A Year in Beer: The Jax Ale Trail Turns 1

--Visit Jacksonville Celebrates Anniversary with Special Month-long Contest--

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Time flies when you are having great craft beer! Visit Jacksonville is thrilled to mark the one year anniversary of the very successful Jax Ale Trail and its Craft Beer Passport. Since its inception in December 2014, more than 20,000 people have used their Jax Ale Trail Craft Beer Passports, and almost 900 craft beer enthusiasts from 39 states and five countries have completed their Jax Ale Trail Craft Beer Passports surpassing all expectations and projections. While the local community has really embraced the concept, the Jax Ale Trail has proven to be a big tourism draw as well, with 30 percent of all Craft Beer Passports completed by out-of-town visitors.

To celebrate the special anniversary and all the Ale Trail successes, during the entire month of December, Visit Jacksonville will highlight the 25 Beers of Jax on social media, uncovering each one daily starting on December 7 on our Instagram account @Visit_Jax. And while on social media, we have two ways for Jax Ale Trail fans to win great swag. First, locals that have completed the passport and are spotted in their Jax Ale Trail shirts during the month of December could be gifted with cool swag and prizes. Second, anyone who uses #JaxAleTrail while posting a photo of their Jax Ale Trail prizes is entered in a contest to win the ultimate Ale Trail swag basket! More details can be found on www.jaxaletrail.com.  

“It is with great pride that we look back at the accomplishments of the Jax Ale Trail in this first year. What started as an idea to showcase our already existing breweries and turn them into a tourism attraction has really taken a life of its own, putting Jacksonville on the national map as an emerging beer destination,” said Katie Mitura, Director of Marketing and Communications for Visit Jacksonville, the city’s tourism marketing organization.  “It makes us extra proud to see visitors coming from other cities and countries to drink our great local beer and explore Jacksonville.”

The Jax Ale Trail was created by Visit Jacksonville, in partnership with the eight Jacksonville craft breweries, to promote the thriving and award winning local craft beer industry and attract new travelers into our city. Since its creation, Jacksonville has quickly risen to the top of Florida’s beer scene becoming a competitive destination for beer travel. In its December edition, Livability.com lists Jacksonville as one of the 99 Best Beer Cities in the nation.

“The ale trail has definitely been a contributor to all of our progress in this great industry and is the first very bold step in our beer community as a whole to make Jacksonville and the surrounding areas (Orange Park) a destination for beer lovers from all over. We are happy to be a part of it,” said Steven Halford, Pinglehead Brewing Company.    

“Our guests on the Brew Bus find it convenient to reach multiple breweries, some which they may not normally travel out of their way to visit and the Jax Ale Trail ties it all together. We use these interactions to educate our riders about Jacksonville craft beer and tell the story of each brewery and their beer,” shared Josh Carpenter, Brew Bus USA Jacksonville’s Regional Manager.

“As the local nonprofit association working to advance the emerging craft and specialty beer scene in Jacksonville, we are grateful for the commitment Visit Jacksonville has made to the Jax Ale Trail. This program has increased support for all of our local breweries and has brought a wonderful variety of customers through our doors,” said Kara Scremin, President of the Jax Beer Society. “Jacksonville’s beer scene is an asset to the city and the Jax Ale Trail has helped generate interest for our product locally and nationally.”

Next year, Visit Jacksonville will expand the Jax Ale Trail to include even more unique stops for visitors, and locals to enjoy the unique flavors of Jacksonville’s craft beer scene. Stay tuned for a Jax Ale Trail Phase II announcement in early 2016.

The Jax Ale Trail Accolades:

• 880 Jax Ale Trail Craft Beer Passports have been completed. Passports have been completed by people from 39 states, 5 other countries and Washington D.C.
• States: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, NC, ND, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI, WV
• Countries: U.S., Canada, France, Brazil, Scotland and the UK.
• Top 10 States (other than FL) with the most completed passports: Georgia (33), Ohio (15), Virginia (13), Illinois (12), South Carolina (10), California (9), North Carolina (9), Texas (8), Massachusetts (6), Pennsylvania (6)
• During the 15th Annual Flagler Awards at the Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism in September, Visit Jacksonville won a Henry Award for Niche Marketing of the Jax Ale Trail. We were also awarded a silver award in the Mixed Media Campaign category for the Jax Ale Trail marketing.
• In August 2015, the U.S. Travel Association awarded Visit Jacksonville a Destination Council Destiny Award for niche targeting of the Jax Ale Trail.

For more information on the Jax Ale Trail visit www.JaxAleTrail.com. Now go drink your trail off! (Responsibly)

About the Jax Ale Trail

The Jax Ale Trail is a self-guided tour of Jacksonville’s eight local craft breweries and beer attractions including Intuition Ale Works, Bold City Brewery, Aardwolf Brewing Company, Green Room Brewing, Engine 15 Brewing Co., Pinglehead Brewing Company, Veterans United Craft Brewery and Zeta Brewing Company. www.JaxAleTrail.com. 

About Visit Jacksonville

Visit Jacksonville is a DMAI accredited Destination Marketing Organization contracted by the Duval County Tourist Development Council (TDC) to champion the growth of business and leisure tourism in Northeast Florida. Along with its nearly 400 tourism partners, Visit Jacksonville supports a vital and growing component of the local economy – generating $2.2 billion in direct and indirect economic impact annually and supporting 22,000 jobs that span every sector of the economy.  For a closer look at all there is to see and do in Jacksonville, go to www.VisitJacksonville.com or contact 800-733-2668.

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Media Contact

Patty Jimenez

pjimenez@visitjacksonville.com

(904) 421-9169

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