Whisper Creek Farm: The Kitchen and The Brewery at JW Marriott brings the four-star Orlando resort's farm to life.
ORLANDO, FLA. – Grande Lakes Orlando announces the opening of Whisper Creek Farm: The Kitchen and The Brewery at JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes.
Orlando’s luxury leader comprising The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott, Grande Lakes continues to set the bar high for farm-to-fork experiences in Orlando, a rising culinary destination. The Kitchen at JW Marriott Orlando features the inaugural batch of beer from The Brewery at Grande Lakes, an in-house nano-brewery producing brews on tap and served throughout the four-star resort in Orlando.
Whisper Creek Farm: The Kitchen
Showcasing a rustic yet polished design, The Kitchen has the vibe of eating in your family’s kitchen, with a variety of communal, high-top, sofa, outdoor and bar seating with rich woods, steel blues and leather accents. Menu items – including snacks, small plates and sandwiches, charcuterie and cheese boards, and flatbreads – will feature seasonal ingredients from the 7,000-square-foot on-site garden at Whisper Creek Farm as well as fresh eggs from a recently added chicken coop.
The Kitchen’s sausages and charcuterie, prepared by the JW Marriott butcher, pair perfectly with The Brewery’s hops-laden creations. Signature menu items prepared in the restaurant’s open-air display kitchen include fresh pickled vegetables, hop-salted house pretzels served with Surplus Ale cheese fondue, seasonal flatbreads and a smoked ham sandwich on a house-made Whisper Creek Farm honey pecan roll inspired by a popular ham sandwich on the original 1927 Marriott Hot Shoppe menu.
The Kitchen’s small plates are carefully planned by the JW Marriott culinary team and brought to life by Chef de Partie Jason Shapiro, who joined the luxury Orlando hotel in 2009 and has since been involved in the resort’s creation of Whisper Creek Farm.
In addition to showcasing The Brewery’s seasonal brews, The Kitchen’s six taps will rotate between five seasonal selections and the Surplus (Honey Citrus Ale), Grande Lakes’ flagship beer.
Located just off the main JW Marriott lobby, The Kitchen takes Orlando fine dining to the next level and seats 100 indoors and 50 on the outdoor terrace. The Orlando restaurant is open from 5 to 11 p.m., with bar hours extended until midnight.
Whisper Creek Farm: The Brewery
The first Marriott property to launch a nano-brewery, Grande Lakes has brought in a local Cicerone-certified brewmaster to lead The Brewery.
The Brewery will produce 28 gallons of beer weekly including five styles created each season – dark, wheat/light, amber, IPA and a special seasonal brew made from the freshest farm ingredients. Signature Special Brew varieties will include the Maple Bacon Stout, Soup of the Day IPA and Ghost Pepper Wheat. In addition to brewing signature beer for The Kitchen, The Brewery also operates as a Chef’s Table for intimate evenings and group events.
To complement The Brewery launch, the four-star hotel in Orlando is collaborating with Cape Canaveral-based Florida Beer Company to create its flagship brew, Surplus. A signature Floridian honey citrus ale, Surplus will be distributed throughout one of the best resorts in Orlando and available year-round. The beer is naturally infused with Grande Lakes honey sourced from the resort’s on-property apiaries.
The launch of the brewery furthers the resort’s commitment to sustainable cuisine, which started more than 10 years ago with Primo Garden providing fresh produce and herbs for Chef Melissa Kelly’s Primo restaurant at JW Marriott Orlando. Since then, Grande Lakes has launched several apiaries, baked all of its bread in house, welcomed 30 chickens to a Whisper Creek Farm coop, and opened Highball & Harvest at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando in September 2014 featuring Southern-inspired cuisine with ingredients from Whisper Creek Farm.
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