Orlando’s Craft Beer Scene: A Brewery Trail Through the City’s Best Taprooms

A decade ago, “Orlando beer” meant whatever was cold at the theme park. Then a wave of neighborhood taprooms rewired the city’s drinking culture — breweries named for the streets they sit on, beers named for the trails outside their doors, and a Central Florida Ale Trail that now links more than two dozen breweries across the metro. This is your route through the essential stops, organized the way you’d actually drink them.

Ivanhoe Park Brewing: The Neighborhood Anchor

Start where the scene feels most rooted. Ivanhoe Park Brewing, at 1300 Alden Road in Ivanhoe Village, brews the most Orlando-obsessed lineup in the city — the Park Hopp’r golden pilsner and Joyland American IPA are named for the neighborhood’s old Joyland amusement park era, and the taproom spills into a beer garden made for Florida evenings.

Business has been good enough to justify a second act: Ivanhoe Park Lager House opened in the West Lakes/Parramore district in 2024, pouring lagers a short walk from the downtown stadiums — the pre-game pint of choice on Orlando City and Magic nights. Trivia nights, food trucks and a genuinely local crowd keep the original feeling like the district’s front porch.

Ten10 Brewing: The Trail Connection

Ten blocks south on Virginia Drive, Ten10 Brewing has been Mills 50’s living room since 2014 — vinyl on the turntable, dogs on the patio, and a run club that turns Tuesday into a social event. Its signature Urban Trail Pale Ale is named for the Orlando Urban Trail, the paved bike path that links Ten10 directly to Ivanhoe Park Brewing and Loch Haven Park.

That’s not a metaphor: the two breweries are connected by an actual trail, making the Ivanhoe-to-Ten10 hop the easiest brewery crawl in Florida. Ride it, walk it, or just claim you did.

Hourglass Brewing: The Mad Scientists

If Ivanhoe is the scene’s heart, Hourglass is its laboratory. Longwood’s original craft brewery now runs a second taproom in its namesake Hourglass District on Curry Ford Road, pouring from a deep rotating list — 40-plus taps at the District location — that leans hard into sours (the Sourglass series), barrel-aged experiments and joyful weirdness.

Its best-known beer is a local-history joke in a glass: I-4 Eyesore, a Florida lager named for the famously unfinished Majesty Building looming over the interstate in Altamonte Springs. Drinking one while looking at literally any Orlando skyline view is a rite of passage.

Crooked Can: The Day-Trip Pour

Winter Garden’s Crooked Can Brewing is the anchor tenant of Plant Street Market and arguably the most beloved brewery in Central Florida. The taproom opens into the food hall, so your flight pairs with a dozen dinner options, and the lineup is built for Florida weather: the West Orange Trailblazer, a crisp rice lager brewed for cyclists rolling off the 22-mile trail outside, and the Sixth Man lager for game days. If you build your trail as a Saturday — farmers market, bike ride, brewery — this is the finishing line.

The Next Tier: Specialists Worth the Detour

• Ellipsis Brewing: the haze specialists — juicy, fruit-forward IPAs that draw a devoted following willing to make the trip toward the airport corridor.
• Tactical Brewing (Baldwin Park): small, fearless and envelope-pushing, with some of the most entertaining beer names in the state.
• Sideward Brewing (Milk District): a stylish taproom-brewery hybrid pouring everything from crisp lagers to pastry stouts.
• Redlight Redlight (Audubon Park): part brewery, part legendary beer bar on Corrine Drive — the connoisseur’s room, with one of the deepest cellars in the Southeast.
• Sanford’s scene: make it a satellite trip — the historic downtown stacks multiple breweries and taprooms into a few brick blocks.

Build Your Own Trail

• The Urban Trail ride: Ivanhoe Park → Ten10, connected by bike path, with Loch Haven Park in the middle.
• The game-day pair: Ivanhoe Park Lager House before kickoff or tip-off downtown.
• The Saturday circuit: Winter Garden farmers market → Crooked Can → Plant Street wandering.
• The deep cut: Hourglass District location for the tap list, Redlight Redlight for dessert.

Orlando’s beer scene grew up in its neighborhoods, not its tourist zones — and it tastes like it. Pick a district, pick a trail, and drink local.