- April 25, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Downtown Ormond Beach will soon gain a new brewery, as construction for one inside the Ormond Garage building is scheduled to start in the next couple of weeks.
Ormond Beach resident Kevin Wakefield has dreamed of opening a brewery inside the historic 1919 structure since he opened the Grind Gastropub and Kona Tiki Bar across the street on West Granada Boulevard. Though he's thought about it for at least four years, the plan to open "Ormond Garage Brewing" was put into action about a year and a half ago.
“As soon as we got this one up and running, I’d already had in my brain that I wanted to make that a brewery across the street," Wakefield said.
After construction, the brewery will consist of about 3,200 square feet of usable space, with a biergarten in the rear of the building. It will serve "fast-casual" fare, and beers will be named after the famous drivers and race cars that got their start racing on Ormond Beach's shore, as a tribute to the city's "Birthplace of Speed" history and the original Ormond Garage that burned down in 1976.
“Ormond really grew up — became what it is — because of racing on the beach," Wakefield said. "That’s what put Ormond on the map, and that’s really the last tangible evidence of that history here in town.”
Wakefield is also hoping to turn the brewery into a music venue, similar to Beachside Tavern in New Smyrna Beach and Cafe DaVinci in Deland, something that he said Ormond doesn't have yet.
Wakefield is also the owner of 31 Supper Club, and he felt the downtown district needed a casual place to bring in a different demographic.
“The brewery brings kind of the third piece of the puzzle," Wakefield said.
He hopes Ormond Garage Brewing will open sometime early next year.
