St Augustine bars – Page 2

Episode 023 | Pub Pedal: St. Augustine Beach Bars: Jack’s BBQ, Salt Life, Beachcombers, Sunset Grille, Mango Mango’s and More!

September 8, 2022November 5, 2023 The Boozy Blondes

Get ready to soak up some beach vibes with the Boozy Blondes as they pedal their way through their favorite St. Augustine Beach bars! Whether it be dive bars, boujee resorts, local haunts or tourist highlights, St. Augustine Beach has it all!

The DOE is painkillers for an extra tropical, beachy vibe. Chrissy has nailed the recipe:

5oz pineapple/OJ juice (premixed from the store)
1oz coconut milk (regular coconut milk, not the thick, super delicious stuff. The regular milk saves you calories and sugar though!)
2 oz dark rum (Chrissy recommends Kraken)
Dash of nutmeg
Moonshine cherry garnish

The pub pedal tradition started July 16, 2013, when the boozy blondes corralled a handful of friends and executed an 8-mile ride, covering four bars. The route has changed over the years, but the level of excitement, fun and fabulous drinks for each journey has not. In fact, in Episode 3 (Pub Pedal – St. Augustine Craft Breweries), the girls tackle four local breweries on their bikes.

This particular pub pedal started at Little Margies FA Cafe. Little Margies is a small beachside restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and wine, beer and Champagne.

Next stop was a strenuous pedal to the top of the Embassy Suites driveway mountain (seriously, it’s pretty steep). This is not your typical Embassy Suites. It’s right on the beach and it’s stunning. The girls love this resort with the Rhum Bar, Harvest and Reel restaurant and their favorite, Castaway Cantina pool bar. You can’t not feel like you’re on vacation when you sip a tropical drink at the beautiful watering hole!

Normally on their beach pub pedals the girls stop at the St. Augustine Beach Pier for a hot dog and a game of bocce after the Embassy. The pier is home to a splash park, fishing pier and beach access. On Wednesdays in the summer it hosts Music and Art by the Sea an evening of live music, art show and food trucks. But on this particular pub pedal, the girls skipped the Pier and rode over to Jack’s BBQ.

Jack’s has been a St. Augustine Beach favorite since 1945! It’s “one block from St. Augustine Beach and features a brewery, pool, multiple bars, pool tables and unofficial mascot, Jack’s Cat.” Patrons can walk right up from the beach and enjoy a full bar and good food – especially the fries. Recently Jack’s owner Brud Helhoski opened Bootlegger Beach Brewing on site!

The St. Augustine Beach Pub Pedal ended with another beach favorite, Tides Oyster Co & Grill, otherwise lovingly known as “the old Dunes,” because Dunes Cracker was the name of this bar during early St. Augustine life for the girls. Tides offers nightly events like trivia, live music and Flip Night and serves up awesome oysters and wings.

The girls don’t have enough time (or booze tolerance) to visit all their favorite St. Augustine Beach bars during a pub pedal, so they switch up their route from time to time. Salt Life Food Shack is a new kid on the block and definitely attracts the tourists. They offer fun specials like Sushi Tuesdays and Oyster & Margarita Thursdays as well as transportation to their location if you are within a certain radius!

Beachcomber opened in the 1940s just like its neighbor across the street Jack’s and has seen some transformation over the years. Currently it offers a full bar and pretty fantastic menu! It’s the closest you can get to eating on the beach in St. Augustine; some tables are literally in the sand!

Sunset Grille is an all-time favorite for the girls. With its Key West atmosphere and extensive menu, it attracts locals and tourists alike “somewhere on A1A.” Another all-time favorite for its food is Mango Mango’s. The bar offers beer and wine and fun wine-based cocktails and homemade sangria.

Burrito Works Taco Shop and Café 11 are two other spots for fantastic food and assortment of drinks. The Taco Shop is a great spot to grab a bite after a day on the beach; and you can visit them in downtown St. Augustine as well! Café 11 is a music venue hosting some popular names and serving up delicious food – “the combination of locale and cuisine attracts tourists for weekend brunch, hipsters for the music, retirees for the pork barbecue and surfers for a daily dose of buffalo chicken panini.”

Last but definitely not least on the must-see beach bars list is Panama Hatties. Panamas recently endured a major face-lift and looks amazing. The girls have fond memories of crazy nights in the formerly beach-weathered dive bar by day/sleazy club by night and are impressed by the much-needed renovations. Panamas was first established in 2001 and reestablished in 2019.

So whether they are reminiscing of beach nights past or checking out the new establishments on the beach, the girls love St. Augustine Beach and any opportunity to lather on the sunblock and pedal their way to their next cocktail with the salty sea breeze at their backs!

Behind the Booze - Interviews, Season 1

Episode 004 | Behind the Booze – Forgotten Tonic Interview with John Moore

January 5, 2022November 5, 2023 The Boozy Blondes

Listen here!

Wander off the beaten path and join the Boozy Blondes as they interview John Moore, the owner of Forgotten Tonic in St. Augustine, Florida.

The DOE is a Chai Espresso Martini featured on Half Baked Harvest (vodka, kaluha, espresso, coconut milk, chai-honey syrup). The girls chose this drink in honor of all the tasty craft cocktails the team at Forgotten Tonic serves up.

Forgotten Tonic is a great locals bar and hidden gem for tourists on historic Aviles (pronounced Av-ah-lees) Street. John was in the process of rebranding this location when the pandemic hit, so when restrictions were lifted in June 2020, Forgotten Tonic celebrated its re-opening and has been a favorite for the blondes.

Chrissy meets John for donuts (and Boozy coffee) to learn more about John and his bar. Surprisingly, he wasn’t always in the food industry. He went to college for Electrical Engineering and when he started working after graduation, he soon realized he did not have a passion for it.

