I happened upon a lot right near Persimmon Hollow. I have to admit after parking, I was looking for Towing signs or something that indicated I would have to pay for parking or for some sign that said what times you were allowed to park there. I found none of that, I was surprised since I’m used to Miami, where generally paying for parking is to be expected.

The first place I started at was Design Build Brewing, I knew that Jenny would be there and it would be great to meet another member of the Craft Girl B&B FL group. I had their, 119 French Engineers a cream ale at 5.2%, described on Untapped as “This beer was brewed in collaboration with our friends over at 119 French (Sanford). We created a beer that is extremely drinkable, but noticeably craft. Expect a beer that is lightly golden in color, with light aromas of vanilla and corn and which is all then followed by flavors of sweet corn and heavy vanilla on the tongue. The vanilla continues to grow as the beer warms and then finishes light and slightly crisp and sweet.”

This was enjoyable and light, there was some vanilla notes in it, I didn’t have time to waste to wait for the beer to warm up in order to capture more of the vanilla within, with that being said, it would be great to have some more of this another time.

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Next stop, Ormond Garage Brewing, tried the cream ale which was good and light. I didn’t catch his name, though the younger man pictured stated that he has been a professional brewer for two years and had worked at Persimmon Hollow. Also, that their location would be opening in Ormond Beach as the first brewery within that area in April.

When I saw Cask and Larder, I was wondering what they had it was between an IPA and Mangose, so I opted for Mangose, tart wheat ale with mango and salt at 4.4%. Good mango flavor, though unfortunately it reminded me of a flavor that I’ve puked up before, so I dumped it after a few sips.

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Broken Strings Brewery, Coconut Brown, nice coconut flavor, reminds me of Koko Brown from Kona.

Dirty Oar, Sin-A-Bomb – I loved this one!! Had great cinnamon flavor, very much like a cinnamon bun. I though of Southern Tier’s Imperial Cinnamon Roll Ale, which this is comparable to and tasted better than Southern Tier’s though I also debated in my head since it’s similar, that it would be better to judge that more appropriately if I had both at the same time.

After that one I went with, Dirty Oar, Sour Ale with lime and watermelon. Great beer.

Here’s some pictures of some of the others that followed.

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Bett’s Brewing. They are a brewing in planning, I appreciated the honesty about not having the $80k in order to get a building and everything needed to get it up and going. In the meantime, beers are brewed in their basement. The brewer and his wife were genuinely nice people and nice to talk to. His wife made cookies I had the peanut butter cookie and the other was made from spent grain with raisins. Love that she did that!

Bacon Me Crazy, had a good smokey flavor and enjoyable beer; Strawberry Palm had strong strawberry flavor, and I liked the use of a pale ale because I felt it helped balance the strawberry flavor that comes thru though; Beach Bum, he explained as he made this beer for the “bud light drinker”, I get that, it is a nice lager that would be a good starting point for those who aren’t into craft that he could serve them; Robellini, had some bubble gum like taste and enjoyable Belgian Tripel.

Teufel Hunden, Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout. Peanut butter taste within was good, had a slight boozy taste or maybe it was because I had the Belgian before that, that could be making me think that.

Brew Club of Seminole County. Belgian Dark Strong. From this I got, Banana notes some bubble gum flavor, a little less than the prior one I tried. I enjoyed this more than the prior one; Lime fruit, which is a silver medal winner, flavor was not over bearing and nice; Barry White, Berry Wit Saison, tasted some pepper notes and good berry flavor within; Mini Perle Saison, was alright;

Daytona Brew Club. Thirteen Day Wheat, not for me, not a fan; Lemon Drop, it wasn’t too tart to me and this was enjoyable.

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Next stop was Black Cauldron Brewing. Hazelnut Demon of the Fall, able to detect hazelnut within and enjoyable Russian stout; Bleed Purple in my opinion it needed more blackberry, decent Saison; Black Stone Cherry, this was my favorite of the ones I tried, amazing cherry sour! I kind of wanted more, though I still had more beers to try. While sipping on my Black Stone Cherry, I said hello to Melissa, one of the ladies from the Craft Girls B&B FL group was pouring for them.

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I didn’t take a picture of Persimmon Hollow, I had their 3 Wise Guys which was an enjoyable coffee porter.

Later on, I was looking for the Abita tent since Kelly was pouring for them and so I could meet her.

It’s funny to take a look at the notes I made in my phone as the day went by my notes became filled with misspelled words and some beers I tried I don’t seem to have pictures of the breweries or such. Though counting up the notes, I apparently tried 59 beers this day, at least from what I made notes on.

It was such a blast coming here!! I was glad to meet the craft beer ladies from the group and to able to experience the Volusia County Craft Beer Scene. I definitely need to come back to DeLand and surrounding area to check some breweries out as well as return to Orlando for the same.