ODESSA — Austin Wright wasn’t planning on this. He didn’t even know he wanted it.
He just wanted to make some extra money on the side and maybe get a few free pints.
That was in 2019, when he took a side job at the now-closed Brū Florida Growler Bar. But things have come full circle for Wright. A year after starting at Brū, he decided to try homebrewing — and five years later, he opened Gulf Pine Brewery at 8729 Gunn Highway, in the same location where Brū once operated.
“As part of the interview with the former owner, Christian (Brugal), the questions he asked me were, ‘Do you ever want to open up your own brewery? Do you ever want to open up your own bar? What are you looking to get out of this?'” Wright said. “And I told him I don’t want any of that.
“I think he saw something in me that I didn’t see, you know?” Wright added. “It wasn’t something I was necessarily interested in. But as I kept working at Brū, it kept growing inside of me to where I thought, ‘I think I could do this. I think I want to own my own place and make it a brewery.’ I started homebrewing. I started being an assistant brewer.
“I think Christian saw my intentions. I think maybe he saw a little bit of himself in me, and this ended up being my five-year plan.”
Wright held soft openings in late 2025, but the official grand opening and regular hours didn’t begin until mid-January. His father, Duke, is a partner, as are husband and wife Jason and Rhonda Holloway.
The brewery honors Gulf Pine Lumber Co., which was founded in Odessa in 1907. The brewery’s logo features a saw, and several coasters are made from wood slices.
“(My dad) was the one who gave me the final push to say this is something that we could do, something that you should do — I think you’re ready for it,” Wright said. “Jason and Rhonda became investors because they were regulars when I was still bartending at Brū. Then Jason got into homebrewing and saw the level I took it to. He was able to see I could take homebrewing to the commercial side.”
Wright, who graduated from Palm Harbor University High, said his brewing was self-taught through trial and error.
“And a lot of YouTube videos,” he said with a smile.
A friend convinced Wright to bring his beer to craft beer festivals and events to hand out samples.
“Hey, your beer is pretty good, everyone would say,” Wright said.
The more people tried Wright’s beer, the more they pushed him to open his own place, which led to Gulf Pine Brewery.
For now, Wright plans to keep brewing small-scale. He can produce about 30 gallons of beer at a time, while other breweries have 3.5- to 7-barrel tank systems that yield 100 gallons per brew.
That said, Wright now knows his plan and what he wants.
“I wanted to stay small and stay local,” he said. “That’s all I can do and that’s what I want to do, stay local with our beers and others nearby or who I’m friends with.
“I tell everybody the same thing when they ask, ‘What’s the biggest thing when it comes to opening a brewery?’ You have to be able to brew beer blindfolded, with your hands tied behind your back. That is the last thing on your mind is actually making the beer, because everything else comes before that.
“You’re a businessman now, you’re not just a brewer.”