ORLANDO, Fla. – Beer is a popular way to relax, hang out with friends and refresh -- especially in Florida during the hot summer days and that's probably why more and more breweries are popping up in Central Florida.
But one local brewery, Castle Church, offers a different type of brew, setting aside time for praise under the same roof where ales and stouts are poured.
On Sundays, the beer garden turns into a place of worship. An altar is set up and a water fountain serves as a baptismal font.
"Between beer and good community and conversation, more and more people started to show up," Aaron Shmalzle, president and co-founder of Castle Church, said.
Five years ago, he started making beer out of his garage. At the time, he had no idea he was brewing something more than beer.
"We were brewing and just having good conversation over the course of an eight-hour brew day in the garage, and often times the topic of faith or spirituality or the Gospel came up. That kind of happened. It wasn't intentional or planned thing," Aaron Shmalzle said.
Fast forward to December 2018 and the gates to Castle Church opened.
"We're the first church that actually owns the brewery and then worships in the brewing space," Aaron Shmalzle said.
Unique beer names like All Saints Einbecker, Here I Stand stout and Means of Grace brown ale, are part of their craft beers.
It's a space that Aaron Shmalzle and his brother Jacob Shmalzle say is serving a higher purpose.
"We created this space to build communities as a place where people would feel comfortable; to come spend their time, to meet up with some friends, and maybe meet some new friends. We're about community first. We love people and we love good beer," Aaron Shmalzle said.
The brothers are part of the Evangelical Lutheran church in America, a congregation where their father is a pastor. As missionaries, they traveled often.
"We moved as missionaries to East Africa and have been blessed by growing up in that church. When we moved back from Africa, our parents moved to Florida," Jacob Shmalzle said.
And so did the brothers, making central Florida their home and home to their new venture.
"All the beer that we serve at Castle Church is made right here in this brew house. This is a 20 barrel brew house, which means we can do over 600 gallons of beer at a time," Aaron Shmalzle said.
On Sundays at 11:11 a.m., their pastor comes to the brewery for service.
"We meet for about an hour or a little over and then gather for fellowship and then normal business hours open," Aaron Shmalzle said.
For the brothers, it's more than just making beer.
"This is just an incredible representation of a living faith to us. We get to work with wonderful organizations. We gave a dynamic fundraiser model. Organizations can come and we will donate 15 percent of sales to support their work in the community, so we can all work together," Jacob Shmalzle said.
Among the local organizations that Castle Church is getting results for is the Mustard Seed of Central Florida. On Feb. 9 the brewery will hold a fundraiser and 15 percent of proceeds will go toward that nonprofit organization.