Event Recap | Texas Craft Brewers Festival 2022

A sold-out Texas Craft Brewer’s Festival took place on Saturday October 8th at Fiesta Gardens alongside Austin’s Lady Bird Lake. The event brought together over 85 Texas breweries, 250 beers … Read More

Yokefellow Beer | Sueño Peach Saison

An hour west of Austin sits the quaint historic town of Johnson City, TX. It’s the home of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36^th American President. It’s named for his grandfather, Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr. And the Blanco County seat is now best known as a cosy, picturesque stop on the Texas Wine Trail.

However, between the dual impacts of the pandemic and sky-rocketing house prices in the greater Austin area, Johnson City is taking on a new identity. It’s the hip Hill Country outpost, with three craft breweries and new concept watering hole Nice N Easy, home of locally produced Lightsome Wines and Yokefellow Beer.

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Acopon Brewing | Hans Trapp Russian Imperial Stout

For the past four years, residents of and visitors to the Texas Hill Country have had a privilege rarely bestowed on American beer drinkers — the opportunity to enjoy freshly brewed English-style beers served on cask at the singular Acopon Brewing taproom in Dripping Springs TX. While their beautifully delivered flagship Homunculus Dark Mild Ale and Gaspipes ESB continue to draw in both cask-curious and happily acclimated patrons from season to season, at this time of year there is another very good reason to make a trip to Acopon — the annual release of their Hans Trapp BBA Russian Imperial Stout.

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Event Recap | Texas Craft Brewers Festival 2021

The Texas Craft Brewers Guild hosted its annual festival at Austin’s Fiesta Gardens on Saturday, October 23. After the festival pivoted to an online event last November, brewers and consumers were eager to return in person to this tremendously popular celebration of all things Texas beer, with over 85 breweries from across the state serving up over 200 beers to thirsty visitors. Both VIP and General Admission tickets sold out in advance, signaling the excitement for the first major Texas beer festival since Covid restrictions lifted.

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Texas Craft Brewers Guild Launches Liquid Bake Sale Fundraiser

Who doesn’t love a bake sale? All manner of excitingly delicious, affectionately prepared offerings to tempt the taste buds, with any guilty feelings of over-indulgence thoroughly negated by the knowledge that one is stuffing one’s face to fundraise for a most-worthy charitable cause. A winning fundraising formula employed by school boards, scout troops and religious institutions across the nation, the bake sale has taken on a new and exciting beery form, courtesy of the Texas Craft Brewers Guild.

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Ultimate 6er | Central Texas Dark Lagers

As the rest of the country slides into winter, Central Texas is still very much in fall mode – and a very welcome fall it is after a scorching summer locked down without the reprieve of our pools and swimming holes. Fall in Central Texas is full of fluctuation – you may need three different outfits in one day, with the temperature taking on the desert-like tendency to drop dramatically once the sun goes down. For weather like this, we brew up a fine selection of Dark Lagers – beers versatile enough to warm us when we’re being whipped by the wind but light enough to refresh us on those remaining sun-drenched days.

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Real Ale Brewing Co. | Boombox Double IPA

Put on that tracksuit, strap on the fresh kicks and queue up “Don’t Stop the Rock”–it’s about to get hype in here. When one of the top breweries in Texas announces a new year-round addition to their lineup, you gotta make some noise. Already providing multiple hopped-up offerings across the spectrum, Real Ale Brewing Co. still managed to drop something fresh that hits all the right notes with their Boombox Double IPA.

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Lakewood & Intrinsic Breweries Collaborate on “Zombieland”-Themed Halloween Stouts

One takeaway from 2020 is that when it comes to surviving an apocalypse, we all need a reason to keep going. For many of us, beer has been a saving grace in this most trying of years but back in 2009, cult horror-comedy movie “Zombieland”’s Tallahassee (aka Woody Harrelson) got his motivation in the form of a Twinkie – the classic American cream-sponge cake produced by Hostess. These “spongy, yellow, delicious bastards” have, in turn, inspired a Halloween tag-team brewing project from Lakewood Brewing and Intrinsic Smokehouse and Brewery – a salute to the “Zombieland” opening scene in their home town of Garland, TX. In the “Zombieland” franchise, the Twinkie acts as a beacon, a signifier – a sign that survival is indeed possible. And when the world is coming to an end, there are certainly worse things to do than hunt for your favorite snack.

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Texas Brewery Explorer App Latest Tool to Help Save TX Breweries

It’s no secret that beer nerds love apps – especially apps with badges, rewards and that all-important score board so you can keep track of what your friends are up to. In response to the devastating effect that the pandemic, lockdown, and some extremely tenuous and controversial decisions by the State Governor and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the Texas Craft Brewer’s Association are fighting back with their very own Texas Brewery Explorer app.
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Urban South Brewery | Coastal Harmony Double IPA

In the madness of 2020, you’d be forgiven for forgetting the Category 4 Hurricane Laura that decimated the Gulf Coast on August 27. The town of Lake Charles, LA was especially hard-hit, with at least 28 fatalities in the small city. The hurricane hit Lake Charles at a greater strength than Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. (And as of this writing, Hurricane Delta is making a bee-line for Lake Charles.) Almost a month has passed since Laura’s 150 miles-per-hour winds and 15-foot storm surge; yet, nearly 45,000 residents still do not have power. Between huge storms, historic wildfires, and the pandemic, many residents are worried that the world has forgotten about them.

