July 4, 2025 • 13 mins
In Part Three, we'll dive into the heart and soul of Walking Tree Brewery with founders Mike and Brooke as they unpack their powerful mission statement: "Staying rooted in practice, promise, and people." This candid conversation reveals how a personal art project evolved into an iconic brewery logo, and why mangrove roots perfectly symbolize their commitment to community strength.
What happens when business ideals meet operational realities? Mike and Brooke share refreshingly honest insights about the challenges of local sourcing at brewery scale. While they'd love to use exclusively Florida-grown ingredients, they explain why sometimes it's simply not sustainable. Instead, they've found creative alternatives for community impact, from hosting nonprofit fundraisers to amplifying environmental messages about protecting Florida's fragile lagoon ecosystems.
You'll discover how Walking Tree has become a melting pot where submarine officers, seasonal visitors, and longtime locals connect over craft beer. Through their journey, Mike (a Fort Pierce native) and Brooke (a self-proclaimed "mountain person" who surprisingly loves shoveling snow) have developed a deep appreciation for Vero Beach's unique character. Their story proves that authentic purpose and deep community roots are the perfect recipe for business success. Want to experience more local business stories like this? Be sure to leave us a review and subscribe to the Vero Beach podcast!
Presented by Killer Bee Marketing
Helping local businesses in Vero Beach connect with their neighbors.
Support The Show
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Be sure to connect with us on Instagram at @myverobeachdotcom
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, welcome back to the Vero Beach podcast.
We are on part three with theWalking Tree Brewery, excited to
dive into why Vero Beach Onyour website, I noticed a
statement on there.
The phrase was staying rooted,practice, promise and people.
Can you guys break that downfor us and explain what that
means?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
You want to do that, babe?
I can certainly do that.
It's a test, I know it's a test.
She makes me recite our missionand vision statement.
Like every time we hire a newemployee, we're in the interview
.
She's like Mike, can you do ourmission statement?
I'm like, yes, so stay rootedin practice.
Promise and people really meansfor us to focus on what we're
doing, how we're doing it,making sure that we're doing it
(00:42):
the best we can.
So that's the practice.
The promise is that we will doour best to continue that.
That we promise to do the bestwe can, to be honest about when
we fail, which happens right.
We're humans.
We never owned a business.
I've never had 17 employeesbefore, never run a brewery.
I've never dealt with the insand outs of people and their
(01:04):
lives and how they affecteverything.
So you know, it's the promiseto do the best we can and to
treat people as best as we can.
And then the people is.
We are focused on making surethat the people who work for us
are fulfilled, that they getwhat they need.
And then the people who are ourcustomers are getting great
products.
They're getting what they need.
(01:25):
They are completely fine withpaying $6.50 a beer because they
know they're going to getsomething that's awesome.
They're going to have a greattime they're going to enjoy it.
It's a combination of thosethree things and obviously they
overlap each other a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Brooke, I love that you put a test to him on that
too, so explain to me why thatpurpose statement is so
important for you.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So our vision statement is to be nationally
recognized for crafting andsharing quality brands while
staying community rooted.
And that's on the board in theoffice and it's something that
we ask our employees to memorizebecause we want to use it.
You know, being just, you know,poor, average folks trying to
do something, this brewery andrealizing we had to DIY the heck
(02:13):
out of this business, the logoand the artwork and the name all
kind of came from things in ourhome.
It was an art form and artworkthat I did.
You know the logo came from myartwork.
I actually had a note card thatI had printed that said stay
(02:34):
rooted.
And it was a little note cardand I sold it in my art tent.
And it's really funny becauseif I've ever done an art show
since we've opened, people lookat my art tent and they're like,
oh, she's just biting off ofwalking tree and I just I just
kind of laugh because my artbusiness was trees, walk design.
And so you know, born first.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I wanted to call this a banjo brewing company and got
outvoted very quickly.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
But out of the necessity of of not being able
to pay artists and not it, justkind of, we had these things.
You know, without getting tooaltruistic or overtly spiritual,
it felt like everything wasbeing put in place and made
available for this purpose.
And what?
The logo just happened to be inmy art file, something I'd
(03:17):
created.
All we needed was someone toturn it into a computer thing
that we could use.
You know what the names?
Just it, just it was all.
Are it?
Just it, just it was all there.
We'd made it, it was inherentlypart of who we already were, and
it means something you know to,to look at the fact that.
You know, the mangrove estuaryis what keeps Florida from
floating away and basicallydisappearing, and that's a
(03:39):
really neat image.
