack Queso is made with Arrogant Bastard beer.
25. How did you come up with your menu?
Our general manager, Ace French, is the one who puts together our food selection. Chef French created the menu, and he set up the kitchen initially. In addition to being a top chef Ace has also worked all over the country, from Hawaii to New Orleans and DC, so he brings a lot of hands on experience with the regional cooking we feature. We’re now at the point where our two excellent kitchen managers can run things on a day-to-day basis so that Ace can focus on the front of the house.
26. Can you tell us a little bit about Chef French’s background?
Chef French is the owner of Two Dude’s Seafood Market here in Atlantic Beach, which he continues to run as well helping us here at Copper. I’m afraid to ask how many hours he works, but at least the restaurants are close by so he can move between them a few times a day as needed.
Executive Chef and GM, Ace French
27. Did Chef French give you the idea for the sliders?
I told him that I wanted to make sliders our focus and that I wanted a regional menu. From there I asked him what he could do and let him take it from there. When Ace first came to me with his ideas he had 36 different sliders, so a lot of them didn’t make it onto the first menu. We’ll have a lot of opportunities to introduce new slider options over time.
Cream Spinach Stuffed Meatloaf
28. Someone wrote that “Copper is an art gallery for craft beers.” What does that mean?
When an art gallery opens, it's going to bring in the finest artists and allow them to showcase their work. That’s what we do. We bring in the best craft beers from around the country and let the brewers showcase their craft. We put in the best tap system we could find. It looks great and it’s a great way to complement the passion these brewers have put into their beers.
29. How do you select the beers to showcase?
There are a lot of craft beers out there now so we needed to simplify things. That’s why we have the regional approach. Within each region we look for a variety that runs from lighter wheat beers all the way up to your stouts. We keep that consistent within each region. You’ll never order a flight from a region and get 4 stouts. We want to highlight the variety that comes from every region. For people who may be new to craft beers, they can order a region and see what styles they like.
30. Are craft beers regional in nature? Is there a Southern style of craft beer for example?
Craft brewers are going to make their beers with what they have available to them locally. So, in the South there’s a lot of use made of citrus ingredients and fruits. They make a lighter beer possible, which suits the area, especially when it’s 95 degrees out. Same with other regions. Sometimes there’s a seasonal element as well. Certain ingredients may only be available at certain times of the year, so we’ll get a beer for a short time, then it’s gone.
31. What’s the most popular region for your craft beers?
The Midwest. Gotta be the water because they can make some amazing brews.
32. Are there any big trends in craft beer?
IPA is huge, all across the US. Another trend is to age beers in bourbon barrels. The aging process imparts a rich, dark, bourbon flavor to the beer. There’s only so much supply and the beers are aged for a longer period so it’s difficult to add new supply quickly.
33. Why did you decide to highlight six regional areas for sliders and only four regional areas for your craft beers?
We wanted to offer a lot of choice in the regions, which is why we feature six areas for our sliders. For the beers it was more challenging because it is difficult to get beer from certain areas. Hawaii, for example, has a limited selection of craft beers and it wouldn’t make sense to feature a separate region for the limited options. Overall, having fewer regions for the beers made the most sense.
34. Do you change your beer selection very often?
Yes, all the time. We order our beers 3 kegs at a time. After the 3 kegs are gone we bring in a different beer. That means we’ve got 3 or 4 new taps going every week. There’s always something new.
35. Besides your beers you feature a number of craft cocktails. Can you tell us about them?
With craft items like our cocktails it’s extending that idea of taking a little more care and doing something special. You can see it in how we put our cocktails together. The fruit is on the bar and we cut it in front of you. It takes an extra minute to do it fresh like that but it’s what sets a craft cocktail apart - and you can taste the difference. That extra care extends to other ingredients too. For instance, the Rasberita uses Herradura Reposado tequila, Cointreau and muddled fresh raspberries. Our twist is to add a craft beer floater to the top of the Rasberita. You’d think that tequila and beer sounds awful but it’s fantastic, a really refreshing combination.
