One of Florida’s first brewpubs, Atlantic Beach’s Ragtime Tavern, has closed its doors, according to reports on social media.
Ragtime Tavern celebrated its 30-year anniversary in 2013, and was one of the only stories about the brewpub that Florida Beer News covered because the low-key brewpub kept to itself and was simply a fixture of the Jacksonville craft beer scene.
Ragtime began in 1983 with 12 tables. In 1991, owners Tom and Bill Morton expanded the restaurant, adding a taproom and later, the area’s first microbrewery, the Times-Union reported. The Morton brothers would go on to launch A1A Ale Works in 1995, according to the Jacksonville Times-Union.
During the writing of The Great Florida Craft Beer Guide, author Mark DeNote went into Ragtime Tavern to experience their beers. “It was a unique experience,” DeNote says. “Ragtime was one of those breweries that made good beer and was content serving that beer within their walls and nowhere else. At that point, most breweries were trying to make headway sending beers into distribution where Ragtime and ” At the time, Ragtime was owned by the Gordon-Biersch Restaurant Group, which also owned A1A Ale Works, Seven Bridges Grill and Brewery, as well as Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant on Brickell Avenue in Miami.
Ragtime’s website is active as of Tuesday, January 28th, and no information has been posted to social media for the brewery. Pictures of the “Closed” permanently sign is from local information page “Jacksonville Florida ‘The 904.’”
Click the link to view a slideshow of Ragtime Tavern through the years, courtesy of Jacksonville.com.
More information will be shared if and when it becomes available.
About Ragtime Tavern
An Atlantic Beach, Florida favorite for over 25 years, Ragtime Tavern has earned numerous accolades for our creative cuisine, expertly handcrafted beers, outstanding service and lively atmosphere. Beginning in 1983 as a small neighborhood meeting place with only 12 tables and a single bar, Ragtime has since grown into a hot spot that the locals can’t stop raving about.