It's one of the few things thatare helping to filter our
lagoons, which are dying and arevery ill, and we're even
affecting, you know, ourmangroves.
But without them it'd be, thewaters would be a lot sicker
than they are.
So there I just kind ofremember, thinking this is
(04:00):
perfect.
It covers all the bases, itsays all of the things, it has
all the messages.
We don't have to work so hardfiguring there it is.
Evaluating that with a team.
We actually did like a big Venndiagram brain board thing with
all these words and what dopeople think about?
Where we're going and who weare?
(04:21):
And we found the commonalities,put them in a Venn diagram and
that's where practice, promiseand people came from.
And that's the litmus test thatwe should be measuring
ourselves at at all, at alltimes.
It makes me want to have ameeting with you, oh God, we
(04:41):
need to have a meeting.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
He's like thanks, Brian, you just got another
meeting on my books.
I think it's very importantUnderstanding the purpose and
the mission behind it.
A purpose statement helps youstay focused and helps you keep
direction.
It's like a compass foreverybody, for your team, so I
love that you guys have that sowell in place With running the
brewery.
What would you say it's taughtyou about the Vero Beach
(05:05):
community?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
There's so many different kinds of people in so
many different industries andwalks of life and from so many
places.
There's people from all overthat come and visit Vero Beach
and breweries drive tourism.
So you know, I just learned oneof our regulars I guess it's
been a little while since Ilearned this was, you know, a
(05:26):
naval officer on a submarine,and like that's fun to talk to,
like, oh, you spent your earlytwenties underwater in a tube
with nuclear missiles.
That's pretty crazy.
It's just neat to be able tostand at the bar and have
conversations with people fromall over the world who have, you
know, different tastes anddifferent takes on beer and
(05:46):
where they've gotten it from,and it's just, it's just cool to
see it really is Do you workwith local, like some of the
local producers I guess aroundhere in the area?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I mean, we're new to the area so we're still trying
to fill it out we're we'relearning that a lot of the local
places, like yourself, willwork with other local.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I guess partners.
We do as much as we can.
So the biggest issue is ourscale.
Because we're making prettylarge quantities in batch size,
like when we make small, likefruited sours and stuff like
that.
I'm doing my best to buy localfruit and local stuff like that.
Like we use our local tea shopbecause I like putting tea in
beer.
(06:24):
It provides great flavors andstuff like that.
Like we use our local tea shopbecause I like putting tea in
beer.
It provides great flavors andstuff like that.
So we do as much as we can Atour scale.
It's a little difficult for somestuff because when you're
making 600 gallons at a time or1,200, getting that much from a
local supplier can be difficult.
So, like when we make a fullbatch of sour beer, you know
there's hundreds and hundreds ofpounds of fruit puree that goes
(06:46):
in there and there's just not agreat way to get it locally.
So, as much as we can, we do.
Like we used to get peachesgrown decently local, actually
out near Lake Wales, and we usedto make a beer called Peach
Destroyer.
That farm doesn't exist anymore, but you know we do as best we
can.
But it's tough at our scale.
Yeah, exist anymore.
(07:09):
But you know we do as best wecan, but it's it's tough at our
scale.
Yeah, I can understand that.
So the university of Florida,um, and a handful of other
farmers have been trying to growhops in Florida for the last 10
years and you know, when wefirst opened, we were gung ho
trying to figure out how to doit.
And then, when it came rightdown to it, you know there we
went out to a producer at a nearBock Tower in Lake Wales and I
was like awesome, so okay, yourprice is double and I need
(07:33):
basically this much to produce afull batch.
And he looked at me and goesthat's my entire harvest.
So I was like, oh, so I wouldeat your entire harvest.
It's more than double my price.
Yeah, okay, that's you know.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So it's a tough sell for both of us right.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Because I want a price point that he can't match
and I'm going to take everythinghe makes.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, I never really thought of it from that way of
you know, when you hear peopletalking about supporting local
and stuff like that, and thenyou know we like to go and
support local businesses and youknow local breweries,
restaurants, stuff like that,but when it comes to a business
aspect it can be verychallenging and that's a good
view to have.
That I never have reallythought of as well Because, like
(08:17):
you said, you would take it.
You would have taken his wholeharvest and and you couldn't
take it for that amount and thatwould be hurting him.
So it was just best for you notto work together though, even
though your heart says you wantto.
But there's just sometimes whenyou run a business you can't,
it's novel but will will yousell 6,000 of them is a whole
(08:37):
different question, right?
