Tag: Ink Factory Brewing

6-Pack To Go, Season 5

Episode 097 | 6-Pack To-Go Series: Favorite Northeast Florida Breweries with Field Drinker Tanya Nash

The Boozy Blondes

Welcome back, lushes! It’s time to fill our 6-packs once again, and this episode is all about celebrating the best breweries in Northeast Florida — as ranked by the girls’ very own Boozy Blondes Field Drinker, Tanya.

As a seasoned beer explorer who’s visited breweries all over the country, Tanya knows her way around a tap list. The Boozy Blondes challenged her to narrow it down to their home turf and rank her Top 6 Northeast Florida Breweries.

If Tanya sounds familiar, that’s because she first joined the podcast back in Season 2, Episode 040 (listen here), and the girls were thrilled to have her back to fill a 6-pack. But also, Molly and Chrissy filled their own 6-pack, and Tanya judged.

The girls met at Legacy Ale Works and enjoyed a variety of beers from their local Jacksonville brewery. Molly had the Pineapple Express Milkshake IPA, Chrissy sipped on The Front Porch American Stout, and Tanya enjoyed one of Legacy’s flagship beers, Hibbity Dibbity IPA.

Tanya divided the area of northeast Florida into three regions: north, middle and south. She consulted with her husband (also a craft beer drinking connoisseur), and they just couldn’t narrow it down to six. So Tanya brought two roadies with her, aka honorable mentions. Here is her list:

SOUTH

  1. Legacy Ale Works | Tanya has been enjoying the beers at Legacy since its inception, and she loves the growth she’s seen there over the years. Retired Navy officers currently own the brewery, and offer events, family days, and have grown to operate a full kitchen!
  2. Old Coast Ales | A Boozy Blondes’ fave! Old Coast is right next door to Osprey Tacos and who doesn’t love tacos and beer? This brewery started with just 10 gallons in a garage and has grown into a St. Augustine staple. And you can hear more about Old Coast in Episode 003 in the St. Augustine Breweries Pub Crawl episode (listen here). Her favorite combo is the Salt Run (gose) with the Cuban tacos at Osprey.

MIDDLE

  1. Ink Factory Brewing | It’s a coffee shop and brewery! You can hear more about Ink Factory in Episode 050 Jax Ale Trail Volume 3 (listen here). Tanya loves the sours. And shout out to Hard Pressed Burgers parked outside and the Ink Factory swag!
  2. Wicked Barley | “Naughty Ales for Noble Souls” Fun fact: you can paddle up to the brewery! They are home to a dog-friendly beer garden and event space. Tanya loves Blood Drive, a blood orange IPA. Wicked Barley also offers a full menu, including Sunday Brunch, complete with a mimosa flight. And they serve mead!

NORTH

  1. First Love Brewing | Located in the Fernandina Beach area, Tanya literally stumbled upon this brewery driving around that area of town one day. They have a large beer selection and rotate taps every three weeks or so. The owner has tons of official boozy education…which poses the question, why did the Boozy Blondes not go to school for brewing?! Tanya says don’t miss their pizza! She loves the hot honey pepperoni pizza.
  2. Mocama Brewing Company | Tanya loves that their beer is available in Publix, so if she can’t get to the tap room, she can stop by her neighborhood store and enjoy some at home anytime she wants! Prosim Pilsner is one of her faves, and she loves that four friends own this brewery.

As noted before, Tanya brought two roadies along for the ride since narrowing it down to just six proved to be an almost impossible task! Her honorable mentions are Aardwolf Brewing Company and Grace Note Brewing.

The girls present their 6-pack to Tanya and earned a solid B+. They filled their 6-pack with:

  1. Old Coast Ales
  2. Dog Rose Brewing Company
  3. Fishweir Brewing Company
  4. Azalea City Brewing Company
  5. Southern Swells Brewing Company
  6. Green Room Brewing

Definitely listen to this episode if you want a down and dirty description of some of the best breweries Northeast Florida has to offer! The Boozy Blondes are so thankful for their friend, and drinker in the field, for researching her faves and providing you lushes a great resources for checking out the beer scene in the Boozy Blondes’ home base.

Do you have a favorite brewery that missed the list? Leave a comment below and maybe the blondes can make a visit on a future episode! Cheers!

Season 3, Travel - Where to Drink

Episode 050 | Jax Ale Trail Vol 3: Jekyll Brewing, Green Room Brewing, Ink Factory Brewing, Southern Swells Brewing Co, Engine 15, Lynches Irish Pub, The Ritz, The Brix & Waffle House

The Boozy Blondes

Listen here!

The Boozy Blondes kick off Season 3 of the Boozy Blondes podcast with Volume 3 of the Jax Ale Trail series! If you listened to Jax Ale Trail Vol. 2 in Season 1 of the podcast (Episode 021), the blondes promised to bring a valuable and resourceful episode in Vol. 3. (Vol. 2 was a little fuzzy, so while entertaining, there were some gaps in the details, but come on, who hasn’t forgotten some things while day drinking?) Listen in, and you’ll see they achieved that goal! Tune in to this aggressive leg of the Jax Ale Trail (5 breweries plus 3 bonus beach bars) to learn about what Jax Beach in Northeast Florida has to offer the drinking crowd.

