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The Tampa Bay area was recently chosen as the 2nd “Best Beer Town” by USA Today’s 10 Best and their readers, just beating Grand Rapids, MI for the #1 spot. And considering the craft beer scene in Florida was practically nonexistent in recent memory, we think that deserves a good ol’ Nicholas Cage “That’s high praise!” And while the rest of Florida has long been in the shadows of the unprecedented explosion of craft breweries in the Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg area, there is a lot more growth happening in the sunshine state’s craft beer scene… and in some pretty unexpected places.
When you think about Florida, Ormond Beach is not the first city that comes to mind. Located in North East Florida, on its Atlantic Coast, this city of approximately 39,000 sun lovers is a northern neighbor of Daytona Beach and home to Tomoka State Park. It’s also home to two of Florida’s more exciting new brewing operations – Tomoka Brewery and the Ormond Brewing Company.
Both breweries are relatively new arrivals to Florida’s craft beer stage – but Tomoka’s already planning for a second location – and Ormond Brewing just broke ground on a serious new 15 BBL system. And we talked about that growth and they’re plans for the future, when I recently sat down with Tomoka’s Jen Hawkins and Peter Szunyogh and Ormond Brewing’s Justin Robinson, to learn more about what they’re all doing…
Tomoka Brewing
First of all, congrats on the news! This happened really quickly for you guys. What size is the new system going to be?
Thanks! It will be 15 BBL with 5 fermenters; 4 15 BBL, and 1 30 BBL.
You’ve big plans for your new location. Will there be a tasting room there as well or will it solely be for production?
JH/ PS – Not only will there be a tasting room but it’s a 170 seater full-service restaurant! You can expect to still find our delicious beer-crust pizzas, but we also brought onboard a very talented and experienced chef who will be serving up a number of fish dishes, burgers, incredible meats from the smoker, and more! We’re just as excited about the food as we are the beers! It will be located at 4647 S. Clyde Morris Blvd, Port Orange, FL
Are you going to keep your current location?
JH/PS – Yes, we plan to. It will be great to see ALL TOMOKA brews on these taps ALL of the time! Also, we will doing growlers from both locations!
That’s great! This location is awesome. Will you also be brewing here?
JH/PS – , the current 1 BBL system with 3 fermenters will be a designated Sour Lab where we will churn out more of our Brett brews, Goses, American sours, and the like.
Do you have an estimated opening date?
JH/PS – We’re shooting for late January…more details to come soon. Check for updates on Facebook and Twitter and our website which will be www.tomokabrewingco.com and is set to launch next month.
Do you have any distribution plans?
JH/PS – We plan to initially distribute to select parts of the state.
Ormond Brewing
Florida’s craft beer market is exploding and the NE coast seems to be a new hot spot. How has the community embraced their new craft beer scene?
JR – Our community has gotten behind us to the fullest extent. We have our regulars who we see nearly every weekend and they even follow us to some events that we go to.
Do you have specific beer styles in your repertoire?
JR – No specific styles, we focus on a broad spectrum of styles. We brew what we like to drink. Our staple beers are our Red Ale, our Coffee Brown, IPA, IBA, and our Scotch ale. We release specialty beers under the brand “Bootlegger Series”. We have released an oak aged brown ale, and are about to release an oak aged high gravity braggot. Each week we release a new test batch of beer that we make on our pilot system, and it really helps gauge what people like.
Tell us about your expansion plans. It is all going in at this location, correct?
JR – Correct, we have recently broken ground on our 15 BBL system. We have a 15 BBL brewhouse as well as 6 15 BBL fermenters and 2 15 BBL bright tanks. We also have a canning as well as bottling line on order. When we need more capacity, we will add larger fermenters. We are also excited to utilize our existing 3bbl equipment for more specialty and one off releases.
Wow, that’s a big jump from your current system. Any plans for distribution?
JR – Actually, we have been distributing for nearly a year now. We are in over 30 bars and restaurants in Volusia County only. Hopefully our new system, as well as canning and bottling options we can reach further than our own county.
So maybe that shadow of growth cast by the west coast breweries is not going to be too hard for the rest of the state to eclipse. After all the shining light cast by our trail blazers such as Cigar City, Tampa Bay Brewing, Dunedin Brewery, and 7venth Sun brewery gave us the solar power needed to cast our own shadows. So what else can you do but rise to the occasion.
