JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — I'm not sure how you feel, but sometimes it is hard to visit every place! We are so fortunate to have such great breweries in Jacksonville, but visiting them all is fun with a Jax Ale Trail passport.
The passports can be picked up at any participating brewery. Unfortunately, this version of the passport came out before Fishweir Brewing or Reve Brewing opened. So sadly, you can't get a stamp at either of those yet. The next incarnation should include them, along with Legacy Ale Works and whoever opens next!
The Jacksonville tourist group, Visit Jacksonville, is behind this project. They are encouraging folks to visit all the breweries by offering prizes. I got mine at Engine 15 Brewing-- just buy a beer and get a stamp.
With 4 stamps, Visit Jacksonville is giving you a Jax Ale Trail koozie. Get eight and you get a T-shirt and a koozie. Fill the passport and they give you the T-shirt, Koozie and a special prize. I'm not quite filled, so I don't know what the secret prize is yet.
All the Visit Jacksonville locations also have the passports, but you are going to a brewery anyway, grab one there!
After you have filled your passport and drank a lot of tasty beer, you can either mail in your passport or bring it to the Visit Jacksonville offices to redeem your prizes. All the information is in the passport, along with maps, descriptions and information about all the breweries and our beer stores.
To be honest, I'm just enjoying visiting all the breweries along the way. Especially places like Pinglehead Brewing, which is a long way from my home. We made a day of it, enjoyed lunch with Brewer's Pizza and sampled a lot of tasty beer. I'm particularly fond of Moon Dance, a solid oatmeal/chocolate stout and it's Vanilla variant.
So check out the Ale Trail and have some fun!
In other beer news, I spent a lot of the holidays sitting in Reve Brewing. I have a serious addiction to sour beers. There, I said it. I'm Stephanie and I'm a Sour-holic!
Eric Lumen has been cranking out some awesome beers and collaborating with everyone! This past week, something sticky was happening with the crew of Ology Brewing in Tallahassee! You need to get to Reve and try some of the marshmallow brews on tap.
Fishweir Brewing is also kicking their sour game into gear. They recently obtained wine barrels from the Central Coast of California to age some sours. They filled the first couple with a Brett Saison. Look for that in a couple of months.
Aardwolf Brewery and Intuition Ale Works have created a couple of unique beers in collaboration. At Aardwolf, Bourbon Barrel aged Early Bird Special, a breakfast stout was aged again in Rye Whiskey barrels that held Intuition's Imperial Stout Underdark. Then the Rye Whiskey barrel aged Underdark took a nap in the EBS bourbon barrels.
There will be a bottle release at both Intuition and Aardwolf on February 16. From 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Intuition will sell Under Bird. Starting at 2 p.m. until 6 p.m., Aardwolf will be selling Early Dark. All bottles will be $20 each, no limit, cash only. To help out, the Jax Brew Bus will be running a shuttle between both locations from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. for $5, cash or credit.
After you get your bottles, you can head down to Legacy Ale Works' Grand Opening. After permitting delays, they are back on track and will open their doors at 4 p.m. I've sampled their beers over the past year and I'm really looking forward to Matt and Liz finally creating their "Legacy".
If that weekend wasn't enough, don't forget the Riverside Craft Beer Festival is the following Saturday. Tickets are still available and I'd get them now before the price goes up at the door!
And last, but not least, you will be seeing articles by Casey Feindt on the First Coast Brews page. She is a digital producer at First Coast News and a craft beer enthusiast. I excited about being able to cover more of our fantastic beer scene! We've come up with some great ideas and hope to be rolling them out soon!
Cheers y'all!
