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Tag Archives: Jacksonville Business Journal

Intuition to present proposal for downtown brewery

According to an article by the Jacksonville Business Journal, Intuition Ale Works is set to make another shot at building a brewery in downtown Jacksonville. The location is reported as being at the corner of A. Phillip Randolph Boulevard and Bay Street just steps from the Baseball Grounds, Veterans Memorial Arena and Everbank Field.

Ben Davis, owner of Intuition has been looking for a suitable location to expand his burgeoning brewery for several years now. A previous attempt to build downtown on the Shipyards property was thwarted by the city. The proposed new location is just a few blocks the Shipyards.

Davis is scheduled to appear before the Downtown Development Review Board Thursday to pitch his idea. The proposed brewery would occupy an existing building with an attached brick warehouse. Plans submitted to the city reveal a rooftop biergarden along with an indoor tap room.

Intuition has made several attempts to find a suitable building or location over the past few years with Davis stating that his ideal location would be in the city core because of his desire to be part of downtown revitalization. The brewery’s Smoke IPA, and IPA brewed with smoked malts, was brewed specifically to be sold at downtown breweries and to support the “Downtown is on Fire” campaign.

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Shipyards out for Intuition

18 Jul

The search for a suitable location for the expansion of Intuition Ale Works continues. A few weeks ago, brewery owner Ben Davis submitted a preliminary site plan for a brewery, tap room, and beer garden to Jacksonville leaders. His plan called for the brewery to be built on a portion of the Shipyards property on the northside riverfront between Berkman Plaza and the sports complex. The city declined to split the property, so Davis is looking again.

Davis is looking because his nearly two-year-old brewery is running out of capacity. His brewery on King Street on the edge of the Riverside neighborhood is brewing constantly since they became the first Florida brewery to can their beers. In January Intuition began canning there three most popular brews; People’s Pale Ale, I-10 IPA, and Jon Boat Coastal Ale.

“We just can’t keep up with demand,” Davis says. In the last year his brewery produced 2,200 kegs of beer and Davis says he hopes to increase that to 6,000 next year. With the size constraints he has now, that may be a tall order to fill.

Because Davis needs a building with high ceilings to accommodate large fermentation tanks, he is having a difficult time locating a building. His hope is to be able to put his second brewery downtown to present a strong image of Jacksonville to residents and visitors alike. But, after looking at several buildings, he has still not found one to suit his needs. An article a few weeks ago in the Jacksonville Business Journal indicated that if Davis cannot find a suitable building downtown he may scrap the idea of a second tap room and put a brewery only into an industrial building on the westside or near the airport.

The thought of the brewery going outside the city core has some participants on local discussion boards like Metro Jacksonville up in arms, though. Many have suggested buildings in the Springfield warehouse district may be a solution, others have suggested downtown buildings that are currently unoccupied. For now though, Davis is still looking.