JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Since its opened, Anheuser-Busch has offered free guided tours to anyone willing to drop by to explore their Jacksonville brewery. That ended Dec. 23 when the brewery ended tours and closed its associated gift shop permanently.
With that in mind, Modern Cities has archived a photographic behind-the-scenes tour of the Jacksonville brewery for Jaxsons to have permanent, free access to.
A fixture in Jacksonville’s manufacturing scene since 1969, Anheuser-Busch’s third-largest U.S. brewery produces nine million barrels of beer annually. Anheuser-Busch’s roots date back to 1852 with German American brewer George Schneider establishing the Bavarian Brewery in St. Louis. In 1960, the operation was purchased by William D’Oench and German-born soap manufacturer Eberhard Anheuser. In 1869, Anheuser’s son-in-law Adolphus Busch purchased D’Oench’s share. In 1957, Anheuser-Busch became the largest brewer in the United States.
Covering 1.4 million square feet, the manufacturing operations of the brewery are pretty impressive. Operating 24/7, the 205-acre plant site receives regular shipments of raw ingredients by rail, accommodates 235 trucks each day and even includes its own natural gas power plant.
Brands produced include Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch, Busch Light, Michelob Light, Michelob, AmberBock, Michelob ULTRA, Natural Light, Natural Ice, Shocktop and Landshark. To ensure consistency, every product produced in the brewery is sampled every day at 3 p.m. by staff.