Jax Beer Society Launches in North Florida

Jacksonville, FL – Jax Beer Society, a nonprofit trade association committed to developing and preserving an active beer culture throughout Northeast Florida, launched earlier this year and made its debut at the Riverside Craft Beer Fest in late February.

“Our beer community has always been very supportive of each other. So, it was only natural that we come together to elevate Northeast Florida’s beer culture and make a focused effort on Jax Beer Week. The interest and support the community has shown for Jax Beer Society has already been overwhelming -- and we’ve only just begun,” said Kara Scremin, President of Jax Beer Society.

Jax Beer Society founding members are: Aardwolf Brewing Co., Bold City Brewery, Engine 15 Brewing Co., Green Room Brewing, Intuition Ale Works, PingleheadBrewing Company, Veterans United Craft Brewery, Zeta Brewing, BrownDistributing, Champion Brands and North Florida Sales.

Membership is open to brewers, wholesalers, associate members (e.g. retail outlets, brew pubs) and craft beer enthusiasts who are interested in working together to advance the emerging craft and specialty beer scene in Jacksonville and to promote regional events and festivals that support the industry.

Memberships can be purchased at www.JaxBeerSociety.com/members or by visiting the Jax Beer Society table at GastroFest on March 21st outside the Visit Jacksonville offices on Laura Street or the Cathedral Arts Project CAPtivators “Economic Hopportunity” brewers’ panel on March 26th at St. John’s Cathedral. Jax Beer Society will also be a creator at this year’s One Spark festival and will be hosted by Visit Jacksonville.

JBS Officially Launched at the Riverside Craft Beer Fest in February

The organization’s main focus will be the coordination of Jax Beer Week which will take place November 8th through 14th. Jax Beer Society will organize a number of events across the city that focus on promoting the area’s craft and specialty beer scene. Jax Beer Week will culminate in a two-day grand tasting event at Hemming Park in downtown Jacksonville on November 13th and 14th.

Follow Jax Beer Society on Twitter: @JaxBeerSociety

For more information, please visit www.JaxBeerSociety.com or contact Cari Sánchez-Potter at (904) 540-6390 or jaxbeersociety@gmail.com.

Jax Ale Trail - Explore Jacksonville's Craft Breweries

It’s Time to Hop On the Jax Ale Trail!

-Jacksonville’s Beer Scene Offers Plenty of Tasty Options-

In case you've missed the buzz, the folks at Visit Jacksonville have launched the Jax Ale Trail as a part of their package to promote tourism to the city. Anyone who has spent any time in Jacksonville knows that craft beer has become an integral part of the city's identity. I have been preaching it for a while now, but I believe that Jacksonville has quickly become the beer capital of Florida. The Jax Ale Trail confirms this notion; Jacksonville's beer scene stands toe-to-toe with any other city, and we've only begun to see the potential. With more breweries set to open in the coming months, this is a fun time for beer nerds and general tourists alike.

Below is the official press release for the Jax Ale Trail. Take a look, grab a passport, and start exploring Jacksonville's finest!

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- When your city has tons of award winning craft brews you want to make sure everyone, especially those visiting from out of town, gets a chance to enjoy all of them, that’s why on this December 4, Visit Jacksonville and Jacksonville’s craft breweries are unveiling the new Jax Ale Trail and the Jax Ale Trail Brewery Passport!

The Jax Ale Trail invites beer lovers on a self-guided tour of the seven craft breweries across the city of Jacksonville including Aardwolf Brewing Company, Bold City Brewery, Engine 15 Brewing Co., Green Room Brewing, Intuition Ale Works, Pinglehead Brewing Company, and Veterans United Craft Brewery, as well as local restaurants that brew their own beers and other beer attractions.

Visitors of the Jax Ale Trail will receive a Jax Ale Trail Brewery Passport, which can be stamped at each of the local craft breweries to receive cool free prizes.

All the information related to the Jax Ale Trail and the Jax Ale Trail Brewery Passport can be found online at www.JaxAleTrail.com  including maps to all the craft breweries, tours information, all activities on the trail, and the rules for receiving your free gifts after completing the passport.

“Craft beer is becoming a more and more popular reason to travel, and not many destinations are making it easy for visitors to find all the information for local breweries in one easy step like our passport and website do. We know that new visitors will be surprised by the quality, and quantity, of beer here in Jacksonville,” said Katie Mitura, Director of Marketing and Communications at Visit Jacksonville, the city’s official marketing organization.

The collaboration with the local craft breweries and attractions, the Jax Ale Trail Brewery Passport and the new Jax Ale Trail website, give Visit Jacksonville an opportunity to promote all of the beer related activities and breweries in the city while at the same time giving visitors a unique destination experience that can only be enjoyed in Jacksonville.

