My son and I are working on opening a Brewpub here in Arlington, TX. We've got a pretty thorough idea of what we want it to look like, but we're going to tour some others for four days next week for additional ideas. Plus it's a good reason for a ride now that our weather is reasonable.
We've mapped out a route that will allow us to stop and visit at least 10 Brewpubs/Craft Breweries. I'll try to document the trip with lots of pics and will post them when we return.
Looking forward to the ride and tasting some good beers.
Looking forward to the report. It wasn't that many years ago that brewpubs, tap rooms and craft beers were almost non-existent in Texas and the rest of the South. Dry counties outnumbered counties where you could at least buy a 6- pack of Miller Genuine Draft. Nice to hear of the changes.
Something tells me this is going to be a great trip!
Great idea...
I hope so!!
Originally Posted by mtgriz
Looking forward to the report. It wasn't that many years ago that brewpubs, tap rooms and craft beers were almost non-existent in Texas and the rest of the South. Dry counties outnumbered counties where you could at least buy a 6- pack of Miller Genuine Draft. Nice to hear of the changes.
Yes, I remember when you might have to drive two or three counties over just to buy a six pack. Now the majority of counties are "wet". And you're right, there was no such thing as small craft breweries or brewpubs.
Well, we made our beer tour successfully. We visited 10 breweries and one vodka distillery for good measure.
Day 1, Home (Arlington, TX to Fredericksburg, TX) 252 Miles
I left my home about 7:45 AM with a temperature of 40 degrees. This was the coolest day as a warm front was headed our way. It warmed up to around 65 later in the afternoon.
Here's my bike ready to go.
It was a chilly ride over to Mark's house where he had his bike ready.
Totally unrelated to motorcycling or beer, here's the storage building Mark and I built in hes back yard.
Our first brewery was Double Horn Brewery in Marble Falls where we had lunch and a beer sample.
It was a relatively small brewery, here are their fermenters.
Part of their decor are empty malt sacks stapled to the ceiling.
Our next stop was a little of 20 miles down the road in Johnson City, birthplace of Lyndon Johnson. It's called Pecan Street Brewery.
They have a nice facility with a large restaurant.
Finally in Fredericksburg, the largest brewery for the day. Fredericksburg is a very popular tourist destination so they sell a lot of beer here. They don't sell or distribute their beer outside but manage to sell in house over 7,000 barrels during the year.
Here's the front of their building which is also a 'Bed and Brew' with 8 rooms on the second floor.
We walked to the brewery from our motel, so we didn't have to worry too much about being over served. So we had a few and also ate dinner there, a good German sausage plate. These are the bright tanks for serving behind the bar with the Mash Tun and Brew Kettle, the copper ones, further down.
I don't remember very much about the rest of that night so I'll post the second day shortly.
Thanks, guys. I appreciate the comments. This was a great trip and I already want to go back. There were a couple where I would like to spend more time. I'll try to add Day 2 this afternoon. But Day 3 was the best.
03-20-2015 | 09:25 AM
Texas Hill Country Beer Tour