He went to work at PF Chang’s and loved it! He started as a busboy, moved to bartender, then national trainer and he opened new locations, and then went into management. After PF Chang’s John went to work with a former coworker who opened his own bbq restaurant in Jacksonville. Here he learned all about whisky and helped open more restaurants around Jacksonville. Soon after, he decided he wanted to open his own bar and restaurant and found the location on Aviles Street.

Before Forgotten Tonic was the trendy bar and restaurant featuring “modern twists on comfort food, an extensive wine list and craft cocktails,” it was a bicycle shop, sailboat sail material shop, art gallery, a few other restaurants and one of the first public schools in the country!

Miracle Christmas-themed Pop Up Bar Party

John talks about the reality of owning a bar. What the guests see is 1% of reality. In the interview, hear some of the other 99% of what happens and things John wished he knew before opening.

Forgotten Tonic was chosen as a Miracle Christmas-themed pop up bar again (2020 first year). This is a huge honor as only about 100 bars around the world are chosen (105-110 in 2020). Forgotten Tonic was referred by Annie of Death or Glory in Delray Beach. The Miracle bar is like National Lampoons house threw up inside Forgotten Tonic – so many fun decorations, themed drinks and glassware. All Miracle Pop Up bars donate a percentage of retail purchases to a specific charity, this year the James Beard Foundation, Open For Good Campaign. Forgotten Tonic donates 10% of Miracle retail sales to this cause.

The Wolfpack went before Christmas and got two SanTaRex drinks (blanco tequila, mezcal, melon liqueur, almond orgeat, lime, tiki bitters), Yippee Ki Yay Motherf****r (Barbados rum, rhum agricole, overproof rum, ube & coconut orgeat, acid-adjusted pineapple juice) and Elfin’ Around (prosecco, gin, mulled wine reduction, grapefruit shrub, aromatic bitters, orange bitters). Plus Nice shots. 🎅

You still have time to check it out this year! The Miracle bar is open November 20, 2021 – January 31, 2022. Please share your pictures with us if you go! Keep up with Forgotten Tonic through its Facebook and Instagram accounts. Reservations are accepted and recommended by booking through its website or calling directly.

Season 1, Travel - Where to Drink

Episode 003 | Pub Pedal: St. Augustine Craft Breweries: Bog, Dog Rose, Ancient City and Old Coast Ales

December 31, 2021November 5, 2023 The Boozy Blondes

Listen here!

The Boozy Blondes explore their hometown breweries in St. Augustine, Florida, in this episode. St. Augustine is home to four craft breweries and the girls pedaled their bikes to all four – the best local breweries in St. Augsutine!

The DOE is Dream Pop from Bog Brewing Company. Dream Pop is a Farmhouse Ale aged 8 months in oak and finished on organic pink rose petals.

Our partner for this episode is Winc! Click here for a discount off your first order!

This first stop on the St. Augustine Craft Brewery Pub Pedal was Bog. The blondes split three beers here: Blueberry Lemon sour (5.5%), Mixed Culture Saison (6.7%) and Automatic Midnight (19.6 Imperial Stout). They arrived around lunchtime, and lucky for them, Tacos My Blessings is a permanent food truck behind Bog.

Boozy Blondes Outside of Dog Rose Brewing

From Bog the girls rode to Dog Rose Brewing Company where they enjoyed victory on the shuffleboard table while sharing a flight. Rhapsody in Red (American amber – 5.2%), Helles in a Bucket (bock – 7.9%), Bertha Brown Ale (brown ale – 6.3%) and Lions Head Honey Sour (sour – 5.2%). They say the honey in this beer came from bees in the lions head. The girls think this is a lion’s head from the Bridge of Lions in downtown St. Augustine, and found this reference from 2020.

Here the girls met Disco Witch Brewing owners Jeff and Shelly. Disco Witch is scheduled to open Spring 2022 in Yule, Florida. A grand opening celebration is scheduled in May!

Dog Rose opened in October of 2017 and was named one of the Top 20 Best New Breweries in the US by USA Today in 2020!

The next stop for the blondes was Ancient City Brewing on Cathedral Place right downtown. This is the location of Ancient City’s tap house. Its brewhouse is west of town on Agricultural Center Drive by the St. Augustine outlets.

The girls had one beer each here – Chrissy had Augustine’s Orange Amber Ale (5.3%) and Molly ordered Ponce’s Pale Ale (5.2%). Ancient opened in May 2015.

For the final stop the girls pedaled hard over the Bridge of Lions to Old Coast Ales. Fun fact (that the girls learned too late), if you ride your bike to Old Coast, you earn 10% off your beer! Here Molly ordered the No A’postrophe (amber ale – 7.2%) and Chrissy was ordered the Static Haze (New England IPA – 6.4%).

Old Coast opened in February 2017 and is neighbors to Osprey Tacos. Tacos were ordered and Molly owes an apology to the blondes’ friend Elias. She blamed him in the episode for dropping the guacamole, which exploded everywhere, when really it was Phil! The girls do a lot of research (ahem, drink a lot) so they always have the boys and/or other friends around to keep an eye on them and clear up minor details later. 😉

These 4 breweries join forces during the holiday season. St. Augustine is known for the Nights of Lights, and these breweries started the Nights of Pints. During the Nights of Lights (typically from the end of November through January), you can purchase the Nights of Pints package at one of the four breweries which includes a t-shirt and punch card. The punch card is good for one free beer at each brewery!

If you happen to be in St. Augustine and are visiting Bog, Dog Rose, Ancient City or Old Coast, let us know! Send us a message and let us know your favorite!

** Since we recorded this episode, Bog no longer allows pets inside. Please call the breweries before bringing Fido so you are aware of the most current rules.