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Jacksonville: A Brewery Destination

Tue, March 01, 2011 9:33 am EST

Jacksonville’s Budweiser Brewery Tours offers complimentary tours and tastings six days a week. Introduced in 2010, The Beermaster Tour is a small, private tour taking guests into never-before-seen areas of the brew house, lager cellar, packaging facility and finishing cellar. Guests see first-hand the people and passion behind the Budweiser brand and guests 21 years of age and older receive exclusive sampling opportunities directly from the finishing tanks.

With a popular craft brewery and taproom long-established and a new one recently opened, the Riverside neighborhood, minutes from Downtown, is quickly becoming known as the "Riverside Brewing District."

Bold City Brewery beers are local favorites in Jacksonville and are served at several bars and restaurants around town. In fact, in 2011 the brewery gave its name to a local restaurant located inside the Sheraton Jacksonville. Bold City Grill exclusively serves Bold City beers on tap with a menu of comfort foods. Pieces of Jacksonville history serve as the décor. There is also a Tap Room connected to the brewery operation and is open three days a week. First timers are offered a complimentary sampler of all the beers on tap that day and pints are very affordable. The brewery which produces ales, IPAs and English ales is open for complimentary tours on the hour Saturdays from 2-5 p.m.

Intuition Ale Works, another brewery in Riverside is now operating and recently opened their tap room as well. This brewery specializes in West Coast-style pale ale and Belgian-inspired beers with a “southern twist.” The tap room has 12 beers on taps, featuring some other craft beers from around Florida, as well as their own creations. The brewery offers tours on Saturdays at 1 p.m. Private group tours are also available.

Engine 15 Brewing Co. is open in Jacksonville Beach and offers an assortment of craft beers on tap and by the bottle. Customers can create their own beer with the guidance of the Engine 15 brew masters. Creating your own beer starts at about $90, which includes the ingredients, guidance and equipment needed to brew 10 gallons. Bottling and labeling, which can be designed by the customer, cost extra. This beachside hangout is a relaxing place to grab a favorite beer and appetizer.

And there are of course some long-standing restaurants in the area that also feature their own microbreweries. These include River City Brewing Company, Seven Bridges, Ragtime Tavern and Seafood Grill and A1A Ale Works.