Jacksonville Breweries / Bars

Really good beer stop does crowlers and is about nine blocks from green room brewery. Out at Jax beach though.

 

Really Good Beer Stop has their tap list online. Def worth stopping in there if you're nearby. Good guys.

 

Agreed. Right now, that's it for Crowlers, although Beer 30: San Marco is going to get their machine soon. If you do head to Really Good Beer Stop at the beach, be sure to stop and try a couple beers at Southern Swells!

 

Engine 15 on Beach Blvd in Jax Beach is another great brew pub serving growlers.

 

I'm traveling to Jacksonville and looking for brewery recommendations for the area (specifically, brewpubs or breweries with taprooms or tasting rooms or whatever they're called in Florida where I can try beer on site). I've done some research and hopefully already have a pretty good idea of what's around town, but I'd be happy to hear some up-to-date recommendations and if there are any recent openings that may not be on my radar. I'm open to any brewery within, say, a 1.5 hour radius of the city (Gainesville, St. Augustine, etc.).

 

You mentioned Gainesville so you might want go to Swamp Head ( one of my favorites).In Jacksonville, Southern Swells is a relatively new brewery at the beach and Karate in the Garage is a decent IPA. Veterans United rocks, it's a bit off the beaten path but worth it. Jacksonville has a great craft beer scene and I know of at least 6 places located just at the beach which brew on site, so you could uber, walk, or ride a bike with little effort to Engine 15, Southern Swells, Green Room, Zeta, Ragtime, and Atlantic Beach, Brewing Co (New)

 

I will second Southern Swells Karate in the Garage above! I had a tour and tasting with the brewer at Atlantic Beach Brewing, some unique, exciting takes on classic styles. I will also add Aardwolf as a must in Jacksonville. Consistently great taplist, from sours to stouts, and a milkshake IPA on right now. One of my favorites is Intuition Ale Works, Downtown. They have really good beer, and a beautiful facility with a great restaurant inside as well. if i had to choose 5 breweries, i would say Green Room, Southern Swells, Intuition, Aardwolf and Engine 15, in no particular order. PM me if you want more information or want to meet for a pint!

 

oh, and if you do go to St. Augustine, i'd skip Ancient City, and head to Bog Brewing, Old Coast Ales (new, but tasty), and eat at Gas (nice tap and can/bottle list), and really great food! For Gainesville, i second the swamphead recommendation, and will add First Magnitude to that as well!

 

Thanks for the suggestions; they were very helpful. I was able to visit a dozen breweries on my trip, in Jacksonville and beyond. Below are my rankings of them, based on beer alone (I got flights where possible at each location):

1. Aardwolf, Jacksonville
2. Cigar City, Tampa
3. Cycle, St. Petersburg
4. Southern Swells, Jacksonville Beach
5. Intuition, Jacksonville
6. Old Coast, St. Augustine
7. Cocoa Beach, Cocoa Beach
8. Charles Towne Fermentory, Charleston, SC
9. Atlantic Beach, Atlantic Beach
10. Engine 15, Jacksonville Beach
11. Bold City, Jacksonville
12. Moon River, Savannah, GA

I was highly impressed by the Jacksonville-area brewing scene; it's small but modern and definitely high in quality. Let me emphasize how excellent Aardwolf was: It blew away the more nationally heralded Cigar City and Cycle. Here are some breweries with national followings that 1) I like, 2) I've visited, and 3) above which I would rank Aardwolf: New Glarus, Toppling Goliath, Three Floyds, Founders, Bell's, Great Lakes. I've visited between 100 and 200 breweries, and Aardwold definitely makes it into my top 5. I don't know if Aardwolf is the best brewery in the "South-Atlantic" region, but I'm confident that it belongs in the conversation. I'll also give a shout-out to Southern Swells; Karate in the Garage was conceptually similar to but better than anything I tried at Cycle. I very narrowly ranked Southern Swells below Cycle based on beer, and Southern Swells has a much better taproom and customer service (and oh-by-the-way opened only a few months ago; keep an eye on this one).

 

Thanks for the kind words on our beer scene here in Jax! I am consistently asked what the best brewery in Jax is, and i consistently answer Aardwolf. Southern Swells is really killing it for being such a new brewery, i totally agree. I am a bit surprised that Charles Towne Fermentory is so low on your list, i was highly impressed with their beer when i was there a couple of weeks ago. I guess i could see a lower mark due to a lack of diversity as it was all hazy wheat / pale / IPA / DIPA, there was a gose on when i was there too. but all the hazy beers rocked.