Jacksonville’s beer industry has been on an upswing for the past four years since the opening of the pioneering Bold City Brewing Company. When Intuition Ale Works joined them just a few years later, it seemed the River City had a real beer thing going in the area known as the King Street Beer District. Since the two local powerhouse breweries made the scene three more have opened, one is nearing completion and should be open around the first part of 2013, and several others are in their planning stages. Kickbacks, the Riverside/Avondale beer temple has been joined by several other beer-centric bars and restaurants like Dahlia’s Pour House, The Garage, Carmine’s, Lola’s, and Pele’s.
Jacksonville, it seems, has become a beer destination.
No greater proof is needed than the recent announcement by Rate Beer – a website dedicated to rating, discussing, and reporting on, all things beer – that their Winter Gathering 2013 will take place in Jacksonville, tentatively February 21-23. To win the event, the First Coast was pitted against Albuquerque, N.M. and Salt Lake City, Utah in an online vote conducted by Rate Beer. After all the votes were tabulated, Jacksonville won with 58% of the votes and not a hanging chad to be found.
The event will bring beer enthusiasts from around the country to experience all that Jacksonville has to offer the beer world. Plans include a welcome dinner at Kickback’s, a bus tour of all the breweries in the city, and a Grand Tasting. The event is only open to members of the Rate Beer website, but membership is free.
The entire weekend’s itinerary can be seen at the site’s page for the event at: http://www.ratebeer.com/event/18666/.
Rate Beer is an independent website on which users can rate and discuss beers they have tasted. The site began in May of 2000 and has garnered over 200,000 users from over 60 countries since then. Owner Joe Tucker’s goal is to serve the entire craft beer community world-wide through beer education, promotion, and outreach.
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