This week in, The Brew! We have a lot of news to report from across Texas. We take a look at the new and improved packaging for a well-known central Texas brewery, we take a look at the dirty side of business and what a local brewery is fighting for, we get word about the return of a great craft beer festival, we make right on an article written on another website and finally we give you the heads up about a very special event for a really great cause. Check it out now in, The Brew!
Blanco – Monday night in Austin, Real Ale Brewing Company threw a party for their friends in the bar and restaurant industry to unveil their new look as well as show off their new website. They have ditched their old packaging and even updated their logo to what can be best described as a “hop sprocket”. The new logo includes three components that are meaningful to the company: the hop, the sprocket, and the characters “TX 96”. The hop pays homage to the previous logo, which consisted of the company name and a simple hop graphic for most of the brewery’s history. The sprocket is a nod to the original tap handle and label of its bestselling year-round beer, Firemans #4. The inclusion of “TX 96” around the new hop/sprocket is a reference to the company’s roots and where they come from. “We often hear people say they’ve been drinking one of our beers for years and didn’t realize it was Real Ale. We decided it was time to make it a little easier on our customers to see and try the beers we offer, as well as understand who it’s coming from,” said Real Ale’s owner and operator, Brad Farbstein. Personally I am a big fan of the new look and I think the new branding will finally bring the look of their beers together. Since 1996 Real Ale has been brewing some really great beers but over the last couple of years they started to evolve their brewing and include new beers to their lineup. With this change we saw the birth of beers like Devil’s Backbone, the hopped up Four Squared, The Sword Iron Swan Ale and the beloved Blakkr which was a collaboration brew between Real Ale, Three Floyds and Surly. Along with the new packaging, they have tweaked a couple of their beers with more hops like their Full Moon Rye Pale Ale, which they have decided to change up and the Full Moon is now a Rye IPA. I think the new look will give new life the Real Ale and I am excited to see what else they have in store in the future.
Real Ale Brewing Co. from Real Ale Brewing Co. on Vimeo.
Austin – Oasis Texas Brewing Company is still a rather new brewery which launched last summer and they came out of the gate winning a gold medal at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival for their London Homesick Ale. The brewery launched into headlines over the weekend with reports that they are being sued by the well-known and respected New Belgium Brewing Company from Fort Collins, Colorado. Unfortunately, New Belgium came to the table against a Texas brewery and many Texas beer fans are standing behind Oasis Brewing and calling foul against the claims from the Colorado brewers. Oasis Brewing has been very vocal on the allegations about the lawsuit and they are refusing to go out quietly. New Belgium is claiming that they were first to use the name “Slow Ride” for their Slow Ride Session IPA when they filed their trademark on May 23, 2014 but Oasis Brewing received TABC approval for Slow Ride Pale Ale on April 29, 2014. According to Oasis Brewing’s website, “After (New Belgium) threatening to come into our state and sell their beer by the same name, we (Oasis Brewing) sent them a “cease and desist” letter to merely protect what rights we had established. They flew down their legal team. They offered a joint use agreement which we politely declined by saying the sheer size and volume of their distribution would overwhelm our product. They laughed and agreed that they didn’t see how that would work either. Then they made us an offer to buy the name for an unrealistic and undervalued price. We politely declined, they left. No further discussions, and no further negotiations ever took place. Then they sued us”. For now we will have to wait for this all to unfold but many are vowing their allegiance to Oasis by taking to social media to protest and banning the purchase of New Belgium products. We can only hope this ends without a big hit to Oasis and they can get back to making award winning beer.
Fort Worth – Just a couple weeks after the Untapped Fest announced that they were adding Austin and San Antonio to their list of locations for this year’s festival, they announced this week their return to Fort Worth. For the third time, the festival will return to the Panther Island Pavilion on May 9th. The Fort Worth lineup will feature nine performers including hip-hop legends De La Soul plus Big Data, The Sword and more. They plan to have over 250 beers from more than 70 breweries and if you have ever been to an Untapped Festival in the past then you know that they do a great job of bringing out a wide selection of well-respected breweries with top notch beers. Presale tickets started this week and next Tuesday they will release tickets for sell to the public. For tickets and more information, please visit http://untapped-festival.com/ftw/.
New Beer – Last week and article was posted on Thrillist Austin that I wrote for them about “7 New Austin Breweries to watch in 2015”. Unfortunately, after submission I realized that I left two breweries off the list and in an attempt to make it up I would like to mention Bull Creek Brewing Co, Ironsight Brewers and Red Horn Coffee House & Brewing Co.
Bull Creek Brewing Co. (Liberty Hill) – Bull Creek is a rather interesting story, while they have yet to open they have a brewery that is completely built out. On their Facebook, they went silent after June and they popped back up in January. They have still not release any information on when they will be opening, word is they are looking to open in March. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Ironsight Brewers (Cedar Park) – Ironsight Brewers was founded by self-claimed hopheads Robert Chaney and Grady Reynolds. The brewery is just a few weeks away from going into production and they have plans to be open by April. On their Facebook page, they have released a rendering of their cans which has a sleek bullseye look. Ironsight will release four core beers which include Amber Ale, Cream Ale, Oatmeal Pale Ale and a White IPA. They not only want to focus on making great beer but they want to include local music at the brewery to make their taproom a fun place to hang out.
Red Horn Coffee House & Brewing Co. (Cedar Park) – Red Horn Coffee House & Brewing Company will bring together craft beer with house roasted coffees. Founded by Jon Lamb and Chad Misner who brought on Zack Gardner as their headbrewer and Jared Hill as the coffee specialist to handle the caffeinated side of business. While the brewery is built and ready to go, they have no released word on when they will officially be open. Until we break the new, stay tuned to their Facebook page. The breweries mentioned in the article just opened or are expecting to be open by spring. There are other breweries to be on the watch out for like 4th Tap BrewingCo-Op and Orf Brewing which we will discuss as their come closer to opening so stay tuned.
Austin – Cancer is something that is very near and dear to my heart. Three days after the Texas Beer Guide launch party back in 2012, I was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Luckily, doctors found my cancer early and they were able to surgically remove the tumor. While I got off easy, it still took a lot out of me and put me out of service for almost six months. Now, I am going on two years cancer free and I am blessed to be helping others. That is why Texas Beer Guide is teaming up with Fatback Boucherie and Catering for a special event with Rogness Brewing on March 8th. Fatback Boucheries owner Mike Rivera is creating a special menu for the event to raise funds for his girlfriend who is currently fighting liver cancer. There will be delicious food and Rogness will be selling pints of their great beers. Please mark your calendars for this very special event and spread the word. We will have all the details of the event in next week’s edition of The Brew!
As always, if you’re looking to get out this weekend we suggest you visit a local brewery, don’t forget that we have a list of all of the breweries near you so head over to the Breweries and Brewpubs page and go support your local brewers.
