As part of the 10-year anniversary celebration of the Jax Ale Trail, Visit Jax conducted a fan vote for the community’s favorite brewery.

In a tight race across the 4,698 votes throughout all rounds of the voting process, Ruby Beach Brewing took the crown. In so doing, one of the city’s first microbreweries earned surprising recognition in a market now crowded by over 30 craft breweries, 28 of which are on the Jax Ale Trail, according to Visit Jax.

“I'm super proud of it. There's so much talent in Jacksonville and so many good operators, I certainly didn't expect it. We’re so grateful,” Ruby Beach Brewing owner Mark Vandeloo told the Business Journal.

The other top breweries in the fan vote were Engine 15 Brewing, Intuition Ale Works and Reve Brewing .

Vandeloo credits the region’s brewing community who, though competitive, come together to prop up the industry.

“Business is hard, and small business is next to impossible sometimes, but we're all trying to accomplish the same thing,” Vandeloo said.

This is one of the reasons he joined the industry: observing how craft beer blossomed in the U.S., with a particular focus on California and Asheville, where “you can find a brewery on virtually every street corner.”

Jacksonville has seen its share of growth, and the Ale Trail is an attempt to highlight the vibrancy of the industry here.

The agency’s data from across the region and across the state revealed brewery visits, local visits and tourist visits — integral assets toward Ruby Beach’s founding.

“It's a difference maker,” Vandeloo said. “I don't know if people realize how substantial their media push is.”

Founded as the Zeta Brewing Company in 2015, Ruby Beach moved from Jacksonville Beach to 228 E. Forsyth St. in 2020 to focus on brewing. The Petra-owned Letter Building, built in 1904, offered plenty as far as a challenge, but Vandeloo and the crew were determined to expand while extending their contribution to downtown growth.

The Forsyth location has a 2,500-square-foot first floor that houses the taproom and brewing equipment, a 2,500-square-foot outdoor patio and a 2,500-square foot second floor used as a rentable event space. This three-tentacled revenue stream has grown into a successful on-site business as downtown grows and a distribution network that’s extended to the area’s largest grocers .

“There's just a way different feel to walking down Bay Street now than it was three or four years ago,” Vandeloo said. “It just feels poised for that downtown awakening to really happen.”

Visit Jax reports that from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2024, 496 Ale Trail passports were turned in to Visit Jacksonville. Of those, 46 were from people who went to all of the stops on the Ale Trail.

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