Veterans United

One Christmas, Ron Gamble was given a present by his wife which contained all the elements of a beer making kit. Little did they know that this simple gift was going to change their lives.

“In 1999 my wife gave me the gift. Then the hobby took over into a passion and then eventually I went professional in 2007,” Gamble said.

Gamble went to the Siebel Institute in Germany where he got his master brewers diploma. After managing a brewhouse and cellar operations at several breweries in the New England area, Gamble and his wife moved to Florida to start their own brewery.

After serving in the Navy for eight years active and four years in the reserve, he developed a strong relationship with people in the military. Gamble said that one of the key elements in helping his business career was going back to when he served in the navy and looking for help there. These now veterans were the people he went to for help in starting the brewery.

“The idea of veterans, veterans coming together to form a brewery, I liked the idea of saying we were united, hence Veterans United,” Gamble said.

Veterans United has been opened a little over a year now and Gamble said it is a hard business to be in.

“The joke in the industry is ‘if you want to make a million dollars owning a brewery then you need to start with two million,’” Gamble said.

In order to have this type of business, Gamble said that you have to understand the different elements that go into the industry. These elements include the science that goes into brewing beer, the engineering and mechanics, as well as business.

“There are brewers like myself who brew the beer, then we have to understand the selling side that is really the beer industry, the distributers and wholesalers,” said Gamble.

The beers provided by Veterans United have been developed by Gamble over the years, the recipes have changed and mutated based upon what he and his friends like. The brewery team also collaborates to see what they want to convey in terms of flavor and aroma, which leads to picking the ingredients.

Jana Parnell, a grad student at UNF, frequents the brewery said, “This is my favorite craft beer in Jacksonville, I feel like they put a lot of effort into making the beers.”

In terms of naming the beer he does a lot of it himself.

“I spent twelve years in marketing, so over the years I was able to come up with really neat ideas for names and imagery for the beers,” said Gamble.

Allie Bies, a nursing student at FSCJ said, “I’m not typically a fan of beer but the Raging Blonde is my favorite, the name is what attracted me to the beer.”

In their first year of brewing, Veterans United has worked with 18 charities that have been military or veteran oriented. Gamble said that have also carved out an area that is focused on military K-9s along with helping their teams and owners.

The biggest competitors for Veterans United and other craft brewers are all the large breweries such as Busch, Coors or Budweiser. According to Gamble, these breweries control 85-90% of the market since they are a dominant force.

Despite their competition between one another, Gamble said that the craft breweries in Jacksonville work together on a variety of initiatives, festivals and events.

Right now the beer from Veterans United is in five counties in Northeast Florida from Fernandina Beach down to St. Augustine. However, they have plans to expand to Gainesville, Tallahassee, and Pensacola, then eventually further south into the State.

 In order to get the Veterans United brand out there Gamble sells to a wholesaler who then sells to a retailer. The Jax Beer Society is an initiative that they are part owners and members of have come together to help market the beers.

“There are several programs where we jointly market the beer whether it be the Can Do Festival in downtown Jacksonville during spring or the Craft Beer Festival in May or in the Jax Beer Society,” said Gamble.