Passion play

Craft beer brewer Jeremy Joerger has awoken at 2 a.m. with the definitive middle-of-the-night entrepreneur nightmare: Will he make payroll? Will he be able to pay vendors?

The founder of Sarasota-based JDub's Brewing Co., Joerger, 35, has always come through on both counts. But, coming up on his first full year in business, Joerger has navigated a maze of regulations, legislation, industry lawsuits, taxes and production hurdles. He started the micro production brewery with a mid-six-figure investment, a combination of retirement funds, savings, family and friends.

“If this thing goes belly up I have nothing,” Joerger says. “Everything I ever made, I gave it up for this.”