Craft brewing company to open new restaurant at old Melting Pot location

When Mad Beach Brewing CEO Matthew Powers and his team brainstormed a name for their new restaurant they settled on the word “Sesh,” an abbreviation of the word session, which they define as “a period of time partaking in an enjoyable activity.”

The new restaurant will replace the Melting Pot at 2221 4th St. N which closed in April in part to due to the pandemic and in part due to the corporation’s search for a new Pinellas County location.

Powers said his company had been searching for a second location since before the pandemic hit when another contract on the Melting Pot location fell through. He took it as a good omen that the building featured bricks from Fort Dade, one of his favorite locations to go boating with his daughters.

With a wood frame that used to house a wood worker’s museum and gift shop, the building lends itself to a brewery, Powers said, and when the restaurant reaches its demo phase, a team of paranormal investigators plans to come investigate rumors that the building is haunted.

It will be at least another nine months before the restaurant opens and Sesh’s menu is still in the works, Powers said. But the design and dining options will be somewhat different from Mad Beach Brewing’s more tourist-focused location in John’s Pass, Powers said. And the restaurant already has its own Instagram page.

“It’s always fun to grow,” Powers said.