Newsletter
Orlando Brewing first opened its doors on Gore Street just after the turn of the century, and in October of 2004, John Cheek gained ownership of the company, rescuing it from bankruptcy. Ed Canty, founder of the Florida Brewer’s Guild and professional brewer, joined John to restart the company. With the aid of Gene Lohri and Stan Richards Orlando Brewing was soon back on its feet. However, less than a year later the team was informed their location was to be turned over to the state of Florida under an eminent domain provision.
Despite the four months it was projected to take to re-establish the company at its current location on Atlanta Ave, just west of Orlando’s Amtrak Station, it took more than a year for Orlando Brewing to re-open its doors. The year was a long one, but it gave the partners time to re-think the direction of their brewery.
Seven years ago Orlando was not the wellspring of craft beer it is today, but a city drowning in mass-produced, icky yellow lagers. The partners wanted to brew what they wanted to drink, and they wanted to drink the best. So they decided they would make only the highest quality ales and lagers.
But what did “highest quality” mean? To Orlando Brewing it meant two things for sure. It meant the company would brew their beer in accordance with the German Purity Law of 1516 (the Reinheitsgebot), and that they would only use organic ingredients.
Now, if following the Reinheitsgebot set them apart from their competition, brewing organically made them the polar opposite of the mainstream.
The German Purity Law decreed that beers should only be brewed with four ingredients: water, hops, yeast and malted barley – no adjuncts and no additives. So unlike the corporate producers whose recipes call for ingredients like corn syrup, rice, food coloring, and a smattering of unpronounceable words, the purists at Orlando Brewing knew that it takes great ingredients to make great beer, and decided to stick to the time-tested tradition.
Great ingredients didn’t just mean nixing the corn syrup, but the chemicals as well. Orlando Brewing did not want pesticide-sprayed six-row barley in their beer, but organic two-row, free of pesticides, petroleum based fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, sewage sludge, irradiation and all that other artificial nonsense. Chemically-modified hop extract? No thank you they said.
It’s been seven years and much has changed. The old brewery downtown is now the South Street exit on I4. Our beers became the first to be declared ‘Fresh from Florida’ and in 2006 we were certified as an organic brewery, making us the only U.S.D.A. certified organic brewery south of Vermont and east of Colorado. Florida’s craft beer industry has since boomed and the organic movement has truly taken root. Our beers can be found in over 100 locations in Florida and Graeme Lay is now our Brewmaster. And while four times a year he releases a beer that violates the Reinheitsgetbot (though organically brewed and appropriately dubbed “The Violator Series”), Orlando Brewing has maintained the commitment to bring you only the best.
And that’s something you can raise a glass to.
Cheers,
Orlando Brewing
© Orlando Brewing 2013