Restaurant news: Popular Holly Hill restaurant launches new brewery addition

Fletcher’s Irish Pub is now officially Fletcher’s Irish Pub and Brewery, after the Holly Hill restaurant launched its own brand of house-brewed beer selections in October. The popular pub initially opened the doors to its second restaurant location in Holly Hill in May of last year, knowing from the start that the addition of a brewery would one day be in the works.

The question was simply, when?

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The family-owned restaurant started as a cigar lounge before eventually growing into a pub and, ultimately, a full-service restaurant that initially found itself in Ormond Beach, just over seven years ago. After word spread about a can’t-miss building location up for grabs, owner Bill Fletcher decided to expand Fletcher’s Irish Pub to Holly Hill, with even bigger plans for the new restaurant tucked in his back pocket.

His Holly Hill location’s latest brewery addition is one that has long been in the works — one that seemed only natural to the restaurateur, noting his ever-present efforts to continually evolve, improve and better serve the community with new and relevant selections. According to Fletcher, although the initial concept for his second location had always been centered around the idea of a brewery, other matters took priority over the last year, as he focused on quality over quantity of the pub’s offerings.

“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time,” Fletcher began.

“So, when we came on board, I took four to six months to get the place renovated — focused on my staff and the restaurant aspect of things. Obviously, when you go into the restaurant business you want to try to hit on all cylinders right out of gate, but sometimes that just creates inconsistencies. So, we wanted to focus on the restaurant side of things, the reputation side of things, and the food side of things, first. Then we shifted gears, right around our one-year, to the brewery side of things.”

And so it began.

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Fletcher’s Irish Pub and Brewery comes to life

Fletcher spent months in search of the perfect “beer wizard,” as he called it, with the expertise, passion and drive to bring his brewing visions to life. And that’s just what he found when brew master Rob Shash reached out about the opportunity to put his years-perfected skills to use.

Shash’s curiosity surrounding the world of brewing began over two decades ago in 1999 while he was still a grad student. He began to research the complex art and experiment with it in his free time, brewing his own beers at home before eventually brewing for others and continuing to perfect his craft. Shash went on to work and manage two different breweries in Sanford during his career — Community Brewhouse and Sanford Home Brew Shop.

“He’s just passionate,” Fletcher said, going on to describe the brew master as one his most driven, hardworking and talented employees, one who is simply “just great at what he does.”

Fletcher’s Irish Pub officially became Fletcher’s Irish Pub and Brewery on Oct. 10, 2023 when the eatery welcomed the first several selections of its own house-brewed beers. The brewpub launched seven taps — five beers, one seltzer and one root beer soda — noting that customers can look forward to a variety of staple and seasonal beers in the future.

What's on tap at Fletcher's new brewery

According to Fletcher, three beers that customers will always find on tap are the brewery’s IPA, as well as the Irish stout — described to be less bitter than Guinness, with malty notes — and the Irish Red — described as a “good, sessionable, smooth beer” with caramel notes that is neither too heavy, nor too bitter.

Fletcher went on to detail several upcoming seasonal brews currently in the works, stating, “We have a fest beer for the season. We also have a pub ale, a hazy wheat ale and a raspberry sour,” he explained.

“Coming up, we also have two Christmas Belgians coming out, probably right after Thanksgiving. One’s a triple Belgian and one’s a quad. We’re calling them 'Naughty' and 'Nice,' so those will be a high-alcohol, Belgian-style beer. We’re also putting an English brown ale on in the next couple of weeks as well, so the nice thing is that we have a lot of variety right now.”

As far as the restaurateur’s recommendations go, “it’s like picking a favorite child,” he laughed. According to Fletcher, beer is subjective — it’s personal. And that’s the joy of it, he explained, noting that new and seasoned beer lovers alike can walk into the brewpub and find something that meets their beer needs.

“It depends, you know? (What you want) depends on what the weather’s like, it depends on what your day’s like. I might be in the mood for the heavier stout or something like the fruit sour. It just depends on your mood. Everyone is different.”

What goes into launching a brewery?

“Patience” — it's the only word to describe what it takes to bring a vision like this to life, Fletcher explained.

According to the restaurateur, the average craft beer can take anywhere from three to six weeks to prepare, depending on the type of beer, the aging process and the desired sugar and alcohol content. The lengthy process — one that's often hit or miss — requires several tastings and adjustments that lead to either great successes or the occasional no-gos.

“Like anything you make, you’re not going to be able to get that instant gratification. You’re not going to be able to make it today and taste it today,” Fletcher said. “We decided to brew a pumpkin beer that we’re going to age for next year. After two weeks, we’re now going to be able to try that beer. If it’s good, then we’ll carbonate and keg it, but the process takes anywhere from two weeks to taste it, to a month ‘til it gets served. You have to be ready, because if it doesn’t taste good, you have to throw it away and then you’re starting over.”

Serving beers, burgers, wings and more

Beyond its newly launched beverage selections, Fletcher’s Irish Pub and Brewery prides itself on its ultra-casual, come-as-you-are atmosphere, as well as its scratch kitchen, locally sourced ingredients, and packed menu of freshly-prepared, homemade selections.

The eatery’s vast menu ranges from the smoked wings — with sauces that include Thai chili, garlic parmesan, sweet heat and BBQ — and handhelds like the famous Reuben, Philly Cheese Steak and Fletcher’s Burger, to the Buffalo Chicken Drunken Mac and Cheese, Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guinness Stew and Shepherd’s Pie. The biggest problem Fletcher hopes customers will have when dining at Fletcher’s Irish Pub and Brewery is that of choosing between such a wide variety of tempting selections.

“We make all of our meats in house,” Fletcher explained. “We brine our brisket, we make all of our sauces, all of our meats. We make our own corned beef, and our bread is sourced locally out of St. Augustine. So, the hardest time people have here when looking at our menu is just trying to pick what they’re going to eat because, you know, good ingredients create good food.”

The eatery also hosts $5 burger Mondays, $1 wing Wednesdays, live trivia every Friday and motor/car shows every Tuesday.

All beers brewed at Fletcher’s Irish Pub and Brewery will only be available at its Holly Hill location and will not be served at its Ormond Beach location.

Fletcher’s Irish Pub and Brewery is located at 745 Ridgewood Ave. in Holly Hill and is open 11:30 a.m. – 12 a.m. Monday – Thursday and 11:30 a.m. – 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. For information, call 386-944-9030 or visit fletchersirishpub.com.

Helena Perray is the restaurant and dining writer for The Daytona Beach News-Journal. A New Jersey native and passionate storyteller, she can be contacted at hperray@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook. Support local journalism by subscribing

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Fletcher's Irish Pub launches new brewery, seasonal beers in Holly Hill