Orange County Brewers moves from downtown Orlando to Lake Mary

After the announcement of their "Brew Theory" event just a year ago, Orange County Brewers is finally giving up on downtown Orlando. OCB is closing its downtown location and moving to Lake Mary after Sunday.

From becoming a home to Behr's Shoes and both a Mini and Fiat dealership before the brewers entered into the picture, the space has seen its fair share of bygone businesses.

The closing announcement came as no surprise to many locals, who have seen businesses come and go over the years in the downtown multi-tenant location.

When Orange County Brewers, a team dedicated to craft beer, opened to the Orlando public in 2017, things seemed to have settled down.

Orange County Brewers got off to a great start with the Orlando Pizza and Wing Co., before replacing it in June 2018 with Red Claw, serving lobster rolls and pizza pies. That lasted until October before again being replaced by Pizza Bruno, which stopped downtown service in April of this year. Then chef Eliot Hillis of Orlando Meats opened Recess, another pizza concept.

Located at 1117 International Parkway, the Lake Mary location will feature a large outdoor seating area and will target the older and middle-to-older crowd, as opposed to the younger crowd that filters through the downtown area.

Although there is no official opening date, Jeremy Roberts, one of the brewery's owners, told the Orlando Sentinel there will be a soft opening in the next two weeks.

However, the Lake Mary location is just the beginning of OCB's expansion plans, as a pub is expected to open in Orlando International Airport's new South Terminal C in 2021, featuring six craft beer options.

Although brewing will continue at the downtown location until the end of August, Sunday will be the last day for the downtown taproom located on Orange Avenue.

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