Best Craft Beer Options?

[Tallen234]

We are going to have our first WDW trip as a family next week. I am a craft beer enthusiast (my DW would say snob - lol). For those that enjoy really good craft beer (my favorite breweries - Russian River, Lawson's, Tombstone, Maine, Hill Farmstead, etc.).

We are staying at BWI, but plan to move around a bit......

Thanks!

 

[gharter]

You can find them scattered throughout WDW.
HS Baseline Taphouse has a good selection.
Big River Grille had a fair selection as well.

 

[Stephy811]

My husband is also a snob lol…while we haven’t found a ton of truly “craft” options (smaller unique breweries), there are still lots of options. We are from PA so some of the more local stuff in FL is new to us. We are going next week as well and our plans include:
1. Food and wine festival booths at Epcot- there are a good many brews on the list this year. You can also do flights at a few of them. There is an app you can download with the menus (just search food and wine in your App Store)
2. Rose and crown pub at Epcot - no crafts but they have several British on tap and make some perfect Black and Tans, half and half’s, etc
3. Disney springs: City works - not sure where you are from but they have these in several other cities and we have one near us so we don’t always go here but they usually have 90+ on tap according to the website. Raglan Road - again not true craft but good selection of their own brews plus some imports from across the pond.

 

[Turksmom]

Phins and Feathers is a house brew for Swan and Dolphin.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Raglan Road - again not true craft but good selection of their own brews plus some imports from across the pond.

Ditto on Raglan and of course, my favorite outside seat "the hole in the wall" bar just outside. Half and half at half past noon is a sign of things to come. Argh!

 

[JCornell]

I hit all of the breweries around home frequently and when I travel. In general, most of the Disney offerings don't thrill me. Some thoughts though:
Baseline Tap House at DHS - ok if you like CA IPAs. Otherwise not much selection.
Big River Grille isn't bad, but it is a chain, not exactly true craft. They don't mix it up much other than a couple seasonals.
I do enjoy Raglan Road, Rose and Crown, and the beer cart in Germany, not for craft, but for something you don't get at home much. All the better when they're operated by the people from those places for that feeling of authenticity. At least in the past, Raglan did serve a few Florida beers as well.
Swan/Dolphin pool bar served some Cigar City (Tampa) options but it's been a few years since we've been there.
FWIW, each of the resort properties tend to carry beer true to their location. Some examples:
- Geyser Point at WL, carries some Pacific NW beers
- Tambu Lounge at Poly carries some Hawaiian beers (Kona brand)
- Muddy Rivers Pool Bar at POR has New Orleans beers (Abita)
Many of the "craft" options are bigger players but still better than same old, same old.

I have not done City Works yet and am looking forward to it. Looks like there's some less common (to me) options and some Florida local options.

I have no idea if they're still keeping it up to date, but there's a list of beers by site here: http://beersandears.net/wdw-beer-list/
They also have an app.

 

[jpakstis]

We are going to have our first WDW trip as a family next week. I am a craft beer enthusiast (my DW would say snob - lol). For those that enjoy really good craft beer (my favorite breweries - Russian River, Lawson's, Tombstone, Maine, Hill Farmstead, etc.).

We are staying at BWI, but plan to move around a bit......

Thanks!

You aren’t going to find any of those there (but I’m sure you know that). Are you an NEIPA fan? I only ask because of the Lawsons/MBC/Hill Farmstead entries. I’m a big NEIPA fan especially since I live in NE. However I like to get as regional as possible when I travel (mainly because hopefully the beer is fresh but also to experience how that area makes styles). Cigar City Jai Alai is a decent NEIPA that seems to be everywhere on property.

Big River Grille has their own house beers but they are pretty basic styles (when we were there they had a brown ale, a lager, a light lager, and an IPA (more west coast, similar to Laguintas). We didn’t go to City Works but their beer list online looks like it’d be promising. The best beers I had on property were in the kiosks during flower and garden. The US kiosk had a really nice IIPA from New Orleans. Parish Brewing Ghost in the Machine I think? The remainder of the beers at the kiosks were good but limited. Usually the drink section would include a cocktail/wine and a beer. For France it was Kronenbourg 1664. Italy had Peroni.

Actually my favorite beer “experiences” came from getting drinks from places in Animal Kingdom because they import in beers from Africa and Asia. It’s sort of contradictory to my statement above but I come from the region of NEIPAs; I can get a good one anywhere when I’m at home but how often am I going to beers from Africa, even if they are a pretty standard (but refreshing) pilsner?

 

[Nabas]

Big River Grille isn't bad, but it is a chain, not exactly true craft. They don't mix it up much other than a couple seasonals.

As far as I know, Big River Grille has 2 locations in Chattanooga and the 1 on the Boardwalk. IMO, that doesn't qualify as a "chain"

 

[Nabas]

You can find them scattered throughout WDW.
HS Baseline Taphouse has a good selection.
Big River Grille had a fair selection as well.

Ditto, Baseline Taphouse at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Big River Grille at the Boardwalk are probably the best two options. But both have only about 5-10 beers on tap at any one time, so not a huge variety. Get a flight of beers if you want to sample.

I tend to pick just one and stick with it, unless I dislike it, so I don't need a big variety.

Both have outdoor table, which we really like once things cool down in the early evening or at night.

 

[Vincent Vega]

What about getting an Uber and visit Ten 10 Brewing? I really enjoyed my visit there back in 2019 and it´s just a 25 minutes drving. Orlando Brewing is a good option too, close to WDW. If you don´t mind a little more driving you can always visit Cigar City and Late Start Brewing in Tampa. My Florida´s favourite brewery is Civil Society in West Palm Beach, but that´s a bit far... Enjoy!

