Tag: Jax Ale Trail

Season 3, Special Events

Episode 062 | St. Augustine Craft Brewers’ Festival

The Boozy Blondes

On May 4, 2024, the St. Augustine Craft Brewers’ Festival celebrated its 5th Anniversary at the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine, Florida! This is basically a Boozy Blonde’s playground and the girls recap the event in this episode so you can plan for the 2025 fest!

The DOE is Dog Rose Brewing Lions Head Honey Sour which is very appropriate since Dog Rose owner Courtney Murr is the festival director! Lions Head Honey Sour (5.2%) is a Boozy Blondes favorite, and you can hear more about this beer and Dog Rose Brewing Co. in Episode 003!

The festival offers three different ticket types: General Admission, VIP and Designated Driver:

  1. General: (850)available, 1pm entry time, access to food trucks, live music and unlimited tastings – tasting glass provided by Ice Mule Coolers
  2. VIP: (100) available, get you early entry (12pm), private bathrooms, an air-conditioned pavilion and catering provided by Meehan’s Irish Pub, a local favorite. You get guaranteed parking and a private beer station plus access to everything listed in general admission ticket description.
  3. Designated Driver tickets: all proceeds benefit Epic Behavioral Healthcare, a non-profit specializing in the prevention and treatment of substance use and mental health disorders

There were almost 30 breweries on site at this event! The girls grabbed their tasting glass and tasting glass necklace (courtesy of Fishardy Fishing Carters) and took off running towards the closest brewery. They almost hit them all!

Dog Rose Brewing Co | hear Chrissy interview owner Courtney Murr in this episode who is also the Festival Director! Dog Rose is located in St. Augustine, Florida.

The Brewery at Jack’s | It’s the first St. Augustine Beach brewery!

Ancient City Brewing | Another hometown brewery with two locations – one downtown and one over by the St. Augustine outlets. You can hear more about Ancient City in Episode 003.

Ruby Beach Brewing | Located in downtown Jacksonville, the girls stopped here before a Jags game in 2023.

Hourglass Brewing | The girls interviewed Ashley aka FloridaHopMama in Season 2, and she gifted them a collaboration beer from here Episode 029. At the festival, Chrissy drank Macro-Dose and it was 19.2%! Molly had the Margs on Deck – a crushable summer gose with black sea salt, coriander, lime and blue agave nectar (6.4%).

Pareidolia Brewing | The blondes were so excited to meet owners Pete and Lynn! This brewery is located in Sebastian, Florida, so about 2 hours south of St. Augustine, and the girls recap their visit in Episode 020. At the festival Molly tried the Citra Surfer, Citra forward juicy IPA with notes of grapefruit and Chrissy had the Don’t Be Blue…Berry a 5.3% wheat beer, with blueberries obviously.

Cask | Cask was there – Cowford Ale Sharing Klub. This is a group open to all who are of legal drinking age and who wish to learn and share information about home brewing. They have monthly meetings at local breweries to share and sample their homebrews and even host their own competitions. The girls met some of the members at the Palatka Beer Fest in November 2023.

Bandwagon Brewing Co | Bandwagon came down from GA to attend the festival!

Cueni Brewing Co | Cueni is in Dunedin, Florida, and if you visit their taproom, you’ll see they have the best flight boards!

Fishweir Brewing Company | The girls love Fishweir. They stopped there on their first leg of the Jax Ale Trail (Episode 006)! Molly drank the Kush Terpene Hazy (with no THC) and Chrissy enjoyed the Gatorade Seltzer.

King Maker Brewing | Located in downtown Jacksonville, they were pouring High & Dry (5% dry cider), 100 Cursing Parrots (7.2% Cold IPA collab with Something in the Water Brewing out of Toronto!), 1913 (5% Czech dark lager) and The Wasserboy (5% Kolsch).

Reve Brewing Co | Reve is another Jacksonville brewery, and at the festival the blondes met the owner Eric who is also a brewer and Mike, another brewer and his wife Jennifer. They brought two beers to the festival: Light Into Ashes (6.2% hazy IPA) and Far Side of Fantasy (6% sour with cherry, lime and lactose).

Alcatraz Brewing | The girls were too late to sample their beer! So sad. They sold out quickly – another reason to get the VIP tickets. That extra hour really helps to give you a jump on all the tastings.

Ivanhoe Park Brewing Co | The girls visited Ivanhoe in Orlando, Florida, not too long ago – October 2023 and loved it! At the festival they came armed with four beers – Joyland (7% American IPA), Park Hopp’r, a 5% pilsner, Halftoberfest, a 5.42% Vienna lager and Guavacation, a 4% berliner weisse beer with guava and raspberry.

