Taking the family to Universal Studios for the holidays. Is there anywhere within the various parks, hotels, City Walk to get any decent craft beer ? Staying at the Portofino but will travel for good beer . Thanks for.any insight the.locals can provide.
Wizarding world of Harry Potter has butter beer for the kids, the slushy version was good. And they also have adult Harry Potter beer. And the Simpson's world has DUFF beer.
There is good export stout made by Orlando brewing over in the Harry Potter hogs mead section. Called Wizards Brew. It was surprisingly good. Hogs Head brew (also by Orlando brewing) was solid Scottish ale. Not a whole lot more besides some Duff.
Also there is some brewery/brewpub or something right on city walk. Looked like had a good amount of taps. Didn't go in though so no idea what was actually on tap. If Cigar City Cans and some Funky Buddha shelf stuff is all you need for a night, there is a whole foods about a mile or so from the entrance. Lots of fresh Jai Alai when I was there last month.
I think you mean Orange Blossom Trail. Haven't been there in a while, but they do have more than enough of a selection that you can find whatever you need or want. You can also check out ABC Fine Wine & Spirits and Publix will typically have plenty of CCB and Funky Buddha brews to choose from.
Jesus there is lots of good and bad info on this thread. Please refer to the first reply for my visitors thread on Orlando. Let me sum it up: Knightly Liquors is the best place in Orlando for beer if you have a car. Don't even bother trying uber or cab. It's $$$ and not worth it. Close to you is World of Beer Dr. Phillips for on site consumption location and Whole Foods for bottles to go. There's nothing on Universal Studios property. Their craft beer selections are awful outside of the nicer hotels, and even there they aren't great. The NBC bar at universal looks like it has been a brewery but it's fake. They bought a bunch of tanks and put them on display, but they don't actually brew beer.
Report on trip. Universal itself wasteland. Only exception was the Diagon Alley and the stout which was surprisingly good as referenced. Portofino hotel had Hop Gun on draught. Hard Rock was pretty weak overall. Few restaurants in City Walk had few decent bottles. Only surprise was NBC Sports bar which had few decent drafts like Two Hearted but bottle/can selection had Jai Alai and few decent others. Probably surprise of the trip. Overall not a total wasteland to get a decent beer after a long day chasing kids and dodging pushy tourists !
