FIRST COAST BREWS BLOG
There are a lot of nicknames for Jacksonville's Main Street, but I think it should be known as Brewery Row after Strings Sports Brewery opens its doors later this month.
There will be three breweries within three blocks of each other, making it a perfect way to do a craft brewery crawl. You don't even have to cross Main Street to do it.
Owners of Strings Sports Brewery, the Adeeb family, invited me over to take a look before their big day. I was very impressed by what I saw.
If the Adeeb name seems familiar, you are correct, the family has been feeding Jacksonville for decades. You might have heard of Bono's BBQ or perhaps the Beach Diner.
This venture is a family affair of Scott Adeeb and his sons Trevor and Colby. They've set out to bring a new brewery concept to Jacksonville, a sports brewery.
The building at the corner of 9th Street and Main was once a gas station, more recently it was a restaurant and jazz club. The 10 barrel brewery sits about where the stage was.
Before I get going on the taproom itself, I want to mention the storage tanks that Strings will be using instead of kegging their beers. The beer is stored in these serving tanks and served from here. No kegs to clean and fill.
The capacity is equal to 125 kegs. That should mean less time cleaning, kegging and replacing taps.
One of the first things I asked was, why sports? Scott Adeeb told me that sports were important to their family, from playing collegiately to running marathons, everyone plays. Plus, they are season ticket holders for the Jacksonville Jaguars. They pay homage to that with Section 215 blonde ale, named after their seat section.
"Quite honestly what we are putting together is what we love as a family. And our slogan is Family. Beer. Sports." Adeeb says.
This is their underlying purpose, a family-friendly restaurant and brewery.
"We want a family environment, we want people to bring their kids in here," Adeeb says."Bottom line is we're kinda doing everything we enjoy, not only from the beer, the sports but the food end of it."
Chef Patrick Dillon and Sous Chef Kevin Roberts have put together a different type of sports bar menu. Locally sourced when possible and more than the usual fare. Included on the menu will be sweet potato nachos, tonkatsu chicken sandwich, poutine with burnt ends and sweet tea brined chicken wings.
In the taproom, there will be games galore. From the full-sized basketball hoops along one wall to a darts area. Even a Golden Tee game, an outside request.
This is a very large space with a variety of seating areas, a back covered patio with large communal seating, tables, bar seating across the front windows. Everywhere there will be sports on TVs and games to be played.
For parking, you'll have to find street parking along 9th street or park in the usual spots behind the Hyperion Brewing or 6th and Main.
The Grand Opening is June 24 at 11 a.m. Congratulations to the Adeeb family for creating such a unique concept!
Cheers, y'all!
- Steph
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