So what does supporting localmean to you?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
So the way to make up for that, that area, which is,
you know, again difficult isthat that local for us and
staying local and supportinglocal and buying local is the
way that we give back to thecommunity and participate with
nonprofit organizations, a lotof our environmental groups and
(09:01):
I like to say that we've given alot of our environmental groups
that are bringing awareness towhat's going on in our lagoons
and estuaries the ability to useour brand to help get their
message across.
Go for it.
What can we do to help put yourmessage in front of a beer
drinker who might not havethought about it?
We make our space available forsocial events and nonprofit
(09:26):
fundraisers.
We have the space and we havethe ability to be flexible and
allow this gorgeous building tokind of get utilized for all
kinds of all kinds of neatthings.
So we have a lot of nonprofitsthat come here on the regular
and and do their, their, theirannual events or benefits, and
(09:47):
then just showing up andparticipating.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
All right, so I have one more question before we wrap
up.
What is it about Vero that youguys love?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I'm from Fort Pierce and I, in my early, early years,
moved away for a handful ofyears and as I was away my
entire family moved from FortPierce to Vero.
So when I was going to movehome I was like, oh, I guess I'm
moving to Vero.
So I've been in Vero since 08.
I'm a Fort Pierce native.
(10:16):
I was actually born in VeroBeach Hospital, so I'm truly a
native.
But I think it's just, it's agreat town.
We don't have big condos on thebeach.
It's very laid back here.
We don't have traffic, thebeaches are gorgeous, the
river's pretty, it's centrallylocated in Florida and there's a
lot of fun stuff to do here.
There really is.
(10:36):
And you know it's just a greatlittle town with a great
community and you know you cango downtown and we can walk
around and see so many people weknow and you know it's just a
fun town.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Where did you grow up , brooke?
I'm a military brat, so I amnot a native, but I've been here
a very long time, the longestI've been anywhere.
And I jokingly say I got stuckhere because I got divorced and
I had kids time, you know.
So you can't go anywhere.
But I've really grown to lovethis town and it was grown to
(11:10):
love it because I'm a mountainperson by nature, I prefer the
mountains and I like shovelingsnow.
Oh no.
Yeah, I love fall and cold andjackets and boots and hot
chocolate.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
She does love boots.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I do.
I love cold.
She's a unicorn.
What do I love I love?
I love cold, and um, she's aunicorn.
Um.
What do I love most about Vero?
What?
What you.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Oh, that's, awesome, yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I think it's you.
Yeah, you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Thanks Again.
We want to just thank you guysfor giving us some of your time
here to sit down and be a partof the Vero Beach podcast.
We really appreciate you bothfor sharing your stories and
what you guys love about thecommunity.
Thank you, guys both forreaching out to us and being a
part of this.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, thanks for having us.
It's been a lot of fun, awesome.
You guys are awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeah, if you guys have enjoyed this episode, make
sure you click review and wewill catch you next time.
What?
All right, welcome back to the Vero Beach podcast.
We are on part three with theWalking Tree Brewery, excited to
dive into why Vero Beach Onyour website, I noticed a
statement on there.
The phrase was staying rooted,practice, promise and people.
Can you guys break that downfor us and explain what that
means?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
You want to do that, babe?
I can certainly do that.
It's a test, I know it's a test.
She makes me recite our missionand vision statement.
Like every time we hire a newemployee, we're in the interview
.
She's like Mike, can you do ourmission statement?
I'm like, yes, so stay rootedin practice.
Promise and people really meansfor us to focus on what we're
doing, how we're doing it,making sure that we're doing it
(00:42):
the best we can.
So that's the practice.
The promise is that we will doour best to continue that.
That we promise to do the bestwe can, to be honest about when
we fail, which happens right.
We're humans.
We never owned a business.
I've never had 17 employeesbefore, never run a brewery.
I've never dealt with the insand outs of people and their
(01:04):
lives and how they affecteverything.
So you know, it's the promiseto do the best we can and to
treat people as best as we can.
And then the people is.
We are focused on making surethat the people who work for us
are fulfilled, that they getwhat they need.
And then the people who are ourcustomers are getting great
products.
They're getting what they need.
(01:25):
They are completely fine withpaying $6.50 a beer because they
know they're going to getsomething that's awesome.
They're going to have a greattime they're going to enjoy it.
It's a combination of thosethree things and obviously they
overlap each other a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Brooke, I love that you put a test to him on that
too, so explain to me why thatpurpose statement is so
important for you.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So our vision statement is to be nationally
recognized for crafting andsharing quality brands while
staying community rooted.
