Bold City and Intuition

Samplers at Intuition

Saturday was a beer-stravaganza, starting at Intuition then on to Bold City (finishing the evening at Kickbacks, but we'll review them another time, since we didn't take any notes or pictures this time). These are within stumbling distance of each other just on the edge of Riverside. I'm not any sort of beer expert, but I love to try different beers and am a huge fan of dark beers.

Intuition taps

Intuition Ale Works is owned by a Jax local, Ben Davis, who formerly owned The Grotto in San Marco. They offer a regular schedule of beer dinners pairing food and beer (pricey so we will unfortunately be abstaining until the employment gods smile upon us). When we were there, they had 18 beers on tap (you can check their website to see what's available at any give time if you're so inclined). Samplers are $6 each, with 6 samples of 4 oz. of any beer you like. I like dark beers and picked five of their stouts and porters, including the awesomely-named Truck Stop Breakfast Stout which is brewed with maple syrup and locally owned Lucky Dog coffee. I think it's great that Intuition uses local producers for their ingredients, like Florida honey in the Honey Badger Saison. The bartender recommended a final taste, the Quiet Storm dark ale, which actually ended up being my favorite of the day. There were unfortunately no tours going on while we were there so we didn't see any of the behind-the-scenes action. Tours are normally Wed-Fri from 2-5pm and cost $5 but include a beer and a tasting.

Tasting room at Bold City

Bold City Brewery is also locally owned, by Brian and Susan Miller, a mother-and-son team who, as we learned on the tour, left Blue Cross to follow their sudsy dreams. Their sample systems works differently - if you're new to the brewery, you get a small sample (maybe 2oz) of each of their eight beers, except for the seasonal porter. If you've been to the brewery before, there's a $5 charge for the sample. They were out of the Chinook IPA at the time so they were kind enough to substitute an extra taste of the 1901 Red Ale. I'm partial to the Duke's Brown ale, which is now widely available in many locations in Jacksonville. They offer free tours on Saturday from 2-5 on the hour.

From 4pm on Saturdays, Jolly Mon serves food from a patio grill at Bold City. He cooks up hamburgers, black bean burgers, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, and brats, all served with baked beans and cole slaw for $6. I had the burger (very good), and tried a bit of the black bean burger, which was much better than I had expected (I'll readily admit that I had low expectations of the veggie burger and it definitely surprised me - a little dry but flavorful). By the time we were done with the tour and eating our Jolly Mon burgers, I was so full and overheated that I didn't get another beer beyond the $5 sample. In fact, we had actually intended to stay at Bold City until it was time for my brother to leave but it was so warm that we decided to move on to Kickbacks for a final drink.

Intuition Ale Works is at 720 King Street, Jacksonville, FL 32204; hours vary; open Tuesday thru Friday, 3-11pm, and Saturday 1-11pm.

Bold City Brewery is at 2670-7 Rosselle Street, Jacksonville, FL 32204; open Thursday and Friday 3pm to close, Saturday 1pm to close.