30. November 2009 by Brother Spargealot.

This weekend to celebrate my birthday we went to Freetail in San Antonio www.freetailbrewing.com/ for their anniversary party and saw brewer Jason Davis. One of the things we talked about was their porter recipe he had brought with him from the long defunct Waterloo Brewing Company. www.waterloobrew.com/beer.html I fondly remember the place and the role it and Billy Forrester played (along with others like Tim Rice) in helping legalize brewpubs in the state of Texas. The next day back in Austin we went to my favorite watering hole, the Draught House, for one more celebratory round. Later that evening my thoughts about Waterloo came full circle as Billy Forrester stopped by. Billy once owned several pubs including the Waterloo and the Dog and Duck and now owns Billy’s on Burnet www.billysonburnet.com/. As a strange side note, I first met Billy at the Dog and Duck roughly ten years ago when I went in the men’s room and found him changing a toilet roll holder. Billy is a great source for anyone interested in the history of Texas legislation pertaining to brewpubs having spearheaded H.B. 1425 in 1993, although he is quick to remind you that there were many others that put a lot of time and effort into passing the law. So next time you stop in your favorite brewpub be sure to make a toast to Waterloo and Billy Forrester, it’s because of early efforts made by pioneers like him that you can enjoy that pint in front of you.

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30. November 2009 by Brother Spargealot.

This last weekend Freetail Brewing in San Antonio celebrated their second year in business with a two day celebration that included tapping 21 of their own beers and hosting a live band both Friday and Saturday night. In addition they sold bottles of their anniversary ale, their imperial IPA and their imperial stout (which has a growing following among traders of collectible beer). At 11.4% their newest imperial stout will be one to age. Brewer Jason Davis is doing a great job and seemes to have mastered the subtleties of using their reconditioned 15 bbl Pub system. The quality and complexity of the beers produced have improved markedly according to many onlookers.  What’s next for Freetail? Owner Scott Metzger has his sights on trying to change Texas law to allow brewpubs the ability to bottle and sell either direct or through distributors and make the transition to microbrewery as brewpubs like Oskar Blues in Colorado have done. It’s bound to be an uphill battle given arcane Texas laws and the might of the big beer lobby.

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17. November 2009 by Brother Spargealot.

Last weekend Blackstar unveiled their new location near Justin and technically on the corner of Airline and Lamar in North Austin. The place is very large and they expected to open in roughly six months. They are looking at buying a new 7 bbl Pub system but as yet I do not think it has been ordered. www.blackstar.coop. In other news Jester King brewery confirmed they have finished their financing goals and have secured a location for their brewery which they hope will be running by the end of next year. See www.jesterkingbrewery.com for more information.

Posted in Central Texas Beer Happenings | 2 Comments »

12. November 2009 by Brother Spargealot.

A recent trip to Mexico City brought home how lucky we are north of the border to have a wide assortment of locally produced craft brews. While only spending a few days in Mexico City it became apparent that finding good beer was going to be difficult. The best concierge at three upscale hotels I stopped in had no idea whether the city had any brewpubs and browsing the interest appeared to provide no concrete evidence of whether any remained. One confirmed that a brewpub near my current location had operated under the name Estrella (Star) but had closed in the not too distant past.  Without significant time on my hands I next searched for a nearby pub that carried more varied examples of special beer. As a refresher Mexico has two main brewing companies, Cuauhtemoc which makes such brands as Carta Blanca and Bohemia, and Modelo which makes Modelo Clara and Negra among others. I could find no ales made by any of the majors, although there was variation among the lagers. Sadly, this is what happens when companies like Casta sell out to majors incapable or unwilling to keep standards high (as was the case with Celis in the US as well). What was encouranging was the number of dark or amber lagers now being produced. Bohemia now comes in a dark version as does Indio, another major brand. A couple of additional Vienna Ambers to seek out include Victoria (fairly pervasive everywhere) and Leon (found mainly in central Mexico). A variation of Sol called Sol Brava at 6.5% was also a welcome sight. In my opinion one of the best local seasonal Christmas beers put out by Cuauhtemoc is Noche Buena (Good Night). I found some in a local convenience store in the Polanco area but went to four or five recommended bars before finding it at a place called Celtics Pub on Maseryk Street. The bottle I had was clean and malty, although not as flavorful as a true German bock as might be expected. It was certainly welcome.

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12. November 2009 by Brother Spargealot.

Although I haven’t been there and reviews have been mixed among those that have. The Eola School Restaurant and Brewpub is up for auction on Ebay with a price tag of $160,000. Everything seems to be included - http://cgi.ebay.com/Eola-Restaurant-and-Brewery_W0QQitemZ250496150283QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCommercial?hash=item3a52bbeb0b

2/2/2010 Update - The ad is gone and it appears as though the venture continues for now.

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7. November 2009 by Brother Spargealot.

Austin Texas appears ready to become the sudsy Beervana of the 1980’s once again in the not too distant future. This week upon stopping in at The Parlor, a bar and pizzeria on Guadalupe in the Hyde Park neighborhood of North Austin I learned the owners will begin building out a space next door on December 1st which will become the location for new brewing operations that they hope will begin by March or April with the aid of a brewer from Real Ale. The Parlor has another location and the person I talked to mentioned selling at that site as well, but I didn’t have time to talk about how they planned to get around current TABC regulations that prohibit shipping between restaurants. http://www.theparloraustin.com/ Seperately the Blackstar Co-op has unveiled a new site for their brewpub also due to start up in early 2010 as well. It will be located on North Lamar and St. Johns at a future light rail stop. http://www.blackstar.coop/. At least one additional existing brewpub is also seriously looking at a second location not too far away from its current location. The company in question has a full system gathering dust that it is ready to put into service once it finds the ideal spot.  A number of other places have also discussed adding brewing to existing operations, among them is Whip In, a beer store that added taps and food service a year ago. As a reminder Austin currently has four brewpubs, The Draught House, North by Northwest, Uncle Billy’s and Lovejoys.

In related news both Jester King Brewery, http://jesterkingbrewery.com/ as well as Circle Brewing plan to startup their local micros in 2010 (the latter ordered a 30 bbl system due for delivery in February). At the moment there are four microbreweries in Austin and the Austin Area - Live Oak, Independence, 512 and Real Ale.

Seems to me the time is right for not only a Texas Craft Brewers Guild (in the works) but also an Austin craft beer week in 2010.

FYI as an addemdum to a previous post about the Draughthouse 41st Anniversary, Josh just sent out word they will have the following in addition to the previously announced beers on tap November 7th -

Bear Republlic Racer 5 (cask)

New Belgium Eric’s Ale 
New Belgium Transatlantique Kreik
(512) Bruin, which will be randallized with Centennial hops
Avery Duguna IPA 
Bear Republic Mach 10

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