36. What’s the most popular cocktail?
Our Old Fashioned is our number one seller, without a doubt.
37. What’s next for Copper?
We opened on November 1st [2013]. At first we focused heavily on our kitchen side and I’d say that’s pretty well perfected at this point. We’re focusing hard on the service aspect now. We want our servers to be knowledgeable about what we’re doing and we want everyone to be on point. That takes time but we’re getting there. Once all that’s in place we’ll start implementing menu changes to bring new things in on a regular basis. We want to eventually add live music, probably later in the Spring or Summer.
38. Have you ever considered brewing your own beer?
I have. The size of Copper doesn’t allow us to brew here and I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but it’s something I’m thinking about for future plans.
39. Anything else?
I just want people to know that we’re a different sort of tap house. We take our craft beers seriously but we also take our food just as seriously. Our food isn’t an afterthought, it’s central to what we do and to what makes us different. Our goal now is to educate people about what we’re doing and to encourage them to try us out. A flight of regional beers along with 3 regional sliders is a great introduction to both our food and our craft beer.
Owner Ben Porter
13500 Beach Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL
(904) 647-6595
Hours
Sun - Wed 11am - 11pm
Thu - Sat 11am - 2pm
About the writer
EatDrinkJax.com interviews are conducted by Jacksonville Beach resident Gerry Glynn. When Gerry isn't talking with restauranteurs he is working for a local software company, training for his next road race, and hanging out with his wife and dog.
We’re a regional craft beer and craft food tap house. The craft beer craze is absolutely blowing up in this country. What we do different at Copper is we put our craft beer with excellent food. You can go into a lot of different tap houses and they’re fun, nice, casual environments, but we put a huge focus on the food aspect of it. That’s what sets us apart from the other tap houses. Our food quality allows us to compete with any of the top restaurants in the city. Everything here is made fresh. The only thing we don’t make fresh is our fries.
2. Why don’t you make your own fries?
Because when I asked our chef to come up with fries he told me these are better than anything he could do and they’re better than what anyone else is doing. We use a brand called Lamb Colossal Crisp Fries. People generally don’t buy them because they’re expensive. Our Sweet Potato Fries are a waffle cut and they’re also a Lamb Colossal Crisp variety. They’re superb. If we could hand make our fries better we would. You have to taste them to really see what I mean. When they’re cooked they come out very crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They also stay hot for a long time so they don’t go cold even if you don’t eat them right away.
Lamb Colossal Crisp Fries
3. What exactly is a tap house?
It’s a place where craft beer makers put their beers on tap. It’s different from a brew house, which makes its own beer. We don’t make our own beer - we showcase the best craft beers from around the country.
4. Where does the name Copper Tap House come from?
It comes from brewing beer, which started in the copper brew kettles. If you look at our tap it’s a replica of a 1930s brew kettle. That was the focus and the original idea. It just hit me one day - a year before we even thought about signing the lease. I wrote it down and stuck it on the wall. At the time I wasn't even thinking of another restaurant, I just thought it was a neat idea.
Now we have many elements that re-enforce the copper theme. We have awesome LED lights that glow copper and give a completely different ambiance to the place at night. The tables have inlaid sheets of copper on the top, covered with a clear epoxy.
Taps on the Copper brew kettle
5. Can you tell us about the pennies in the bar?
Those come from the copper theme as well. At our other restaurant, The Pier Cantina, we had sea shells embedded in the bar. I wanted to do something similar here so we put in 52,000 pennies along the top of the bar and covered them with a clear epoxy. We get a lot of great comments about them.
52,000 pennies in the bar top. Can you spot the tails?
6. And all the pennies are facing up?
Well, most of them. We placed them all by hand. So far we’ve found about 7 that are facing down.
7. What appealed to you about the location of Copper?
Being a beach guy, I was somewhat familiar with the location. But it really comes down to traffic count. I understand there have been other restaurants in this location that haven’t made it but the traffic is here and the restaurant has great visibility from Hodges. It also had the right square footage that wasn’t too big for our initial restaurant.
