Do you ever feel like some breweries pop up over and over again in your social feeds? Then all your friends won’t stop name dropping them, and you’re going through some serious FOMO.

Me to myself: “Am I the only one on the planet who hasn’t been there or tried their beer yet?”
Also me: “No Nikki, Because they’ve only been open since the beginning of March…”

That was Sideward Brewing for me. I mean how could you not have FOMO with all these juicy Hop Culture pics popping up left and right?

It’s not very difficult to suck me in with some good branding and pretty pictures. I’m a designer/digital marketer in my day job so I’m a literal moth to a flame when it comes to well executed brewery art. Even though my time in Orlando was going to be less than a day and a half I was pretty hell bent on making it out there (my inner teenage goth would never forgive me if I didn’t).

About Sideward Brewing

Like I mentioned earlier, they’re pretty much a brand new brewery to the Central Florida beer scene. Located in Orlando’s artsy Milk District right off of N. Bumby Avenue their almost century-old building is hard to miss.

The taproom itself is pretty small and I can’t imagine it holds too many people. They do however have a generous patio out front with plenty of seating, which is where we chose to enjoy our beers.

We would have loved to sit at the bar inside, but it was unsurprisingly pretty packed being that it was a Saturday night.

How’s the Beer at Sideward Brewing?

We got to try 2 different beers while we were there, I wish we would have had time to sample a few more, but some is better than none.

I opted for the Space Camp which is their flagship IPA, while Susie ordered the Gnar Mountain Dew Berliner Weisse. I was really drawn to that one as well, but when I’m out just for one drink at a brewery I try to order something different than the person with me. I thought the Space Camp in my humble, not-so-educated-opinion was just alright. I wasn’t sure what I was really expecting with this one to be honest, but it didn’t really do it for me. It was super piney, bitter, and unexciting a pretty standard IPA.

Gnar on the other hand was absolutely delicious and I love the nostalgia of it being brewed with Mountain Dew! The lemony citrus flavor smacks you in the face in the best way possible. I ended up grabbing a 4 pack of it to go I liked it so much, and it’s patiently waiting in my fridge for me to crack one open later this weekend.

Susie on the other hand thought it kind of tasted like Pine Sol, which was hilarious. I think it just goes to show that even if someone else tells you that don’t like the way a certain beer tastes it doesn’t mean that you wont! Everyone has different preferences and expectations for what they want out of their beer. You should never be afraid to check something out yourself or completely write it off before you’ve tried it.

A quick bonus nugget of information I wanted to mention is that they do have a small menu of bites they make on site! This is always a huge win in my book when a brewery has their own food. There is literally nothing worse than rolling up to a brewery only to find out that the food truck there isn’t your speed or there aren’t any food options at all!

We just decided to share a light snack and went for the french onion dip with kettle chips and veggies. For just being some chips and dip it was DAMN GOOD we were both really impressed.

To wrap up this little review I would definitely recommend Sideward Brewing for a few reasons:

1. The atmosphere is killer, a beautifully put together brewery with an awesome vibe.

2. They have their own food options on site and they get the stamp of approval from me.

3. They have a good variety of beer styles on draft and I think there’s something for everyone
   
   

Is Sideward on your list of breweries to visit in Orlando or were you early to the game and have already scoped it out?
I’d love to know in the comments below. Thanks so much for reading as always.