And that's on the board in theoffice and it's something that
we ask our employees to memorizebecause we want to use it.
You know, being just, you know,poor, average folks trying to
do something, this brewery andrealizing we had to DIY the heck
(02:13):
out of this business, the logoand the artwork and the name all
kind of came from things in ourhome.
It was an art form and artworkthat I did.
You know the logo came from myartwork.
I actually had a note card thatI had printed that said stay
(02:34):
rooted.
And it was a little note cardand I sold it in my art tent.
And it's really funny becauseif I've ever done an art show
since we've opened, people lookat my art tent and they're like,
oh, she's just biting off ofwalking tree and I just I just
kind of laugh because my artbusiness was trees, walk design.
And so you know, born first.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I wanted to call this a banjo brewing company and got
outvoted very quickly.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
But out of the necessity of of not being able
to pay artists and not it, justkind of, we had these things.
You know, without getting tooaltruistic or overtly spiritual,
it felt like everything wasbeing put in place and made
available for this purpose.
And what?
The logo just happened to be inmy art file, something I'd
(03:17):
created.
All we needed was someone toturn it into a computer thing
that we could use.
You know what the names?
Just it, just it was all.
Are it?
Just it, just it was all there.
We'd made it, it was inherentlypart of who we already were, and
it means something you know to,to look at the fact that.
You know, the mangrove estuaryis what keeps Florida from
floating away and basicallydisappearing, and that's a
(03:39):
really neat image.
It's one of the few things thatare helping to filter our
lagoons, which are dying and arevery ill, and we're even
affecting, you know, ourmangroves.
But without them it'd be, thewaters would be a lot sicker
than they are.
So there I just kind ofremember, thinking this is
(04:00):
perfect.
It covers all the bases, itsays all of the things, it has
all the messages.
We don't have to work so hardfiguring there it is.
Evaluating that with a team.
We actually did like a big Venndiagram brain board thing with
all these words and what dopeople think about?
Where we're going and who weare?
(04:21):
And we found the commonalities,put them in a Venn diagram and
that's where practice, promiseand people came from.
And that's the litmus test thatwe should be measuring
ourselves at at all, at alltimes.
It makes me want to have ameeting with you, oh God, we
(04:41):
need to have a meeting.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
He's like thanks, Brian, you just got another
meeting on my books.
I think it's very importantUnderstanding the purpose and
the mission behind it.
A purpose statement helps youstay focused and helps you keep
direction.
It's like a compass foreverybody, for your team, so I
love that you guys have that sowell in place With running the
brewery.
What would you say it's taughtyou about the Vero Beach
(05:05):
community?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
There's so many different kinds of people in so
many different industries andwalks of life and from so many
places.
There's people from all overthat come and visit Vero Beach
and breweries drive tourism.
So you know, I just learned oneof our regulars I guess it's
been a little while since Ilearned this was, you know, a
(05:26):
naval officer on a submarine,and like that's fun to talk to,
like, oh, you spent your earlytwenties underwater in a tube
with nuclear missiles.
That's pretty crazy.
It's just neat to be able tostand at the bar and have
conversations with people fromall over the world who have, you
know, different tastes anddifferent takes on beer and
(05:46):
where they've gotten it from,and it's just, it's just cool to
see it really is Do you workwith local, like some of the
local producers I guess aroundhere in the area?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I mean, we're new to the area so we're still trying
to fill it out we're we'relearning that a lot of the local
places, like yourself, willwork with other local.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I guess partners.
We do as much as we can.
So the biggest issue is ourscale.
Because we're making prettylarge quantities in batch size,
like when we make small, likefruited sours and stuff like
that.
I'm doing my best to buy localfruit and local stuff like that.
Like we use our local tea shopbecause I like putting tea in
beer.
(06:24):
It provides great flavors andstuff like that.
Like we use our local tea shopbecause I like putting tea in
beer.
It provides great flavors andstuff like that.
So we do as much as we can Atour scale.
It's a little difficult for somestuff because when you're
making 600 gallons at a time or1,200, getting that much from a
local supplier can be difficult.
So, like when we make a fullbatch of sour beer, you know
there's hundreds and hundreds ofpounds of fruit puree that goes
(06:46):
in there and there's just not agreat way to get it locally.
So, as much as we can, we do.
Like we used to get peachesgrown decently local, actually
out near Lake Wales, and we usedto make a beer called Peach
Destroyer.
