Orlando's largest beer festival is packing up its decade-old home in the Milk District and setting up at Lake Eola Park for its 11th year, bringing with it a lineup of hundreds of beers, ciders and seltzers, plus something new this time around: a dedicated zone for THC-infused drinks. The ticketed, dog-friendly event for adults 21 and older lands downtown on November 14, with at least 27 confirmed brewers signed on as of press time and more joining the vendor list daily.
The venue change marks a notable shift for the festival, which held its 10th anniversary celebration at Festival Park in November 2025 after years at that Milk District location, according to Orlando Weekly. The move to Lake Eola Park puts the event in the heart of downtown Orlando, a shift Orlando Weekly previously noted comes after Festival Park hosted the fest for multiple consecutive years. Organizers typically release the full beer list in mid-October, so the current roster is still filling out.
What's Already on Tap
Tactical Brewing is bringing Meloncholy, a gluten-free watermelon sour at 5% ABV, while Brewlando has three beers lined up: Tea Ceremony, a spiced lager brewed with sun-dried green tea, cinnamon, ginger, Sichuan pepper and honey at 5.8% ABV; Pico Red, a malty red cold IPA hopped with Eclipse, Cascade, Chinook, Vic Secret and Simcoe at 6.8% ABV; and Jernigan's Hazy, the brewery's flagship hazy IPA with tropical, citrus and coconut notes, also at 6.8% ABV. Enchanted Brewing is pouring Let It Glow, a blueberry lemonade sour finished with blackberry at 5% ABV, and Tampa Bay Brewing Co. is bringing Gourds Gone Wild, a 6% ABV pumpkin ale loaded with fall spices and vanilla.
Other confirmed participants include Crooked Can, Hyperbolic Brewing, Persimmon Hollow, Three Odd Guys Brewing and Wop's Hops. Hyperbolic Brewing is coming off news that it plans to open its first brick-and-mortar location in the old Hammered Lamb space in Ivanhoe Village, where the brewery holds a 10-year lease and intends to focus on traditional European decoction brewing, a technique that boils portions of the mash separately to sharpen malt flavor and clarity, according to Forteza Realty. The Hammered Lamb closed in early 2025 after a 12-year run in that space.
A New THC Zone Arrives Just Before Federal Limits
Admission to the festival includes beer-friendly food from local vendors, access to a giant beer pong area and a game zone, and this year, a taste of the hemp-derived beverage market's rapid growth. Orlando-based Oracle Organix will offer cocktail-inspired THC seltzers containing 10 milligrams of THC per drink, in flavors like margarita, el diablo, hurricane, piña colada, mango mai tai and raspberry spritz.
The timing is notable. New federal restrictions set to take effect on December 11, 2026 would ban THC products containing more than 0.04 milligrams of THC, a dramatic tightening from current allowances. That federal measure, part of the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act for 2026, amends the Agricultural Marketing Act to cap final-form hemp-derived products at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container starting November 12, 2026, according to filings on Regulations.gov. Federal law had previously allowed hemp-derived products up to 0.3% Delta-9 THC by dry weight under the 2018 Farm Bill, a far looser standard than what's coming.
Craft Beer's Shifting Landscape
The festival's expansion into THC beverages and non-alcoholic alternatives comes as Florida's craft beer industry faces real headwinds. The state's active craft breweries peaked at 404 in 2023, but statewide production dropped month-over-month throughout 2026 as drinkers increasingly reached for lighter options, per the Tampa Bay Times. Nationally, craft beer production volume fell 4% in 2025 with 60% of breweries reporting declines, even as monthly craft consumption among active craft drinkers climbed to 85% in 2026, according to the Brewers Association. Florida still ranked fifth nationwide in craft brewing economic output in 2025, generating $3.6 billion, well behind California's $8.5 billion lead.
Even against that backdrop, Central Florida breweries keep betting big on growth. Brewlando, founded in 2022 as a woman-owned business by CEO Shara Pathak, became the Official Craft Beer of UCF Athletics in 2025 and expanded to four locations after taking over Sanford Brewing Co. Tactical Brewing, meanwhile, signed a lease to relocate to the former Orlando Metro Gymnastics building on New Broad Street in Baldwin Park, where it plans an expanded taproom and multi-vendor food hall, years after first opening in that neighborhood in 2018.
Getting Into Orlando Beer Fest
Entry at Lake Eola Park on November 14 follows a staggered schedule: VIP access begins at noon with two extra hours, a private lounge and exclusive tastings, followed by GA+ entry at 1 p.m. and General Admission at 2 p.m. The festival wraps up at 5 p.m. Organizers are still adding to the vendor list in the lead-up to the event, with the full beer lineup expected to be finalized closer to the festival date.