Copper - outside of restaurant
8. How would you describe the food at Copper?
We call what we do craft food.
9. What do you mean by craft food?
For us, we think about craft beer, craft food, or any craft item as bringing a special perspective to its creation. It involves taking a little more care and pride in what you’re doing. If you think about the people who make craft beers they usually start small and they’re constantly throwing together ingredients and trying a lot of different things. And they put a lot of passion into their effort. If you talk to anybody who makes craft beer, whether they’re making it in their garage or whether it’s the guys from Intuition Ale Works, they all love what they do. They love every aspect of it. We wanted to do them justice by making sure that everything that comes out of the kitchen here is at the quality level of their beers. I didn’t want to slap them in the face and put their great beers out here with some subpar food. So we take the same care and pride they bring to their beers and apply it to our food.
Pollo Diablo Slider. “Devil Chicken” tossed in Diablo sauce and topped with pepper jack cheese
10. What would you recommend to someone who wants to try out the food at Copper?
You can’t come into Copper and not get one of our sliders. They’re our main thing - and they’re not just regular sliders. We like to say that we’re re-defining the slider. They’re not just burgers anymore. Our sliders are both substantial in size and unique in the combinations we’ve put together. We have 18 sliders here on the menu that we categorize into six different regions across the country. You can order sliders a la carte or by one of the 6 regions. The Island region is our most popular slider region. It features a Hawaiian Beef Slider with Pineapple, a Kalua Pig Slider and a Scallop Burger with Cilantro-Lime Mayo.
Scallop Slider with Cilantro-Lime Mayo
11. Why do you think the Island region is the most popular?
I think it’s because it’s so different. Where else are you going to get a Scallop Burger?
12. Why did you choose a regional approach to Copper?
It helps to simplify things. Sometimes you go to a tap house and you see a wall of beers or a long menu of unfamiliar options. Often there may not be an order to it and it can be confusing. We wanted to simplify things. The regions can bring you back to something you’re familiar with. You may have taken a trip to New York or to the West Coast and tried a beer there that we’re featuring.
Fried Grouper Slider, panko-breaded and drizzed with Atlantic Beach Aoili
13. Why did you choose to focus on sliders?
I wanted to do something that no one else is doing. I may be crazy in doing that, but I truly believe there is some genius in there.
14. Besides the sliders, are your other menu items regionally based?
They are. We try to give descriptions on the menu of where a certain dish comes from. Take our She Crab Soup for example. It’s a Charleston, SC staple that was born in the 1700’s. We prepare it in the authentic way it’s done in Charleston. The name refers to the use of roe, which are the eggs from a female crab. We make our soup in a 5-gallon batch and use one pound of crab roe and about 4 pounds of crab per batch. The dish is very delicate and the roe gives it a wonderful, distinct flavor. When you cook the roe it has a cheesy texture that makes it seem like there’s cheese in the soup, but there’s not. For people who haven’t had She Crab Soup before, they’re often surprised that when it’s served it’s not really hot. But because of the roe it can’t be heated too much without destroying the flavor. That’s what I mean by the soup being delicate. Flying in the roe and being true to the recipe is what gives our soup its regional authenticity.
She-Crab Soup
We take a similar approach with our other items as well. Our Fresh Avocado Salad is drawn from the Escondido California area. It’s made with a lot of avocado, red onions, and cilantro on a bed of organic spring mix. We add our house made Basil-Aioli sauce and a little coarse black pepper and kosher salt. It can be a meal by itself but it’s healthy and light tasting. So, it’s not just sliders, but our full menu that is based on regional influences.
Fresh Avocado Salad
15. What’s your favorite slider?
My favorite has to be the Wasabi Duck Slider. It’s fantastic.
16. Is there anywhere you’d suggest someone new to Copper start in terms of the sliders?
I’d start with the Wasabi Duck or Scallop Burger. They’re delicious, they’re unique, and they show off what our food is all about.
If that’s too out there for someone then I’d say that even on the basic level our Buffalo Chicken is phenomenal. We make everything from scratch, including the sauce that goes on the chicken.