That farm doesn't exist anymore, but you know we do as best we
can.
But it's tough at our scale.
Yeah, exist anymore.
(07:09):
But you know we do as best wecan, but it's it's tough at our
scale.
Yeah, I can understand that.
So the university of Florida,um, and a handful of other
farmers have been trying to growhops in Florida for the last 10
years and you know, when wefirst opened, we were gung ho
trying to figure out how to doit.
And then, when it came rightdown to it, you know there we
went out to a producer at a nearBock Tower in Lake Wales and I
was like awesome, so okay, yourprice is double and I need
(07:33):
basically this much to produce afull batch.
And he looked at me and goesthat's my entire harvest.
So I was like, oh, so I wouldeat your entire harvest.
It's more than double my price.
Yeah, okay, that's you know.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So it's a tough sell for both of us right.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Because I want a price point that he can't match
and I'm going to take everythinghe makes.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, I never really thought of it from that way of
you know, when you hear peopletalking about supporting local
and stuff like that, and thenyou know we like to go and
support local businesses and youknow local breweries,
restaurants, stuff like that,but when it comes to a business
aspect it can be verychallenging and that's a good
view to have.
That I never have reallythought of as well Because, like
(08:17):
you said, you would take it.
You would have taken his wholeharvest and and you couldn't
take it for that amount and thatwould be hurting him.
So it was just best for you notto work together though, even
though your heart says you wantto.
But there's just sometimes whenyou run a business you can't,
it's novel but will will yousell 6,000 of them is a whole
(08:37):
different question, right?
So what does supporting localmean to you?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
So the way to make up for that, that area, which is,
you know, again difficult isthat that local for us and
staying local and supportinglocal and buying local is the
way that we give back to thecommunity and participate with
nonprofit organizations, a lotof our environmental groups and
(09:01):
I like to say that we've given alot of our environmental groups
that are bringing awareness towhat's going on in our lagoons
and estuaries the ability to useour brand to help get their
message across.
Go for it.
What can we do to help put yourmessage in front of a beer
drinker who might not havethought about it?
We make our space available forsocial events and nonprofit
(09:26):
fundraisers.
We have the space and we havethe ability to be flexible and
allow this gorgeous building tokind of get utilized for all
kinds of all kinds of neatthings.
So we have a lot of nonprofitsthat come here on the regular
and and do their, their, theirannual events or benefits, and
(09:47):
then just showing up andparticipating.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
All right, so I have one more question before we wrap
up.
What is it about Vero that youguys love?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I'm from Fort Pierce and I, in my early, early years,
moved away for a handful ofyears and as I was away my
entire family moved from FortPierce to Vero.
So when I was going to movehome I was like, oh, I guess I'm
moving to Vero.
So I've been in Vero since 08.
I'm a Fort Pierce native.
(10:16):
I was actually born in VeroBeach Hospital, so I'm truly a
native.
But I think it's just, it's agreat town.
We don't have big condos on thebeach.
It's very laid back here.
We don't have traffic, thebeaches are gorgeous, the
river's pretty, it's centrallylocated in Florida and there's a
lot of fun stuff to do here.
There really is.
(10:36):
And you know it's just a greatlittle town with a great
community and you know you cango downtown and we can walk
around and see so many people weknow and you know it's just a
fun town.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Where did you grow up , brooke?
I'm a military brat, so I amnot a native, but I've been here
a very long time, the longestI've been anywhere.
And I jokingly say I got stuckhere because I got divorced and
I had kids time, you know.
So you can't go anywhere.
But I've really grown to lovethis town and it was grown to
(11:10):
love it because I'm a mountainperson by nature, I prefer the
mountains and I like shovelingsnow.
Oh no.
Yeah, I love fall and cold andjackets and boots and hot
chocolate.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
She does love boots.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I do.
I love cold.
She's a unicorn.
What do I love I love?
I love cold, and um, she's aunicorn.
Um.
What do I love most about Vero?
What?
What you.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Oh, that's, awesome, yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I think it's you.
Yeah, you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Thanks Again.
We want to just thank you guysfor giving us some of your time
here to sit down and be a partof the Vero Beach podcast.
We really appreciate you bothfor sharing your stories and
what you guys love about thecommunity.
Thank you, guys both forreaching out to us and being a
part of this.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, thanks for having us.
It's been a lot of fun, awesome.
You guys are awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeah, if you guys have enjoyed this episode, make
sure you click review and wewill catch you next time.
What?
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.