"We are very excited to participate in the Jax Ale Trail and proud to represent Jacksonville as a thriving craft beer destination. Cheers!” said Christina Bradford, Marketing Coordinator at the newest brewery in town, Veterans United Craft Brewery.  

Those who embark on the Ale Trail may come away with cool SWAG!

The Jax Ale Trail Brewery Passport is free, and can be picked up at any of the breweries as well as the Visit Jacksonville Visitor Centers in Downtown or at the Jacksonville Landing.  Get your passport stamped at four breweries to win a Jax Ale Trail beer koozie, and visit all seven breweries to win a koozie and a Jax Ale Trail T-shirt. Visit www.JaxAleTrail.com for more details.

Two local companies, Jax Brew Bus and Play Harder Tours, will be offering guided group tours of the seven breweries on the Jax Ale Trail Passport, with visits planned during the weekdays and weekends. Other activities on self-guided portion of the Jax Ale Trail include tours of the Budweiser Brewery, and samplings at local restaurants that brew their own beers like Ragtime in Neptune Beach, Zeta in Jacksonville Beach, Seven Bridges on the Southside and the River City Brewing Company in Downtown Jacksonville.

Locals Only Beer Fest: Saturday, January 25 (Jacksonville, FL)

What: LOCALS ONLY BEER FEST: Beer fest featuring North Florida's local breweries
Where: 3 Independent Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32202
When: Saturday, Jan. 25 2:00pm-6:00pm

For the first time, all of the local Jacksonville craft breweries will be gathered in one location for patrons to wet their palates. The beer fest is free (beer is not), and there will be savory and delicious food available for purchase, thanks to the trucks from Jax Truckies.

This fest is being hosted by some of the area's great organizations, like the Jax Chamber, One Spark, and The Players.

Here are the breweries that will be represented at the Locals Only Beer Fest:

• Pinglehead
• Intuition
• Bold City
• Green Room
• Aardwolf
• Engine 15

Click on the event link for more information.
 Cheers to Local Beer!

Aardwolf Brewery: The Grand Opening

Aardwolf Brewery officially opened their doors for the first time on Friday March 22 and launched a grand opening celebration that was well received by the community. Hundreds packed the taproom to check out the newest addition to Jacksonville's expanding beer community. And yours truly was there to check 'em out as well!

Unfortunately, the beer list didn't actually include any exclusive brews from Aardwolf, but they did have three collaboration items to offer: Seawolf (Aardwolf/Green Room Brewery), Aard-Tuition (Aardwolf/Intuition), and Pingle Wolf (Aardolf/Pinglehead). The rest of their beer menu consisted of quality guest taps from breweries like Bell's, Stillwater, Stone, and St. Somewhere.

The whole vibe of Aardwolf is great and fits the San Marco-hipster culture that exists in that neighborhood. The building is full of exposed brick that's nicely accessorized by custom wood-work and industrial materials in the taproom.

The beers I had were nice. I tasted each of the collabs, and preferred the Seawolf and Aard-Tution over the Pingle Wolf, but I enjoyed all three.

For their grand opening, Aardwolf wisely chose to have a few food trucks park outside. I enjoyed a deliciously filling "Super Bowl" from Gourmet Aviator. This dish is a heaping pile of pulled pork over bourbon-glazed fries covered in slaw with spicy mayo. I literally couldn't eat anything else after that.

Like any opening, there were a few hiccups that I hope they figure out soon. First, the wait times were insane (I chalk this one up to the fact that people came in herds to check out the new kid on the block. I expect wait times to be more manageable once the excitement dies down a bit). Still, I waited at least 15 minutes just to reach the bar to order my beer. And by the time I was ready to close my tab, that wait time grew by another 10 minutes.

While the wait time was largely affected by the amount of people ordering beers, I did notice that a few of the bartenders were contributing to the poor service. It was quite obvious that many of the workers were new to bartending and beer pouring. In general, the bartenders weren't exactly moving at the pace you'd expect given the 60 or so people at the bar waiting to order. I also noticed that their system went down at some point and servers had to keep track of tabs by paper. And then a personal peeve--I saw several pints go out where half the glass was just head. Don't get me wrong, I am a man who likes head, but it's got to be proportionate and certainly shouldn't be half of the pint I am paying for.

Overall, my experience was positive and I am excited to come back when they've got some of their own beers ready to serve. I love the excitement that Aardwolf has brought which only confirms that Jax is truly becoming a beer-loving city. I really like the location they selected; with Riverside becoming the beer mecca for Jacksonville, it's nice to have a brewery open on the other side of the river. Not to mention it's a short two minute drive from my office downtown...so I might become a regular in no time.