Six more craft breweries headed to Jacksonville

[Metro Jacksonville]

Six more craft breweries headed to Jacksonville



Think again if you thought the number of craft breweries operating in Jacksonville had reached its saturation point. Here's six more craft breweries preparing to come online soon.

Read More: https://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2018-apr-six-more-craft-breweries-headed-to-jacksonville

[jax_hwy_engineer]

DANG! I was just thinking how I need to visit all the breweries that are currently here, now I'll have MORE to drink! Oh what a shame

This topic might spur y'all to help me out a bit in building a complete list of breweries in Jax, so far I have the following, feel free to add more if you know of more!

Bold City
Intuition
Aardwolf
Veterans United
Green Room
Wicked Barley
Hiperion
Engine 15
Bottlenose
Bearded Buffalo (brewing to come online soon, I believe)
Main & 6
Southern Swells
Atlantic Beach Brewing

[remc86007]

^
Pinglehead
Ruby Beach Brewing

[Tacachale]

Including the brewpubs and reaching over to St. Augustine, Orange Park and Fernandina, these are the breweries I'm aware of:

Aardwolf Brewing Company (San Marco)
Ancient City Brewing (2 locations in St. Augustine)
Atlantic Beach Brewing (Atlantic Beach)
Bearded Buffalo Brewing Company (Riverside)
Bog Brewing (St. Augustine)
Bold City Brewery (2 locations, Riverside and Downtown)
Bottlenose Brewing (Southside)
Dog Rose Brewing Company (St. Augustine)
Engine 15 (2 locations, Jax Beach and Myrtle Avenue)
Green Room (Jax Beach)
Hyperion Brewing (Springfield)
Intuition Ale Works (Downtown Stadium District)
Karibrew (Fernandina Beach)
Main & Six Brewing (Springfield)
Old Coast Ales (St. Augustine)
Pinglehead/Brewers Pizza (Orange Park)
Ragtime Tavern Seafood & Grill (Atlantic Beach)
River City Brewing Company (Downtown Southbank)
Seven Bridges (Southside)
Southern Swells Brewing (Jax Beach)
Ruby Beach Brewing (Jax Beach, formerly Zeta)
Veterans United Craft Brewery (Avenues area)
Wicked Barley (Baymeadows)

In addition to the six in this article, Blind Rabbit in Jax Beach is also planning to start brewing at some point.

[ProjectMaximus]

Yeah this is insane. I thought we had reached a saturation point already...

And if I'm not mistaken there are others in the conceptual/planning stages. The one in the abandoned church in Brooklyn. I think a third in Springfield, right?

BTW, anyone else want to give it a shot? At Edgewood and Post St the tenant in the small garage building is moving out next month. I've always thought it would be great for a small microbrew facility. Just not much in the way of extra space/seating/taproom unfortunately, but it's a nice building.

[CityLife]

How many of the breweries are in walking distance of other breweries? Good friend of mine owns a brewery right next to 2 others (outside of Jax) and it's a huge driver of visitors. Similarly, one of the reasons that Asheville is such a great town to visit is due to the walkability between breweries and restaurants. Having so many breweries in Jax is amazing, but I believe the lack of a true brewery district is a lost opportunity.

[ProjectMaximus]

I think a third in Springfield, right?

Hmm, it appears "Strings Sports" may be the name of that third one that's been in the works in Springfield.

How many of the breweries are in walking distance of other breweries? Good friend of mine owns a brewery right next to 2 others (outside of Jax) and it's a huge driver of visitors. Similarly, one of the reasons that Asheville is such a great town to visit is due to the walkability between breweries and restaurants. Having so many breweries in Jax is amazing, but I believe the lack of a true brewery district is a lost opportunity.

Yeah very true and that used to be a decent thing with Bold City and Intuition when they were a few blocks apart. It appears that two of them are joining Engine 15 in the "Railyard District" though I'm not sure exactly how walkable they are to each other.

[Tacachale]

How many of the breweries are in walking distance of other breweries? Good friend of mine owns a brewery right next to 2 others (outside of Jax) and it's a huge driver of visitors. Similarly, one of the reasons that Asheville is such a great town to visit is due to the walkability between breweries and restaurants. Having so many breweries in Jax is amazing, but I believe the lack of a true brewery district is a lost opportunity.

Quite so. Only a few of our breweries are near each other. Main and Six and Hyperion are less than a block apart and if Strings comes on line that'll be three within easy walking distance to each other as well as food options. As Max says there will be three in the Railyard District, but they won't really be near anything else for a while. Additionally, Green Room and Zeta are near each other and many other bars and restaurants. Some others like Aardwolf, and those that are in stripmalls and the like, are near other options, but not breweries. Even in St. Augustine, the breweries aren't easy walking distance, and it's not a big place.

The brewery district south of Downtown Asheville is a great example of doing it right, though that took a long time to come together.

[JaxJersey-licious]

Re-bumping this post to shed some light on the discussion of the region's brew scene with these 6 newcomers to the area (and Ruby Beach brewing at the old Zeta location). My main takeaways were 1) No, NE Florida is nowhere near a saturation point for craft breweries and distilleries compared to other regions 2) The Jax brew scene would really benefit if it had more of an identity but what it is or what it wants to be seems to be a mystery.

It's been great to hear all of this new activity and repurposing of these older buildings in this district and I hope these craft breweries can spark some more interest and life into the area.

This also begs the question of how are current and future craft brewery and distillery scene compares to other regions. And not just the number of establishment but also in local support, quality, and broader recognition of the region's craft scene. I came upon this article earlier this year comparing two hot craft brewing regions (the older, established Richmond brewing scene and the upstart, fast-growing Norfolk-Virginia Beach collection of breweries) that highlight some advantages and challenges that parallel those the First Coast craft brewery growth and barriers they seem to be experiencing.

https://pilotonline.com/vagrowler/article_9913af8b-5d1d-566e-8b60-02a8c6ac7847.html

[billy]

What is Jacksonville's Brewery count per 100,000?

Also,would the city make sense for a second location for an out of state brewery, say a larger regional craft brewery?

[Snaketoz]

So many brews, so little time.

[Captain Zissou]

So many brews, so little time.

I agree.  I used to be all over the Jax beer scene, but now there are multiple breweries I have not tried.  I need to hit up the springfield breweries in the near future and definitely make a St Augustine trip sometime.

[remc86007]

^You should definitely try the Springfield breweries. I'm biased because I live a couple blocks away, but I think Main & Six is a cut above most of the other breweries in Jacksonville. My experiences with Ancient City have all been underwhelming, but hopefully the other ones are better.

[Tacachale]

^You should definitely try the Springfield breweries. I'm biased because I live a couple blocks away, but I think Main & Six is a cut above most of the other breweries in Jacksonville. My experiences with Ancient City have all been underwhelming, but hopefully the other ones are better.

Bog's quite good, but haven't been to Dog Rose yet.

[Snaketoz]

So many brews, so little time.

I agree.  I used to be all over the Jax beer scene, but now there are multiple breweries I have not tried.  I need to hit up the springfield breweries in the near future and definitely make a St Augustine trip sometime.

I agree with remc-main and 6th is the best in Springfield, so far.