 

[Maleficent's Dad]

While no where close to having vast selections of good craft beers, WDW has upped their game in the past few years. Yes, most selections are macro=breweries, but I’ve never had difficulty finding a good IPA.

Block & Hans in Epcot has a decent selection. Next door, Reagle Eagle has some craft options.

Lots of Cigar City around property.
Other good choices can be found at Cali Grill, Geyser Point, and Citrico’s. Even ESPN and Flying Fish have craft selections when open. I find most bars/restaurants have at least between 1&4 interesting options.

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

True craft beers are few and far between on Disney property. One of the only places we saw selling true craft beers in August was at The Polite Pig. They had a bunch from the local micro-brewery Ravenous Pig. Instead of searching for craft beer, we do as a previous poster suggested and look for beers we don't see at home- many of the resort lounges have a few. Animal Kingdom Lodge has a nice selection of beers from Africa and Riviera has a few out of the ordinary from Italy. Big River and Tratoria al Forno at the Boardwalk and Brew-Wing at the Food and Wine festival had beer we haven't seen before.

 

[JCornell]

As far as I know, Big River Grille has 2 locations in Chattanooga and the 1 on the Boardwalk. IMO, that doesn't qualify as a "chain"

They're owned by Craftworks Restaurants and Breweries. Big River also owns Gordon Biersch so I'd still consider that a chain.

 

[Harmacist]

Onsite I don't think you are going to find anything close to that level you have listed. If you had a car or wanted to uber/lyft/taxi somewhere you could get some pretty good microbrewery stuff, but I'm not sure it's worth losing WDW time to do, especially if you don't visit frequently.

Once I was staying in the Disney Springs area and took a very short Uber ride to I believe Sea Dog brewing restaurant (now closed and still not as good as the stuff you have listed) but there was an Arcade bar that was like $5-10 all you can play. I bring this up because the tap/bottle list was pretty impressive to me. I'm not sure if this is a place for younger kids or if there were age restrictions to get since I was only with another adult.

Another thing I have done in the past is just throw 4 cans of treehouse/other half in baggies and put them in my checked baggage. I've done this if I have a balcony, some nights i'd just relax sipping on a can on the balcony. If I don't drink them all the next guest gets a free gift. I wouldn't try bottles though.

But usually what I just do is drink stuff I can't get locally. Variety is the spice of life they say.

 

[Turksmom]

Bottles travel fine. Just wrap them in your clothes. I've transported them in my checked bags on multiple trips

 

[JCornell]

True craft beers are few and far between on Disney property. One of the only places we saw selling true craft beers in August was at The Polite Pig. They had a bunch from the local micro-brewery Ravenous Pig. Instead of searching for craft beer, we do as a previous poster suggested and look for beers we don't see at home- many of the resort lounges have a few. Animal Kingdom Lodge has a nice selection of beers from Africa and Riviera has a few out of the ordinary from Italy. Big River and Tratoria al Forno at the Boardwalk and Brew-Wing at the Food and Wine festival had beer we haven't seen before.

I did not know about Polite Pig. Thanks.

 

[Tallen234]

You aren’t going to find any of those there (but I’m sure you know that). Are you an NEIPA fan? I only ask because of the Lawsons/MBC/Hill Farmstead entries. I’m a big NEIPA fan especially since I live in NE. However I like to get as regional as possible when I travel (mainly because hopefully the beer is fresh but also to experience how that area makes styles). Cigar City Jai Alai is a decent NEIPA that seems to be everywhere on property.

Big River Grille has their own house beers but they are pretty basic styles (when we were there they had a brown ale, a lager, a light lager, and an IPA (more west coast, similar to Laguintas). We didn’t go to City Works but their beer list online looks like it’d be promising. The best beers I had on property were in the kiosks during flower and garden. The US kiosk had a really nice IIPA from New Orleans. Parish Brewing Ghost in the Machine I think? The remainder of the beers at the kiosks were good but limited. Usually the drink section would include a cocktail/wine and a beer. For France it was Kronenbourg 1664. Italy had Peroni.

Actually my favorite beer “experiences” came from getting drinks from places in Animal Kingdom because they import in beers from Africa and Asia. It’s sort of contradictory to my statement above but I come from the region of NEIPAs; I can get a good one anywhere when I’m at home but how often am I going to beers from Africa, even if they are a pretty standard (but refreshing) pilsner?

Thank you for the reply! I’m a big NEIPA fan, but starting to head back to more traditional styles. “Hey, I remember beer could taste like this”. We are heading to Boma tonight, so I may try some African beer.

 

[jjb1974]

I was stunned when I saw Boulevard Tank 7 at Contemporary in 2018. But since then the craft options outside F&W tents has gone bad. Local beer doesn’t impress me because if you don’t have good water, you don’t have good beer….and I’ve yet to be in a place in FL where tap water was decent.

 

[Tallen234]

Went to Boma, they were out of tusker (African beer), but had Jai Alai. Very surprised that it was a 7/31 canning date. I wonder if Disney bought 100,000 cans in July. You would think there would be a big turnover.

 

[lorenae]

Went to Boma, they were out of tusker (African beer), but had Jai Alai. Very surprised that it was a 7/31 canning date. I wonder if Disney bought 100,000 cans in July. You would think there would be a big turnover.

I guess people at Boma don’t drink IPAs? I happen to like Jai Alai a lot, and drink it in Florida although now it’s widely distributed but I don’t think that there are that many true craft beer drinkers (or beers) at WDW.
I had a (mediocre) amber, called Safari Amber or something at Animal Kingdom. I think it must have been a macro brown lager relabeled for AK.