Craft Beer in WDW/ORL area

[alanmason]

I love that WDW has hopped on the craft beer bandwagon. As a huge beer nerd, this really helps me to enjoy and round out my vacation. I came down last April and I'll never forget taking an afternoon and just enjoying a crab cake sandwich and Jai Alai from Cigar City at the Pool Bar at the GF.

What are some other great places to drink some local beers in the parks(hidden gems, brew with a view, ETC) or the Orlando area? We are heading back down in January for our Dopey trip and would love a celebratory place to enjoy some great beers.

 

[Belle61513]

There's a free app called Beers and Ears. Download it and scroll through...you can check it out based on beers or locations you'll be heading to. DH loves to scroll around.

I'm not really a huge beer person but DH is and he uses it as his bible while we're there...well, that plus chatting with the bartender CM's to get the scoop.

 

[Baptist]

I would suggest Be Our Guest. I don't know if you would call their beer "craft". But, they had some good French beer.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

This may help:

http://www.orlandobeerguide.com

There is also BJ's Brewhouse. I think there is one in Lake Buena Vista. Close to Disney and serves handcrafted beer. My husband loved BJ's.

 

[skullsplitter]

Ragland Road at Downtown Disney and ESPN Zone at Boardwalk have good selections of craft and import

 

[LiveYourLife]

World of Beer. The closest one to WDW is on Sandlake Road aka Restaurant Row.

Cheers

 

[Mad Hattered]

We love this place. It's located just outside of Downtown Disney on Palm Parkway.

http://www.seadogbrewing.com/orlandoLOC.php

 

[jjsdad]

its not really a "Craft beer" but the rose and crown has guinness and bass ale and the bar there is great. The american pavilion has sam adams and our favorite restaurant (ohana) has kona fire rock pale ale. Most of the good restaurants have craft beer in bottle, some have a lot more than others. THere is also the Big River Grille and Brewery at the Boardwalk Hotel.

 

[minnie mum]

This may help:

http://www.orlandobeerguide.com

There is also BJ's Brewhouse. I think there is one in Lake Buena Vista. Close to Disney and serves handcrafted beer. My husband loved BJ's.

DH did too! We stayed at an off site hotel for 2 nights at the end of our last stay and ate at BJs 2 nights in a row so DH could try a bunch of their beers. It was on Vineland.

 

[Alfalfa]

I love BJ's too!

 

[Keels]

World of Beer and Player 1 are the two closest to WDW property.

If you head towards downtown/Winter Park, there are tons of great craft beer places - Oblivion Tap Room, Red Light Red Light, Tap and Grind and Gnarly Barly are some of my personal favorites.

 

[bumbershoot]

I would suggest Be Our Guest. I don't know if you would call their beer "craft". But, they had some good French beer.

I tried Unibroue's Fin Du Monde there. The brewery is Canadian, and if they still have it, the Canada beer kiosk is the ONLY place to get Unibroue's cherry Ephemere in the States. It's delicious and I don't have to go to Quebec to get it.

 

[Keels]

Also, I guess it depends on if you're looking for American Craft Beer (which is my guess, since you liked Cigar City!) or if you're looking for specialty import beer you may not get anywhere else.

The American Pavillion has a sneaky-good American Craft beer selection in a little stand outside the right side - Terrapin is a must-drink, if you don't get it where you live! Also, Sweetwater.

 

[momtosam]

There is a Seadog Brewery near by.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

If you on untapped you can also search places to see what people are drinking or have checked in at an individual bar.

 

[PACVII]

Just keep your eyes open to the menu boards. Just stayed at Saratoga and they had a few options at the rocks pool but not at paddock pool. Not sure the why with that but just made the decision that much easier for me as to what pool to go to. Also had a little luck in DTD but most brews are not what I would call micro at Disney so your getting the larger label names but still had local option as well. No hop juju or heady topper so don't waste time looking lol. They have a few options, but nothing that I was to impressed with and for sure check your BA guild. Oh and the swamp monkey, stay away.

 

[Keels]

Just keep your eyes open to the menu boards. Just stayed at Saratoga and they had a few options at the rocks pool but not at paddock pool. Not sure the why with that but just made the decision that much easier for me as to what pool to go to. Also had a little luck in DTD but most brews are not what I would call micro at Disney so your getting the larger label names but still had local option as well. No hop juju or heady topper so don't waste time looking lol. They have a few options, but nothing that I was to impressed with and for sure check your BA guild. Oh and the swamp monkey, stay away.

But what about Pliny (Younger, but Elder will do in a pinch) or Hill Farmstead or Jester King?!?!?!?!

(Just Kidding!)

 

[DOOM1001]

Yard House,I've never been but there's several of them in South Florida and I know they offer a bigger variety of beer than pretty much anywhere.It's located on I Drive at the I Drive 360 shops located outside the new Orlando Eye,Madame Toussads wax museum and Sea Life aquarium that are opening next month.

 

[Keels]

Yard House,I've never been but there's several of them in South Florida and I know they offer a bigger variety of beer than pretty much anywhere.It's located on I Drive at the I Drive 360 shops located outside the new Orlando Eye,Madame Toussads wax museum and Sea Life aquarium that are opening next month.

Also like a block over is Brick House Tavern & Tap Room. I prefer the food at Brick House to Yard House, but both have great craft lists - especially regional beers.

 

[alanmason]

No hop juju or heady topper so don't waste time looking lol. They have a few options, but nothing that I was to impressed with and for sure check your BA guild. Oh and the swamp monkey, stay away.

Ha! I'm on Untappd and love searching near me, but I'm also aware that I won't have much luck asking CM or things like that. I just want to truly enjoy my Florida/Orlando experience. Last time we came (2015 WDW Marathon) we had the chance to check out the WOB in Downtown, but they pretty much were stuck with the locals. I'm hearing a lot about Funky Buddha and a new place near Tampa.
I'll def check out the app(beers and ears).

Do you think WDW would ever try and change one of their lower performing lounges at a resort into a legitimate Craft Beer place?