Last week in my Pint-Sized column in Folio Weekly Magazine, I told you about Jacksonville’s first brewery — Jacksonville, later Jax, Brewing Company. What I did not write in that column was how the brewery sold the recipe of its beloved pilsner to the Jackson Brewing Company — who incidentally was also called Jax Brewing — of New Orleans. Later, Jackson sold the name and recipe to Pearl Brewing of Austin, Texas who later became Pabst Brewing. Pabst, after brewing the pilsner for a few years, discontinued the brew and Jax Beer was seemingly lost to the veils of time.This week, reports on Facebook began to circulate that Jax Beer was available at European Street Cafe in Riverside. I checked with my contacts at Pabst and the claims were confirmed.
Michael Peck, Associate Brand Manager of Pabst’s Local Legends division shared, “We brewed a very small test batch of Jax, just to see what people thought of the beer.”
The goal, Peck continued was to see, “If they remembered Jax,” and to see, “What they liked about it.”
If what Peck says holds true, ‘The Beer of Friendship,’ as the advertisements proclaimed, may be on the cusp of a come back.
“We’re very much in development,” Peck said. “Once we have a solid launch timeline, I’ll definitely reach out.”
So, now it is your turn. Did you have an opportunity to try the limited release of Jax? Did you remember it? How did you remember it? What did you think?
The ATL Beer Guy 
mike zuniga
July 10, 2017 at 1:29 PM
Jax beer was my favorite beer in the 60s and mid 70s, I remember the unique taste, it was smooth and never a full and bloating feeling. If Jax beer is ever back I will definitely know if it’s the same formula after one or two. There are certainly many good tasting beers on the market today but none with that distinct beer flavor. I truly hope it makes a comeback.
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john clayton
September 22, 2018 at 1:11 PM
Any update on the return of JAX?
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