ORLANDO, Fla.— Ice cold beer and hockey is a match made in Heaven.
The Orlando Solar Bears and Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company recently teamed up for a special combination this season that will bring that perfect pair to another level.
Cheers to Bear Beer, a Florida Lager brewed right in the heart of Orlando.
“Well first off we start with water and grain. We have a mill on the outside and we crush all of our grain. Comes into this tank then we mix it with hot water and create a tea. It produces a sugar water. We transfer that over to the kettle. Start boiling it. Adding our hops. Create a little bit more concentration for the alcohol then we transfer it to a fermentor and add the yeast and let the magic happen,” said Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company Lead Brewer, Eric Van Wormer.
That sounds easy right?
Wrong.
Once that multi-week process is done it is time for the in house canning.
Van Wormer says the entire process takes more than a month from start to finish.
“I would say a good, beginning to end, a month. Every bit of a month. Four to six weeks,” said Van Wormer.
It’s a labor of love that lead brewer Eric Van Wormer says is worth the long process.
“That first sip or that reflection after the first sip. They look at their friends and its beer. It’s good to see people smile and beer brings smiles to a lot of people’s faces,” said Van Wormer.
Beer and hockey brings smiles to people’s faces including Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky.