Twas the night before Christmas… well not exactly. But it was at a Christmas party about a week before Christmas of 2016 that the idea for Scallop RePUBlic was born. After a lively discussion about how the Cape needed a bar on the water that focused on local beers, good wines and regular music, the comment was made that this discussion had been taking place for many years. One of our now partners (who shall go un-named!) responded to that comment with a very straightforward “we just need to build one then”.
So we did. Was there alcohol involved in that decision? Of course there was. We were, after all, talking about a bar! By the end of that fateful night Scallop RePUBlic was conceived.
About our Bar
Our goal was to build the kind of bar where both locals and visitors could hang out, sample great beer and wine while listening to local musicians. Not only did we want to build a bar with a warm, inviting “old Florida” atmosphere, we wanted to do it in a way that was environmentally responsible. To do that, we have used as much reclaimed, repurposed, recycled, recovered products as we could.
Our floors are old growth heart pine wood that came from beams in an old factory in Jacksonville and from pilings in the Savannah River. Our walls are again reclaimed heart pine that came out of houses that were being demolished in the Thomasville, Georgia area. Our bar tops are hundreds of years old and are made of Apalachicola River recovered heart pine (seem to be a theme here??) . All of our door and window trim is dead head cypress that was also pulled out of the Apalachicola River. Our bar front used to be part of trailer from an 18 wheeler; yes, if you look closely, you can still see the lettering that was on the trailer! All of our chairs, tables had a former life. Some have been re-incarnated into something new. Others have just been given a new lease on life.
Since glass is not re-cycled on the Cape, we also made the decision to reduce our glass footprint as much as possible. We have no bottles of beer, only cans. And our wine is served from kegs, not bottles. If you have not yet tasted wine from a keg, prepare to be surprised as you taste the freshest wine you will have encountered.
We are all about supporting live local music and are rapidly growing our music calendar with the expectation that you can hear live music at Scallop RePUBlic most every evening and some afternoons.
Did we forget to mention beer? We think Florida breweries are producing some amazing beers and feature an all-Florida selection of craft beers, many of which are proudly brewed on the Florida Panhandle.