Orlando Brewing (Facebook | Website), which is nearing its 16th anniversary, was told in 2018 that it would need to start hunting for a new home when Orlando Health purchased the SoDo property. And they’ve only got until June 2022 to make that happen.
“Orlando Brewing was in the process of accumulating funds but as everyone knows Covid happened. In order to stay alive, those funds were used to keep the doors open and not the move we had intended them for. As such we find ourselves short of money for the move and set up at our new location. In order to raise funds, we have initiated a fund Orlando Brewing project to fund our brewery move and set up. This is quite a change for me since I very rarely ask anyone for help, it’s just not the way I am. I find myself in a situation where I have no other options available to me, so I am asking for help from those that have the ability to help us Keep Orlando Brewing.”
– JOHN CHEEK, OWNER, ORLANDO BREWING
The locally-owned, certified organic brewery, currently located at 1301 Atlanta Avenue [GMap], has launched a GoFundMe to help with relocation expenses, which are estimated to sit at roughly $200,000 to move all of the brewing equipment off-site; including its 11 massive fermentors and seven brite tanks.
The brewery has until July 5th to be completely moved out before the building is razed by Orlando Health as part of its ongoing campus expansion plans with its last day of operations being July 4th.
According to Taproom Manager and Social Media Coordinator, Mauricio Ayares, the move is offering them plenty of opportunities for expansion, including adding food service, full bar service, and more indoor games, as well as a permanent indoor music venue.
Ayares shared that they have three possible new sites for the brewery to move to at the moment with one of them being a space in Pointe Orlando and the other two being undisclosed locations on International Drive and further south on Orange Avenue.
You can contribute to the #KeepOrlandoBrewing fundraiser by clicking HERE.
Suggestion: close the doors permanently and save the water for the many skilled brewers in town who are eating ob’s lunch.