Kaleidoscope Beer Co. plans to add some color to the local brewpub scene.

The Naples taproom for Riptide Brewing Co. changed hands in early September and is now the family owned and operated Kaleidoscope Beer at 987 Third Ave. N.

“I kept all the staff here. We just basically did a turnkey-style where we took over operations. In fact, all month it’s been kind of a transition period,” said Bill Vaughan, who co-owns Kaleidoscope Beer with his wife, Heather, and sister, Amy Vaughan.

After operating for nearly nine years, Riptide Brewing decided to part ways with its original taproom in Naples and turn its attention to its much larger taproom in Bonita Springs.

“The Naples taproom has been our home, where we poured our first pints, shared countless memories, and built the foundation of who we are today. We are endlessly grateful to our loyal guests and neighbors, who made it such a special place,” Riptide posted Sept. 2 on its Facebook page. “While saying goodbye is never easy, we believe this change will allow us to better focus on serving the Southwest Florida community from our larger space in Bonita.”

Riptide has been working closely with the new owners of its former Naples taproom to ensure a smooth changeover. The local business had a blowout Sept. 28 as a sendoff celebration for Riptide before the Naples taproom closed for three days for interior painting and remodeling. Kaleidoscope reopened there this week with a colorful new look — an appropriate transformation considering that a kaleidoscope symbolizes ever-changing and endless possibilities.

Riptide’s beer is still being served on tap until Kaleidoscope can craft some of its own inventory, which will be made on location in shiny fermentation tanks visible from the bar.

“It takes a few weeks for beer to get done, so I knew when I took over, I wasn’t going to have my own beer on day one,” Vaughan said “We had inventory from Riptide left, so we’ve just been pouring that through the month.”

Vaughn said he is excited to bring the brewing system back to life in Naples. “So, we’re brewing everything right here. It’s made right here,” he said. “The original owners who opened the place as Riptide had a whole brewing system in here. Lately, they haven’t been using it because they have a larger system up at their Bonita location.”

Vaughan has connections to the early days of craft brewing in Southwest Florida. Industry connections brought him and Riptide together.

“It was a win-win for everybody,” he said. “The reception has been overwhelmingly positive from people. It was the right situation for everybody.”

Former operations manager at Bone Hook Brewing in North Naples for five years, Vaughan was head brewer at Bone Hook for more than three years and he was the head brewer at the former Big Blue Brewing in Cape Coral, and brewmaster at the former Bury Me Brewing Co. in Fort Myers.

Vaughan left Bone Hook for his own venture but is still assisting the new brewers at the North Naples brewery during the transition. “We made some great beers, and we had good food and a lot of fun up there, so hopefully they continue to do well,” he said.

Brewing beer is both an art and a science. It also requires some personal passion. While people are familiar with the fun and end result of the business, they often don’t see the hard work and countless hours behind the brewing process to get there, Vaughan said.

“So much work and so much effort has to go into it,” he said.

Although Vaughan owns the business with his wife and sister, he’ll be the face of the business and the most hands-on. His wife is the full-time director of merchandising at Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida, and his sister lives in California.

The brewpub has about two dozen taps, but Vaughan doesn’t plan to use all of them. “We’re going to probably keep anywhere between 15 and 20, but probably lean more toward 15,” he said. “It will, at some point, become all Kaleidoscope. There may be a guest tap or two. We may keep a cider on and something else on here or there, but for the most part, I’ll be able to fill those lines up myself.”

Patrons can expect a variety of beer types at Kaleidoscope.

“We’re not going to pigeonhole ourselves into one specific type of beer as far as style goes,” Vaughan said. “One thing I found myself gravitating back to is more of an English style, bringing back an English mild, you know a low ABV [alcohol by volume], full-bodied easy drinking beer, things of that nature. I’ve built up a repertoire. We’re going to do an Irish red; I’ll have a couple lagers and IPAs and things like that. So, kind of a broad spectrum.”

Other taps at Kaleidoscope will be rotated with experimental and seasonal offerings. But count on an IPA, or India pale ale, which is a popular, hoppy beer that rules the craft scene in America, Vaughan said.

Vaughan plans to eventually bottle and can his beers.

“It will all be very small batch, only available here, though,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of space here, so I don’t have space for a large system or really even a small system.”

Vaughan intends to obtain a tabletop system for hand-canning his beers and small-batch bottling as he notes that a few other regional brewpubs began.

“That’s what I’ll probably do and just offer them in my taproom — do 20, 30 cases at a time,” he said. “Then, most of the bottles I do will probably be higher alcoholic, higher ABV beers like imperial stout and barley wines and things like that that I’ve built a reputation for.”

Meanwhile, the Vaughans are in the midst of a rebranding effort with Kaleidoscope to make the neighborhood hangout their own.

“I just hope people enjoy what we’re putting together. We’re trying to make it a cozy atmosphere,” he said. “It’s a cozy place by default. They set it up very well. So, we’re just trying to bring our added touch to it. We’re going to hopefully make it comfortable and just a fun spot to hang out.”

Kaleidoscope’s regular hours are noon to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. Hours may expand during season to stay open later on weekends, Vaughan said.

The “Tim Aten Knows” weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at tim.aten@naplespress.com.