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903 Brewing’s Voted Beer Series | A Bipartisan Call-To-Action

With National Voter Registration Day just behind us and a mere seven weeks until the 2020 Presidential Election, there couldn’t be a more appropriate time for a brewery to highlight the need for all U.S. citizens to get out and vote. 903 Brewing, based in Sherman, Texas, is in the process of brewing its second bipartisan call-to-action I Voted beer. The blueberry-raspberry-cherry Berliner-Style Weisse follows the raspberry-blueberry sweet Cream Ale that kick-started the project during the May Primaries. 

The I Voted beers sport equally red-white-blue packaging and are designed to encourage voters of all persuasions to make themselves heard on Election Day. With the original batch of I Voted having sold out swiftly, 903 is releasing an expanded run of its new Berliner-Style Weisse. The latest release will hit supermarket shelves in mid-October in time for early voting, and should be available for Election Night consumption.

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Jester King Newly Reimagined Outdoor Space is a Hit with Socially-Distanced Drinkers

Austin, Texas’ Jester King Brewery is many things to many people—it’s an esteemed farmhouse brewery, popular community gathering space, a bustling farm with pet goats and more. So, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced breweries across the nation to readjust their business models, the popular brewer was well-positioned to adjust in unique ways gives its business flexibility and available acres of Texas farmland. The result is Jester King Reimagined, a veritable Disney Land of Drinking that promises patrons several unique outdoor spaces to indulge in an array of Jester King’s tasty spontaneously-fermented and mixed culture beers, whilst also adhering to current CDC and social distancing protocols. Since opening May 29, the new outdoor drinking concept has been a hit with drinkers and outdoor enthusiasts alike. 

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5 Stones Brewery | Galaxy Shepherd

On a clear night in the Texas Hill Country, you can look up into the vast unknown and see more stars than you could count in a lifetime. If conditions are right, and you let your eyes adjust to the night skies, you can even see the colors of the Milky Way swirling through the sea of stars. That’s a spectacular sight to see, and 5 Stones Artisan Brewery Galaxy Shepherd Pale Ale is a stellar brew to pair with the occasion.

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Bold Republic Brewing | Jalapeño Cream Ale

Belton, TX is a small, quiet town about an hour north of Austin with some excellent food and beer offerings for visitors and residents. Until recently, though, it had no breweries. In 2018, that all changed. Bold Republic Brewing Company has been running strong and offering tasty craft beer ever since, even during these times of quarantines, lockdowns and social distancing.

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Hedgehog Brewing | Hop and a Skip

For many of us beer aficionados, spending an afternoon at a brewery, brewpub or tap house is a common treat. A time to relax with friends and family while tasting the newest beers that may or may not be distributed. For people like this, myself included, it’s easy to forget that many breweries rely solely upon distribution.

Taprooms can be a cash cow for breweries. These direct to consumer sales increase profit margins by cutting out third-party distributors and retailers. Some breweries start and end their business model with a high-profit taproom, while others wait to use the taproom profits to launch distribution. Other breweries like Hedgehog Brewing in Cedar Park, Texas, save the taproom for last.

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Brazos Valley Brewing Company | Slippin’ Into Darkness Russian Imperial Stout with Coconut

There is a myriad of possibilities when it comes to making use of coconut. You can put a lime in one and drink ‘em both up, or even bang two empty halves together whilst galloping the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join you in your court at Camelot. However, if you’re a brewery, you can do what the clever folks at Brazos Valley Brewing Company in Brenham, TX did and add coconut to an already delicious Russian Imperial Stout. Not since the Samoa Girl Scout cookie has coconut made something as delicious as Slippin’ Into Darkness with coconut.
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Vista Brewing | Desert Skies

When was the last time you drank something completely new? Was it the first time you braved a beer with “milkshake” on the can? The first time you confused an IPA for a glass of juice? A beer-infused with CBD and smelling like a college dorm room? Vista Brewing in Driftwood, Texas, has achieved the rare privilege of making a beer that has a unique spin on an established method. The first-ever beer aged in sotol barrels.

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The 2019 Best of Southwest Craft Brewing

Many of the beers produced in the Southwest region don’t make it too far out of the region for a variety of reasons; rarely do you see Texas craft beer anywhere but Texas. Regardless, some of the best craft beer scenes exist in this region, further evidenced by continual Great American Beer Festival wins. At the festival this year, New Mexico brought home seven medals, Arizona won eight and Texas brought home sixteen, including eight first time winners. The Southwest Regional team got together to decide on the best of the best — no easy task! So, here is The 2019 Best of Southwest Craft Brewing

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TUPPS Brewery | Day of the Dead

Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead celebrations are vibrant, unique events that inspired TUPPS Brewery out of McKinney, Texas to release a beer in honor of the holiday. Day of the Dead is a juicy, hazy Pale Ale dry-hopped with Galaxy, Citra and Mosaic, resulting in a citrus aroma and stone fruit flavors. At only 5.5% ABV, it’s compared to a crushable version of their wildly popular TUPPS DDH series. To capture the spirit of the holiday, all of the cans were designed by local artists. I caught up with Head Brewer Chris Lewis to talk more about the beer and what’s on the horizon for TUPPS.

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Independence Brewing Company | Stash IPA

Many of you know the secret joy that comes from having something special, almost sinful, tucked away in a hiding place so cleverly disguised that nobody will ever discover. Whether it’s a cache of nostalgic trinkets, a hoard of candy or even a small collection of something not so innocent, at some point we’ve all had a stash that we kept all to ourselves. Luckily for Texas, Independence Brewing Company is more than happy to share their Stash with the rest of us.

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