Just north of the blondes’ hometown of St. Augustine is the city of Jacksonville. Fun fact, Jacksonville is the largest city by landmass in the continental US. DUUUVAL! This means there is plenty of space for delicious breweries. Visiting them all would take a lot of time and dedication – two things the Boozy Blondes devote to research for their podcast!
Jacksonville is home to the Jax Ale Trail – a collection of 22 breweries across the greater Jacksonville area. In this episode the blondes make it to 3 (plus a bonus German Speakeasy)! So looks like they will be devoting a lot more time to exploring the Jax Ale Trail! If the other 19 breweries are half as good and fun as these first three, the girls have a lot to look forward to!
The Jax Ale Trail passport can be picked up at any one of the 22 breweries and passport owners earn prizes as they collect stamps:
- 4 stamps = a koozie
- 8 stamps = a t-shirt
- All 2 stamps = ??? It’s a surprise! The blondes really want to earn this one!
To earn your rewards, drop off your passport at the visitors center at 110 N Laura Street, Suite 120 in downtown Jacksonville.
The DOE is Chocolait from Fishweir Brewing – a barrel aged sour with chocolate and orange.
First stop on the Jax Ale Trail was Lemonstreet Brewing. It has such a great space! So many private spaces to hang out in. Gabe was the bartender (also Director of Sales for Lemonstreet) and served the girls a flight. The favorite was Pink Automation, a sour with pineapple, jalapeño and hibiscus. The food truck on site was To Be Frank serving delicious hot dogs!
Next stop was Tabula Rasa, not far away. Corey was the bartender here serving the girls a flight. Owner Ryan gave the girls the “cider” to try called Thorin Appleshild. Technically it’s not a cider – brewing cider requires a different license in Florida because it’s considered to be in the same category as wine. Each state is different, for example in PA, ciders are considered to be in the beer category. 🤷♀️ Regardless it was delicious! It is an ale brewed with apple cider and finished in bourbon barrels for 5 months.
Tabula Rasa has a beautiful outdoor area with fire pits and frisbee golf. They offer s’more kits and host open mic nights!
Th final stop on the Jax Ale Trail was Fishweir Brewing in the Murray Hill neighborhood. As sour lovers, the girls were thrilled to choose from so many options! Fishweir also offers Champagne drinks – Champagne + your choice of sour on tap. Fishweir has a light and airy welcoming feel and offers lots of events, including “Posture & Pints” on Sundays!
With three stamps on their passports, the blondes decided to check out one more place. They had heard of a German Speakeasy located on the same street as Fishweir. They located Buchner’s Bierhalle after walking through Blackhat Vapor. Buchner’s is amazing; it’s like walking into a different world!
Buchner’s has an extensive menu including five different charcuterie boards! After a day full of drinking beer, the girls switched to wine and enjoyed a charcuterie board, giant soft pretzel and schnitzel – a great way to end the day in Jacksonville.
Buchner’s has a large outdoor beer garden with long picnic tables and hosts numerous events throughout the year including an Oktoberfest celebration, of course! Ryan was the girls’ server and was fantastic – if you visit, ask for Ryan and tell him the Boozy Blondes sent you!
This biggest takeaway from the first leg of the Jax Ale Trail is to get recommendations from the bartenders. The girls enjoyed so many different beers they probably would not have tried otherwise. Molly would never go for a beer with spice (like the jalapeños in Pink Automation) and Chrissy shies away from ciders because they are typically super sweet (Tabula Rasa’s cider beer was not sweet).
Have you been to any of the breweries in the ale trail? Share with us – #jaxaletrail #onlyinjax
Stay tuned for our second leg! We will have earned our koozie after that!
Boozy Blondes 