Local Beermeister Hopes His Orange Blossom Pilsner Honey Beer Creates a Buzz at DeLand’s February Beer fest

ORLANDO – Tom Moench, founder of Orlando-based Orange Blossom Pilsner, is one of more than 30 craft brewers who will be featured next month at the 2nd annual DeLand Craft Beer Festival.

The event, scheduled from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, will be held in the Artisan Alley at 118 W. New York Ave. in downtown DeLand.

Moench – a client member of the University of Central Florida’s Business Incubator Program – said he fell in love with his first beer when he was only 12 and started brewing in his family’s garage at the age of 18.

After years of studying books on brewing, visiting breweries, and tasting lots of beer, Moench began experimenting with everything from ginseng and shitake mushrooms to coconut and fresh fruit. But, it was the 2.3 teaspoons of fermented orange blossom honey that seemed to give every bottle of his Orange Blossom Pilsner exactly what he had been searching for: a clean, crisp, yet complex, flavor.

The flavor combination has been a huge hit as Orange Blossom Pilsner currently is on tap at 50 locations in Central Florida and is available in bottles at more than 600 locations throughout the state, including many Publix supermarkets and ABC Liquors. It’s also the number one selling beer at the Mellow Mushroom.

In addition to his OBP beer, Moench also will be pouring two other samples at the DeLand festival: OBP2, which has the same ingredients as OBP but with half the water; and Toasted Coconut Porter, which Moench calls the “little brother” to stout beer.

Tickets for the festival – which are available from the DeLand Beacon, daVinci Cafe, The Abbey Wine and Beer Bar and the Mainstreet DeLand office – are $20 in advance and $25 at the gate. For details, call 386-738-0649.
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About the UCF Business Incubation Program: Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 160 emerging companies (including nearly 100 current clients) create over $800 million in annual revenue and more than 1,600 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. With eight – and soon nine – facilities opened across the Greater Orlando community, the Business Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic development between the University of Central Florida, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the City of Winter Springs, The City of Sanford, Lake County, the City of Leesburg, Osceola County, the City of Kissimmee, City of St. Cloud, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council and will be adding Volusia County. For more information, please visit www.incubator.ucf.edu.

For more information about this release, please contact: Tom Moench, Owner, Orange Blossom Pilsner, Tom@OrangeBlossomPilsner.com; Melissa Wasserman, Site Manager, UCF Business Incubator-Orlando, 321-281-8384, mwasserm@mail.ucf.edu; Charlene Hager-Van Dyke, Larry Vershel Communications, 386-532-8862 or 407-644-4142; chagervandyke@yahoo.com