The DOE is Jekyll Brewing Sour Thangs Orange Cranberry, a 5.5% fruited sour. Jekyll Brewing happened to be the first stop on the Ale Trail too. With the boozy bros in tow, the girls stopped here first for “quality beer, delicious food and chill vibe,” as its slogan reads. It did not disappoint. Jekyll Brewing has five locations where they brew beer and also distill spirits and make wine! A triple threat! Chrissy drank the Pack of Mules made with ginger beer, lime and house vodka. (Insider tip, you can order this drink with gin or bourbon if you prefer.)

Molly enjoyed a flight of Earth Mother (4% Cucumber Lime gose), Sour Thangs Watermelon, Lime & Hibiscus (5.5% Sour), Moon Peeps (5.2% blackberry flavored Belgian Wit) and Southern Juice IPA (6.3%). Phil also enjoyed Southern Juice and Rainer drank the El Chapo Margarita infused with jalapeño. The group had their base food here too splitting fish and chips, pork sliders and pork rinds.

The group headed west and crossed the street to check out Green Room Brewing, Jacksonville Beach’s first microbrewery! This brewery has an extensive tap list with 7 permanent taps and 9 rotating taps, releasing a new beer every Thursday! This pet-friendly brewery does not serve food, but you can bring your own. Chrissy loved the She Doesn’t Even Go Here (5% blueberry seltzer) and Molly couldn’t decide on just one, so indulged in another flight: Count Shakula (6.2% Oatmeal Stout), Fruit on the Bottom – Apricot Peach (4.2% sour), Diamond Blueberry (5% blonde ale) and Panty Vigilante (11.8% Belgian Quadruple with black currant). Phil enjoyed a NEIPA Hazy and Rainer had a spicy Mexican lager – La Ola.

Ink Factory Brewing was next, a short walk to the west of Green Room. This brewery is home to a microbrewery, cowork and espresso bar – the Boozy Blondes office dream! Caffeine fix in the morning, work in one of the conference room, then head downstairs to happy hour. What more could you ask for? Ink Factory had great beer and even better swag – there’s a surf shop here too! Think of this brewery like a bakery – fresh beer on tap every day, but once it’s gone, it’s gone for the day. So get here early to enjoy all the taps. Chrissy had a 7% Bahama Breeze seltzer – Breezy Bits. Molly and Phil got the Fun Foam (6% Milkshake IPA), and Rainer drank Factory Kolsch (5.2%).

It was time to eat again, and THE BEST food truck was parked at Ink Factory. Hard Pressed Burgers. Jacksonville’s best burger according to the Boozy Blondes. Definitely made the top 5 list of Chrissy’s worldwide best burgers list! Follow them on Instagram to see where they will pop up next and do yourself a favor – EAT ONE. It’s a simple smash burger with thinly shaved onion, house pickles, garlic aioli and American cheese. The meat mix is house made, and the girls are still drooling over this burger.

A half mile west of Ink Factory is Southern Swells Brewing Co, the fourth stop on Jax Ale Trail Vol. 3. Southern Swells offers a full bar! The patio is pet friendly, and while they don’t serve food, their share a courtyard with Talkin’ Tacos, so you can get your beer snacks there. The group played a game of shuffleboard while enjoying their drinks – Chrissy sipped on The Duval, an 11% electric blue sweltzer cocktail complete with a mustache swivel stick. Molly enjoyed Spicy Cukes, a 6% sour ale infused with cucumber and jalapeno and Phil had Karate in the Garage (6.8% NEIPA). No one can remember what Rainer drank here.

This day happened to be the first Jacksonville Jaguars preseason game, and with 75% of the group excited for this event, they hurried farther west down the street to Engine 15 Brewing Co. to catch the game. Engine 15 hosts 30 tap lines! Try to find a beer you won’t like here! Chrissy drank Sour Sara (5.8% strawberry guava sour) and Molly drank It’s Your Blood (5.2% Irish Red Ale). Phil enjoyed Sunday Funday (4.6% session IPA) while Rainer had the J’Ville Lager (5%).

The theme for this adventure was food every other stop, so it was time to eat again. The girls each had a hot dog and chips, and Molly added mac and cheese to hers which was reminiscent of Kraft blue box – so perfect for this point of the day!

So they did it! They hit the five breweries in Jax Beach, but the night wasn’t over yet. The group grabbed an Uber and started their tour of three Jax Beach staples – Lynch’s Irish Pub, The Ritz and The Brix. Lynch’s offers a full bar, live music, a menu packed with Irish staples and 42 beers on tap!

The Ritz and The Brix are located near each other. The Ritz opened its doors in 1945 and it still a “great place to meet” almost 80 years later! The Brix has a great outside courtyard and a million giant-sized tvs inside great for watching the game.

To wrap up the gang hit the Waffle House across the street from their hotel for some class late-night bites.

The blondes went four for four on Jax Beach breweries listed in their Jax Ale Trail passports (Jekyll Brewing opened after the passports the blondes own were created)! Predictions for Vol. 4 are that the girls will travel around Jacksonville’s southside area.

Be sure to follow all these fun locations on Instagram and stay tuned for Jax Ale Trail Vol. 4!

Cheers!