Persimmon Hollow: Merging Florida Beachy and Serious, Arriving at Beerious
- Matthew J. Kurz
- Apr 19, 2017
- 2 min read
Matt combines his background as a passionate educator and speaker with his photography, creating modern works of landscapes, people, and events. His clients include businesses, models, magazines, publishing companies, non-profit organizations, and private citizens.
Adolphus Busch and Eberhard Anheuser may have been the first to extensively bottle beer, use pasteurization to keep that beer fresh, and employ refrigerated railroad cars to keep that beer cold, but the real story over the last several years has been the democratization of the art: microbreweries have shifted into the underpinnings of a nationwide artisnal craft beer movement. Before, the mystagogues of beer were grumpy old men making small-batch home-brews in their garage during golden retirement years; present-day we're looking at bearded guys in their 20s and 30s with pun-laden twitter accounts and a true taste for specialized beers, harvesting their notoriety through hops and grain, one bottle at a time.
One of the more recent additions to this melee is Persimmon Hollow, founded three years ago in sleepy DeLand, Florida from a simple between best friends and award-winning home brewers Andy Sistrunk and Robbie Carelli. Central Florida, which had few acceptable breweries up until about 10 years ago when Cigar City Brewing came on the scene, is now home to a blossoming micro brewing community from Daytona to Tampa and the Volusia County brewing spot everyone is talking about happens to be Persimmon Hollow.
This brewery is located on a side-street of DeLand, nestled comfortably between a local newspaper's headquarters and a vacant garage-like space, strategically positioned across from a little taco stand called Neighbors and the local live-music hangout bar Cafe DaVinci. They always leave the garage-style door open to let the warm Florida breeze in, usually with some pine Adirondack chairs adorning the patio area. Inside you're greeted with an industrial feeling high-ceiling space with a hodgepodge variety of homey tables and chairs to meet with friends or a date, almost making one feel they are in some sort of large living room. And Persimmon Hollow has become the living room of DeLand for some... on any given afternoon you may meet local legends, faculty from Stetson University, or even a golden retriever in this pet-friendly space. Like so many of Florida's microbreweries the beer selection is rooted in history and the surroundings of a specific location. Their motto, Drink Sensibly, But Get Weird, can be seen throughout their brews; from the "Daytona Dirty Blonde" Blonde Ale or "Beach Hippy" IPA to the "3 Wise Guys" Coffee Porter and "Tipsy Friar" Belgian Dubbel there's something for everyone. My personal favorite is the "Barrel-Aged Drunken Monk" Quad, a delicious bourbon barrel-aged dark ale which sneaks up on you during balmy southern evenings with good company. So if you find yourself in Volusia County and you've got a free afternoon, make it a point to stop by Persimmon Hollow and give their libations a try. Order a flight, explore some of the other seasonal brews on tap, and pick up a koozie or soft t-shirt to commemorate the moment you tried liquid from the old gods and the new at this wonderful hang in between Orlando and Daytona Beach.
Guest Contributor: Matthew J. Kurz
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