First Magnitude Brewing Co | The girls both had the Anastasia Sour here – it had the prettiest can! It was a sour beer with raspberry, hibiscus and vanilla. First Magnitude is out of Gainesville, Florida.

Walking Tree Brewing | Walking Tree is out of Vero Beach, FL, and they brought WTB IPA (7.1%), Landing Strip Lager (4.5%) and Maple Praline Brown (7%).

Old Coast Ales | This is another St. Augustine brewery you can hear more about in Episode 003. The girls love hanging out here and love Osprey Tacos next door too!

Bog Brewing Co | And Bog was also there rounding out the St. Augustine breweries! You can hear more about Bog in Episode 003.

3 Mavins Brewing | They are based out of South Florida and use simple clean ingredients in their beer like honey, agave nectar and maple syrup. They brought their Amber Lager (6.2%), Encore Session IPA (4.7%) and the Pink Lady (5.5% pale ale).

St. Augustine Home Brewers Club | This group was back passing out beers in the backyard! The blondes saw them at the Palatka Beer Fest in November as well.

Southern Swells Brewing Co | The girls visited Southern Swells on leg 3 of the Jax Ale Trail and you can hear all the details about this brewery in Episode 050!

Southern Philosophy Brewing Co | The Boozy Blondes really connected with Gallagher and Nicole at Southern Philosophy. They are located in western Georgia, and the girls really wish they were closer! They brought four beers with them: The Lagoon (4.1% lactose free sour conditioned on coconut with pineapple, clue curacao, Sicilian lemon, lime and tangerine puree), Cinco de Mustache (5.5% Mexican lager), Chipotle Smoked Porter (6.5%) and Sowega Honey Haze (8.3% IPA).

INK Factory | Another favorite of ours – you can hear all about Ink Factory in Episode 050 Jax Ale Trail Volume 3, including the amazing burger from Hard Pressed that was on site when we went. They had two beers at the festival – Surfadelic, a hazy pale ale and Triple Whip Volume 7, a smoothie sour with pineapple, mango, key lime and white chocolate!

Azalea City | Another Boozy Blondes favorite, out of Palatka, Florida. Molly had one of her faves, Fresh Squeeze Hazy IPA, and Chrissy had the Irish Coffee Stout. You can hear from Azalea City’s owner Andrea Canover in a behind the scenes interview Episode 035.

Dees Brothers Brewery | The girls were so excited to see Dees Brothers at the festival! They are located in Sanford, Florida, and the girls had just been there a couple weeks before the festival for Sanford’s Mini Masters event. And you can hear bout Dees Brothers in Episode 034 Sanford Breweries and Bars). Dees Brothers is a great brewery with amazing beer and equally amazing food. They brought Thunder & Lightning (7% American IPA), Dees Bier (5.6% Hefeweizen), Lakeside Pilsner (5.2% Czech style pilsner) and Aquadnauts (10% Belgian-style Quad).

De Bine Brewing Co | The blondes loved Zak. Zak is the head brewer and operations manager and De Bine which is located in Palm Harbor, Florida. They brought four beers with them: Safety Glasses (5% hazy IPA), Czechered Past (5.1% pilsner), Fire the Cannons (5.4% Red Ale) and Wappy Sprayberry (Mixed Berry Wheat 6-ish%).

Bold City Brewery | This brewery is in downtown Jacksonville, and brought great beer – Beer Bong Pilsner (4.4%), Jowl Blaster Fruited Sour (6%), Bold City IPA (7%), and Right on Rosselle (6% hazy IPA).

Aardwolf Brewing Co | Aardwolf is another downtown Jacksonville brewery! They brought some Star Wars themed beers with them for the event – Princess Leia Cake (vanilla and lemon hazy IPA), The Power of the Darkside (Empire stout with coconut, banana and peanut butter), C3Pilso (just beer) and This is the Way (pistachio coconut sour).

Wulfhaven Brewing Co | Wulfhaven is out of Tampa, and the girls met Joseph and Veronica. Joseph started the brewery with his dad and Veronica is the General Manager. They brought Leaning Tower of Pilsner (5.4% pilsner), Par-Tee in Paradise (6% IPA), Amaiz’n (5% Mexican Lager) and Spring Fling (5.5% Florida White Ale).

Whew! Be sure to start looking for tickets in March 2025. This beer festival lives up to the hype. It’s in a beautiful location and hosts A TON of amazing breweries serving up great craft brews! Don’t miss it!

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!