About
Ben Davis
The owner and brewer of Intuition Ale Works was born and raised right here on the First Coast, where Florida begins. In fact, the only thing that might run deeper than Ben Davis’ Jacksonville roots is his love of beer, particularly drinking it. Ben’s journey through the booze business began in 1999 when he purchased a local San Marco coffee shop known as The Grotto and transformed it into the wildly popular wine and tapas bar that it is today.
But it turns out that selling other peoples’ products didn’t satisfy Ben’s creative side – so, he said a brief goodbye to spanish moss and humidity and headed West to Sonoma, CA to dip his toes into winemaking. After working crush in Napa and New Zealand, he started his own wine label and produced critically acclaimed wines until 2007, at which point, he realized it was time to come home. Home to family and friends, home to a city of sunlight and life, and home to a rapidly growing craft-beer market.
Ben began his search for the perfect brewery location, studied the business of brewing, attended a rigorous brewer’s certification program through the Siebel Institute in Chicago, and spent two and a half long years perfecting recipes in his garage on Edgewood Avenue. It’s been a long and winding road that’s brought Ben Davis to this place. You could say the whole time he was guided by a certain sixth sense: an “Intuition,” if you will. The years he spent in winemaking and the refined palate that resulted are reflected in the incredibly high standards to which he holds his brews.
But let’s face it. His raucous spirit and never-ending love of a good time are perfectly complimented by only one thing: Beer.
Cari Sanchez-Potter
The Business Manager of Intuition Ale Works grew up in Ohio and since leaving her hometown has lived in Boston, Buenos Aires, Spanish Basque Country, Japan, South Australia and Switzerland. Her educational and professional background is in marketing and a love for food, drink, and travel led her to obtain a Master of Arts in Gastronomy from the University of South Australia/ Le Cordon Bleu in 2008. Her husband is an Atlantic Beach native and after obtaining their Masters degrees in Australia they returned to Jacksonville to settle in Riverside.
If you ask her, she’ll tell you she has the best job in Jacksonville (besides Brewer Ben… maybe). She handles much of the behind-the-scenes action at Intuition Ale Works like marketing, operations, communications, community relations and event planning. Contact her with any and all feedback, suggestions and questions about the brewery and tap room. Her email is cari@intuitionale.com.
Cari’s personal mission is to help foster a vibrant food and drink culture in Northeast Florida. She sits on the board of Slow Food First Coast. She also writes a food and travel blog called viCARIous, contributes food articles to Jacksonville Magazine, is a founder and producer of The Legend Series and is the Jacksonville-area coordinator for Food Day. She is very excited that Jacksonville is becoming a mecca for beer-lovers and is proud to rep for the ladies in a dude-dominated industry! Follow her tweets @cari_viCARIous for information on events and happenings at Intuition Ale Works and the Jacksonville food and bev scene.
Need to contact us?
Our beers are distributed in Northeast Florida by Champion Brands.
Shoot us an email at beer@intuitionale.com.
Call us at (904) 683-7720.
Send us a letter the old-fashioned way to:
Intuition Ale Works
720 King Street
Jacksonville, FL 32204