Our slider buns are not your typical dinner roll either. We bake everything in house every day. Any buns left over at the end of the day go to the Mission House in Jacksonville Beach. Being absolutely fresh is a big part of our focus and what sets us apart.
17. Do most people order a la carte or by region?
By region. You get a wide range of options within a region and it gives people a good chance to try something a little different along with something more familiar.
18. What would you suggest people try after the sliders?
Our entrées are the more substantial side of our menu. You will not leave Copper hungry. For something different that shows off our craft food approach, I’d recommend the Loco Moco. It’s the national dish of Hawaii. It starts with a bed of Hawaiian rice. On top of the rice are two ground beef patties topped with eggs and our in-house demi-glace. The Loco Moco is a huge favorite. It’s big and impressive.
Loco Moco
19. What’s Baked Goat Cheese Pomodora Dip?
It’s made with a California goat cheese. The Pomodora aspect refers to the Italian flair of the dish in terms of the spices, fresh diced tomatoes, and olive oils we use.
20. What’s a Bolillo?
Bolillo means “white bread” so it represents a traditional Mexican sandwich that is popular in Texas. It’s made with ground up chorizo sausage that’s formed into a patty. We grill the chorizo patty and add pepper jack cheese, jalapeños, onions and tomatoes.
21. Are there any hidden gems on the menu that people may not think to try right away?
Absolutely - our desserts! We have a European trained pastry chef. We start early in the morning making the desserts at the same time as we’re baking our rolls.
22. Do you have a dessert favorite?
The Tortuga Rum Cake is hard to beat. It’s another regional Island specialty from Hawaii. We make it with Whaler’s Vanille, which is a Caribbean rum. It’s got fresh strawberries and white chocolate on it. It’s hard to describe, but it’s fantastic. And it pairs well with some of our craft beers.
23. Dessert and beer?
Yes! Beer is great with everything. The Tortuga Rum Cake goes perfectly with our Breckenridge Vanilla Porter beer. It’s a perfect combination.
24. Do a lot of people order beer with their dessert?
Absolutely! If my wife allowed it I’d order dessert and beer as my meal.
There are a lot of good combinations. Our Tres Leches is a Latin American dessert made with 3 different milks. It’s a light dessert and goes well with something like a light wheat beer.
Craft beers lend themselves well to pairing with all our food, not just dessert. The Rib Eye has a little kick to it and pairs well with an IPA. We also use craft beer in a lot of our cooking. For example, we make our in-house demi-glace with a touch of stout and our Arrogant Bastard Pepper Jack Queso is made with Arrogant Bastard beer.
25. How did you come up with your menu?
Our general manager, Ace French, is the one who puts together our food selection. Chef French created the menu, and he set up the kitchen initially. In addition to being a top chef Ace has also worked all over the country, from Hawaii to New Orleans and DC, so he brings a lot of hands on experience with the regional cooking we feature. We’re now at the point where our two excellent kitchen managers can run things on a day-to-day basis so that Ace can focus on the front of the house.
26. Can you tell us a little bit about Chef French’s background?
Chef French is the owner of Two Dude’s Seafood Market here in Atlantic Beach, which he continues to run as well helping us here at Copper. I’m afraid to ask how many hours he works, but at least the restaurants are close by so he can move between them a few times a day as needed.
Executive Chef and GM, Ace French
27. Did Chef French give you the idea for the sliders?
I told him that I wanted to make sliders our focus and that I wanted a regional menu. From there I asked him what he could do and let him take it from there. When Ace first came to me with his ideas he had 36 different sliders, so a lot of them didn’t make it onto the first menu. We’ll have a lot of opportunities to introduce new slider options over time.
Cream Spinach Stuffed Meatloaf
28. Someone wrote that “Copper is an art gallery for craft beers.” What does that mean?
When an art gallery opens, it's going to bring in the finest artists and allow them to showcase their work. That’s what we do. We bring in the best craft beers from around the country and let the brewers showcase their craft. We put in the best tap system we could find. It looks great and it’s a great way to complement the passion these brewers have put into their beers.
