Today we’d like to introduce you to Glenn Closson.
Hi Glenn, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started home brewing beer in 2011 after finishing up my MBA from St. John’s University. I had been introduced to craft beer when I attended my first craft beer festival in Rome, Italy, while I was studying abroad. After two years of homebrewing, I approached my mentor who was the head brewer of a large brewery in San Diego and requested his consultation on going from homebrew to production brew. I was able to open my first brewery in Huntington Beach, CA and after owning and operating for three years, we were presented an offer we couldn’t turn down and sold majority. From there, I saw a niche in the South East region of the US to open my next brewery and ventured to Orlando, FL to do my research. After two years of due diligence, I was able to find a great location in Ivanhoe Village and soon began build out. Ivanhoe Village was fast-growing and had a lot of great history to it, which is where we came up with Ivanhoe Park Brewing Co. Based on the first amusement park in Central Florida, located on Lake Ivanhoe, which is visible from our taproom. Since then, we have had a great team brewing award-winning beers and just being a great place that brings together the community through various events in the taproom.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
For the most part, through the opening processes, it was pretty smooth, as it was my second brewery location. We did have some general contractor issues but worked through that. Obviously, we were seeing a lot of growth going into 2020 and COVID put a stop to that. All of our distribution chains that were growing by 4-5x volume were now no longer taking orders and our taproom that was doubling month after month was now limited to curbside orders only. We kept as many employees on as we could and made it through to the other side. Now we are seeing that same growth and securing some accounts that not many breweries have the opportunity to work with.
As you know, we’re big fans of Ivanhoe Park Brewing Co. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Ivanhoe Park Brewing Co. has become a destination for community. We love being a part of the community and a place that we can throw fun events to bring people together. It has been great seeing our distribution growing throughout Central Florida and that always helps drive more people to the taproom to try our other beers that aren’t necessarily in the market and only available in the taproom.
We are a full production brewery with taproom on site. We offer tours and tastings, as well as flights and pints in the taproom. Our brewery is a 15 barrel 2-vessel system and we have brewing capacity internally at around 5,000 barrels per year. We also have a canning line on site that allows us to can 12 ounce and 16 ounce beers, giving us the opportunity to offer beers to go in the taproom and access to local retailers, such as Publix, Fresh Market, Whole Foods, ABC, Total Wine, and more!
On a day to day, we just have open communication with all the team members. Everyone wears a lot of hats, so there is no real particular structure set and we all just go with the flow to keep things moving. I know that we have a great team and that is what sets us apart. Our brew staff have been brewing award-winning beer, our sales team has been growing the brand immensely and securing some high volume accounts, and our taproom staff have been shining and really creating a fun environment that people want to come back to.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
There are so many people. No one can build a business on their own and it really is the team behind them that really creates the success. All of the staff at Ivanhoe Park Brewing Co. deserve the most credit. They are always collaborating as a team and really being a part of the Craft Beer industry, whether through our brewery or other initiatives that they have joined to keep involved. The investors behind Ivanhoe Park Brewing Co. and our board that have really helped guide things, especially through COVID, as there were a lot of unknowns just to keep things afloat. My family plays a huge role in all of this, as my first brewery required a lot of help and support with a bootstrap budget, so all the lessons learned through that one have only made this one stronger.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@ivanhoeparkbrewing.com
- Website: https://www.IvanhoeParkBrewing.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ivanhoeparkbrew
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IvanhoeParkBrew
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivanhoeparkbrew
