Back in Florida and we’re on the Ale Trail again.  I believe we will only have one more outing after this and the Ale Trail will be complete!  Or at least the map version I have.

First stop was the Persimmon Hollow Brewing Co. in Deland.  Again, we’re using the tactic of picking a location (#13) the furthest from home and making our way back.

Using my favorite internet source (Wikipedia) I discovered the origin of the name, which is not mentioned on their website.    Apparently DeLand was once known as Persimmon Hollow and the brewers wanted to honor their home.

The brewery was the dream of two home brewers that were best friends.  They received a $20,000 underutilized building grant from DeLand and converted what was a 5,000 ft, 1920s-era parking garage into a state-of-the-art brewery.

If you look carefully at the floor, you can still see remnants of directional lines from the garage.  A glass wall divides the two spaces with the brewing process visible to guests.

As you can see in the photo above, the furniture is a mish-mash of styles – I like it!  They had fans to keep the air moving and the open garage doorway invited all to enter.  This place had good vibes!

But, on to the beer!

While they didn’t have a ‘baby pour’ for me, they had a half-pour and I got the 3 Wise Guys, a coffee porter.  Eric and Adrienne tried the Paddle Wheeler and Beach Hippie.

So I was curious about the phrase ‘Drink Sensibly, But Get Weird’.  Further research came up with their mantra:  ‘Craft beers should be fun, a little weird and truly a work of art in every glass.’  Their brewery became a reality in October 2014 and they canned their first beers (3) for distribution in October 2015, primarily throughout the Daytona Beach and Orlando areas.

Food is a part of most of our excursions and this was no exception.  Eric googled best lunch spot in Deland and we were within walking distance of a top-rated place and more importantly, it was open on a Sunday.

Okay, I’ve got to say, this place didn’t look like much and I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be going in to eat.  It was a former gas station, but had none of the ‘charm’ that is occasionally seen at unique renovated places.

We started with Mexican cokes, taking a break from beer.

Naturally you need chips and dip to start a Mexican meal. It was an interesting presentation, but one we all enjoyed and I could see doing this at home.

We got soft tacos to eat (chicken, pork) and mine was mighty tasty.  Okay, so you shouldn’t judge a restaurant by outside appearances…………….but it might be an easier sell with your dining partners, like me – just saying.

On to our next stop………….Central 28 Beer Company (#5 on the map above).

It was located in an industrial park, literally at the end of the road.  There wasn’t much info on their website and the lady serving out beer said the info was waaayy outdated. My beer was Miss Mary Brown – the baby pour.

No food was served, but their website indicates a food truck is there most evenings.  The bucket above was full of Halloween candy.  Can I just say that Reese peanut butter cups go really well with dark beer – just saying.  Yep, who knew.  You’ve got to try it before you disagree.

As seen below, they can some of their beers and the waitress said one of theirs was being featured at Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival this year.

We still had one more brewery to hit this day and we continued our drive.

We headed back into Orlando, on the east side for a brewery named Ocean Sun Brewing, #10 on the map.

We enjoyed the place, but I’m thinking that all of the breweries we experience at the end of our day gets a less than glowing review.

Looking over this list, I can’t even remember which one I drank.  Not because I had over indulged, but because nothing was remarkable.  Eric and Adrienne tried a variety of the beers listed, because they could.

They had a nice facility where you could easily see their brewing equipment.

Now this sign did catch my eye.  How fun……..yoga, then beer.  🙂

We winded down our ale trail with one last shot.

My research says:

• This brewery started as a dream and a hobby and they opened their doors in March 2016. 
• Their mantra is ‘Great beer and great memories go well together’. 
• Their beers are brewed true-to-style and hand crafted in-house to ensure deliciousness in every pint. 

While our time there  was fairly quiet, I read that between trivia nights, yoga sessions, live music and much more, there’s always something going on in their taproom.

A few more posts will be coming before we hit the final two breweries and complete my version of the Ale Trail.

 

Ginny