Tag: Florida beer

Orlando Suburban Brews

On By Chris ElliottIn Alcohol, Brewery, RestaurantsLeave a comment

I love traveling for work. It’s easily one of my favorite parts about the industry I’m in. A few weeks ago, I was in LA but due to the restrictions there I didn’t get to any breweries. Florida though is the land of freedom.

While I was down in the Orlando area, I visited three breweries. The first was Sanford Brewing Company. Located in downtown Sanford, the city has a bit of an alternative vibe to it, the brewing company had some really good food and a couple of good beers. The Beri Tart was a really good sour beer and I started out my week of pretending I was a food blogger (my insta story was full of food pics that week) by eating a chicken sandwich with herb, garlic and white cheddar. Trying to eat somewhat healthy.

My second brewery stop was Orange County Brewers. A couple of solid IPAs there and a taco with Mac and Cheese in it had me feeling good on a Monday.

The last stop was the Ravenous Pig, located in Winter Park. My favorite Orlando city. I had actually been there before back in 2014. I can’t afford to live in Winter Park but I wouldn’t mind living there.

Anyways, the Ravenous Pig is where I had my favorite beer of the trip. I started with a solid sour called Of The Earth. My next beer was really something special. It was an ale and the beer was s’mores flavored. Camping Weather won top beer of the trip.

Let’s face it Orlando is a tourist trap. It’s too much Disney and cheap T-shirts. However, get a little further away from the city and you can find good food and beer.

New Year, New Beer

On By Chris ElliottIn Alcohol, Brewery, Restaurants, Trips, vacationsLeave a comment
Hollywood Brewing on Las Olas

Time to turn the pages on what most people would say is the worst year of their life. To celebrate the year ending, or maybe just to get away from the Cleveland cold, I went to Fort Lauderdale for New Years. While most of my time was spent on the beach, I did manage to get in a few brewery visits.

I have been all over the sunshine state, but this was my first trip to Fort Lauderdale. The three breweries we stopped into were Invasive Species, Hollywood Brewing, and Orchestrated Minds.

Invasive Species was our first stop. I tried out several beers via a flight and had a pint. The brewery tap room is a smaller bar with a decent sized patio out back filled with metal picnic tables. Here was where I had the best individual beer of the trip. The Slurps (a sour beer) was like drinking a beer smoothie. I could have this for breakfast with a side of eggs and bacon. Incredibly delicious.

Next up, on New Years Eve before dinner at Louie Bossi, which is an incredible Italian restaurant by the way, we got a drink at Hollywood Brewing at their Las Olas location. Las Olas is the main strip in the downtown area of For Lauderdale. Filled with higher end restaurants and shops. Hollywood was solid from a beer perspective. Nothing amazing but nothing bad. I wish they had some rotational beers on tap, but they did not. I tried the Brew Hefner Wheat and the Locals Only Light Lager for your reference.

The last brewery visit was Orchestrated Minds. The depth of beer quality here was impressive. I had three really good beers plus a sip of a 4th from the owner when I was checking out. That 4th was incredible and almost made me decide to have one more. It was another sour and I wish I had remembered the name. This place was my favorite of the three from an overall standpoint. Very good beer and the owner was their working in the small tap room making sure each customer was enjoying the beer. The personal touch was appreciated and I would go back in a heartbeat.

Orchestrated Minds Tap Room

Besides the beer, the food at many locations was amazing. Though we did honestly have some slow service at many points and some bizarre waiters. It seemed that every restaurant was short staffed. Pandemic related? Maybe. Regardless, the food was great. Some of my favorites were Shooters, Louie Bossi (mentioned above), Nanou (awesome French bakery), Tinta and Lona Cocina. Here is to more good beer and food in 2021. Now, time to burn this trip off in the gym.

Nanou: I couldn’t pick one meal