29. How do you select the beers to showcase?
There are a lot of craft beers out there now so we needed to simplify things. That’s why we have the regional approach. Within each region we look for a variety that runs from lighter wheat beers all the way up to your stouts. We keep that consistent within each region. You’ll never order a flight from a region and get 4 stouts. We want to highlight the variety that comes from every region. For people who may be new to craft beers, they can order a region and see what styles they like.
30. Are craft beers regional in nature? Is there a Southern style of craft beer for example?
Craft brewers are going to make their beers with what they have available to them locally. So, in the South there’s a lot of use made of citrus ingredients and fruits. They make a lighter beer possible, which suits the area, especially when it’s 95 degrees out. Same with other regions. Sometimes there’s a seasonal element as well. Certain ingredients may only be available at certain times of the year, so we’ll get a beer for a short time, then it’s gone.
31. What’s the most popular region for your craft beers?
The Midwest. Gotta be the water because they can make some amazing brews.
32. Are there any big trends in craft beer?
IPA is huge, all across the US. Another trend is to age beers in bourbon barrels. The aging process imparts a rich, dark, bourbon flavor to the beer. There’s only so much supply and the beers are aged for a longer period so it’s difficult to add new supply quickly.
33. Why did you decide to highlight six regional areas for sliders and only four regional areas for your craft beers?
We wanted to offer a lot of choice in the regions, which is why we feature six areas for our sliders. For the beers it was more challenging because it is difficult to get beer from certain areas. Hawaii, for example, has a limited selection of craft beers and it wouldn’t make sense to feature a separate region for the limited options. Overall, having fewer regions for the beers made the most sense.
34. Do you change your beer selection very often?
Yes, all the time. We order our beers 3 kegs at a time. After the 3 kegs are gone we bring in a different beer. That means we’ve got 3 or 4 new taps going every week. There’s always something new.
35. Besides your beers you feature a number of craft cocktails. Can you tell us about them?
With craft items like our cocktails it’s extending that idea of taking a little more care and doing something special. You can see it in how we put our cocktails together. The fruit is on the bar and we cut it in front of you. It takes an extra minute to do it fresh like that but it’s what sets a craft cocktail apart - and you can taste the difference. That extra care extends to other ingredients too. For instance, the Rasberita uses Herradura Reposado tequila, Cointreau and muddled fresh raspberries. Our twist is to add a craft beer floater to the top of the Rasberita. You’d think that tequila and beer sounds awful but it’s fantastic, a really refreshing combination.
36. What’s the most popular cocktail?
Our Old Fashioned is our number one seller, without a doubt.
37. What’s next for Copper?
We opened on November 1st [2013]. At first we focused heavily on our kitchen side and I’d say that’s pretty well perfected at this point. We’re focusing hard on the service aspect now. We want our servers to be knowledgeable about what we’re doing and we want everyone to be on point. That takes time but we’re getting there. Once all that’s in place we’ll start implementing menu changes to bring new things in on a regular basis. We want to eventually add live music, probably later in the Spring or Summer.
38. Have you ever considered brewing your own beer?
I have. The size of Copper doesn’t allow us to brew here and I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but it’s something I’m thinking about for future plans.
39. Anything else?
I just want people to know that we’re a different sort of tap house. We take our craft beers seriously but we also take our food just as seriously. Our food isn’t an afterthought, it’s central to what we do and to what makes us different. Our goal now is to educate people about what we’re doing and to encourage them to try us out. A flight of regional beers along with 3 regional sliders is a great introduction to both our food and our craft beer.
Owner Ben Porter
13500 Beach Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL
(904) 647-6595
Hours
Sun - Wed 11am - 11pm
Thu - Sat 11am - 2pm
About the writer
EatDrinkJax.com interviews are conducted by Jacksonville Beach resident Gerry Glynn. When Gerry isn't talking with restauranteurs he is working for a local software company, training for his next road race, and hanging out with his wife and dog.