JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Intuition Ale Works, a Jacksonville staple for locally-brewed beer, will be closing its doors for good in April when its lease expires.<\/p>\n
Action News Jax told you in April 2025<\/a> that owner Ben Davis was looking to find a buyer for the brewery.<\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe right buyer never came,\u201d Davis said in a lengthy message posted Wednesday on the brewery\u2019s social media pages.<\/p>\n Davis said in part that he hoped that in relocating from Riverside to Downtown \u201cthat transformative downtown development would follow. It never did.\u201d<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n \u201cRenderings and potential do not pay the bills,\u201d Davis wrote.<\/p>\n He also said that \u201cthe craft beer industry has changed dramatically since COVID. Costs are higher, margins are thinner, and competition is relentless.\u201d<\/p>\n The brewery\u2019s last day will be April 24. <\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n Here is the full message from Davis:<\/p>\n \u201cFifteen years have flown by.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels like yesterday that we were rolling tanks into the old King Street brewery, signing up Mug Club members, and talking about canning beer \u201csomeday.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t open Intuition to chase trends. I opened it to add something real to Jacksonville\u2019s emerging craft beer scene. A place where friends, families, and people from every walk of life could come together over beer made in my hometown.<\/p>\n \u201cLast April, I announced that we were exploring the sale of Intuition. For nine months, I examined every realistic path forward, hoping the right buyer would emerge with the resources and conviction to carry the brand into its next chapter.<\/p>\n \u201cThe right buyer never came.<\/p>\n \u201cThe craft beer industry has changed dramatically since COVID. Costs are higher, margins are thinner, and competition is relentless. For small, independent breweries, the room for error is smaller than it has ever been.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter exhausting every option, I\u2019ve made the hard \u2014 but clear \u2014 decision to permanently close Intuition when our lease expires at the end of April. Our final day will be April 24, fittingly closing with our last Bier Hall show, Yonder Mountain String Band. I asked for Slayer. They were booked.<\/p>\n \u201cThe taproom, kitchen, and Bier Hall will remain fully open and operating as usual through April 24, and all previously scheduled private events will move forward as planned.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we opened our Bay Street location in September 2016, moving downtown was a deliberate choice. I believed in the long-term potential of Downtown Jacksonville, and I was confident that Intuition could play a role in helping shape what it might become.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t regret the move. It was ambitious, and it was my call. But that ambition was rooted in the hope that transformative downtown development would follow. It never did. Renderings and potential do not pay the bills. Ultimately, the financial burden placed on Intuition made long-term sustainability impossible.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough it all, our staff never wavered. They built the brewery, shaped the culture, and carried Intuition through its hardest years. A core group stayed until the very end. I will always be proud of them, and any company would be lucky to have our \u2018Island of Misfit Toys.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWe also owe deep thanks to Champion Brands, who took a chance on a small, local brewery and stood by us for fifteen years. Their belief in our beer and their partnership helped put Intuition beer into the hands of a lot of people.<\/p>\n \u201cJust as importantly, we are deeply grateful to every restaurant, bar, store, and venue that chose to sell our beer. Your support is what kept us going, and it will not be forgotten.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd most importantly, Intuition didn\u2019t last fifteen years because of luck. It lasted because this community showed up, again and again. You drank our beer, packed our shows, and shared your lives with us. Your support mattered more than you will ever know.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to support us in these final months, here\u2019s how:<\/p>\n Come drink beer in our taproom.Come see a show in the Bier Hall.Support the bars, restaurants, and stores that still carry our beer.”<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Intuition Ale Works, a Jacksonville staple for locally-brewed beer, will be closing its doors for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,66188,347,28,348,66185,66186,66187,116,351,118,117,349,350,346,345],"class_list":["post-135179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action-news-jax","tag-ben-davis","tag-cbs47","tag-florida","tag-fox30","tag-intuition-ale-works","tag-intuition-ale-works-closing","tag-intuition-ale-works-downtown-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-northeast-florida","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-wfox","tag-wjax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}