Drinking Spots in Jacksonville

Jacksonville, Hampton's hometown, is pretty sprawling. As such, it's difficult to get to different areas of the city without driving. Thankfully, Uber recently arrived so you can drink and get home safely (although with all the recent controversy, I don't know how comfortable you might be with using Uber).

The main areas of town we went to were Downtown, San Marco, and Avondale.

In Downtown, I'd highly recommend Dos Gatos. The cocktails are great and reasonably-priced.

San Marco has Grape and Grain Exchange, with the Parlour in the back. Grape and Grain Exchange is an up-scale package store. They have a great range of liquors there – and we got some to drink at home. However it's worth grabbing a drink at the bar, too. The atmosphere is a little bright – it is primarily a shop, after all – but the cocktails are good. In the back there's the Parlour, which is a speakeasy-style bar. The service is pretty slow but they have some decent seasonal cocktails.

Avondale's top spot for drinking is Mojo Nº4. They have an extensive range of whiskey cocktails, all of which were tasty. Their Vieux Carré was great.

If Mojos is packed (and it often is, so get there early), try the Mellow Mushroom just across the street. Their pizza is pretty good, too, if you're hungry.

All in all, there's a few good spots around town if you're looking for a decent cocktail. Just make sure you have a taxi number handy to get home!