Orchid Island Brewery's innovations in national eye thanks to 'tasteMAKERS' show on PBS
tasteMAKERS made the front page of the Sunday Treasure Coast Newspaper with a story by journalist Larry Reisman on Orchid Island Brewery’s appearance in our first season. Read the full story here.
My dad grew up in Vero Beach and when I was hunting for makers to feature in the first season of the show, I ran across Orchid Island Brewery while visiting my parents. We sat in the brewery’s bustling tap room and I was struck by the brewer’s dedication to featuring local citrus. When my dad was growing up on the island in the ‘50s, the area was covered in citrus groves, most of which have been plowed under to make way for housing developments. Turns out Alden Bing, the brewer behind OIB, grew up climbing citrus trees in his neighborhood and running around with kids whose parents were in the citrus industry. As he entered the beer industry, he was dedicated to supporting the remaining local citrus farmers, in particular the family that owns Schacht Groves.
“Our mantra is our grove-to-glass beer project,” Bing told TCPalm’s Laurie Blandford ... “It’s glorification of the world’s finest citrus. That’s really what our mission is.”
Learn more about Alden and Val Bing and Louis Schacht in the TCPalm.com story. You can also find more on OIB in their section of the site … and to see the episode, head to PBS.org’s page dedicated to tasteMAKERS.
