In This Edition: Breweries are opening, expanding, and making some crazy decisions.
Published 06/09/2025
Edited 06/12/2025: Handsome Dan’s actually did release their beer last week! Whoops. Updated below.
The Debuts: Witcher Brewing Company, Black Chapel Brewing, and Highway 71 Brewing Opening Soon
If you’ve read our 9 New Breweries in Central Texas earlier this year (and if you haven’t, go read it!), here’s a small update. Handsome Dan’s, after selling sandwiches for a few months, has finally released their first two beers and is now officially a brewery. Of the four breweries on the “not yet open” list, two are now open – Marion opened about a week after the article posted, and Cottonwood Creek opened last month. Bronson & Ryder is coming along.
Here’s our update for the future – Witcher Brewing Company will be opening very soon, possibly as soon as this weekend. We hope this is true as it’s perfectly timed for Fredericksburg Beer Festival, which I know all of you will be attending.
Following the above article, we’ve learned about two more breweries that are well on their way. Highway 71 Brewing, just down the road from Frontyard Brewing, is scheduled to open next month with food and pickleball. Black Chapel Brewing Co. makes it easier to give you the news, as they’ve shared an opening date of June 28th. I’ll admit that we’re not really excited to drive out past Johnson City twice this month, but you better believe we’re gonna do it. See you there!
(Pssst… might be another one coming next year.)
The Return: Beerburg Brewing is Back… Kind Of
Can you believe it’s been a year and a half since Beerburg Brewing closed? Prior owner Trevor Nearburg and his family have packed up and moved to Oregon, but in doing so he’s handed the Dripping Springs business over to his twin brother, Ross, and former owners Gino and Zach. The team reopened the spot as an event venue in September 2024, but quickly found that they missed the old public brewery days, and started holding open house seasonally. Well, that’s already expanded to twice a month, and who knows how long until it’s open weekly or even more frequently again. Their instagram has made it clear that this is the direction they’re heading, especially with the release of a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout and expanded food menu this past weekend. They’d still love to host your event if you’ve got one coming up, but feel free to keep an eye out for their next open house and revisit a place you thought was done for.
The Expansions: Red Horn Brewing Co. and Southern Roots Brewing Co. Both Open Third Location
In the above 9 New Breweries article, we mentioned that Red Horn was expanding to Georgetown – and as of last week, this new spot on the square is open. If you’re excited to make the drive up north, I’m going to encourage you to continue even further north after stopping in Georgetown, because it turns out that Waco based Southern Roots Brewing Co. has opened a new location in Killeen. Now, yes, at that point you might as well just go to Waco instead, but don’t forget about one of our favorite hidden gems in Phantom Warrior, the new Nelson Brew Works, and the multiple options in Temple. Though, there’s also five breweries in Waco and another brand new one in McGregor. Wow this beer drinking thing really is a lot of hard work, huh.
The Spread: Meanwhile Brewing, Live Oak Brewing, and Starbase Brewing Expand Distribution Footprint
Meanwhile Brewing has expanded their distribution to San Antonio, as announced via press release. They’ve hired industry veteran Vanessa Garza as San Antonio Sales Representative, who has already worked to bring their beer to 23 bars and restaurants in the City, including Flying Saucer, The Hoppy Monk, and Pullman Market. (CultureMap, Axios)
Live Oak Brewing has announced that they are ending self distribution and have signed on with several distributors: Capital Reyes in Austin, Faust and Houston Distributing Companies in Houston, Jack Hilliard in Temple/Bryan, and Silver Eagle Beverages in San Antonio (a slightly ironic twist as Vanessa Garza, mentioned above, was formally a brand manager there). Guidance was provided by Lone Star Beverage Brands. (PR Newswire)
Finally, Starbase Brewing has signed with Carroll Distributing to rocket their beers over to Florida, their first out of state agreement. Currently they are available at Publix stores and various bars and restaurants only in Brevard County, home of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, in keeping with their space theming. (Starbase Brewery)
The Diversification: Crowded Barrel Whiskey Co. Adds Beer Program
I haven’t been to a lot of distilleries, but Crowded Barrel was one of the few that I’ve heard was a must visit, about 2 years ago. It’s located on site at the Wizard Academy.
Wait, what?
So, the Wizard Academy is a Hill Country business school, featuring a tall, thin, irregular building that honestly resembles a chunk of Hogwarts. You can see it from beyond the fence if you take a walk behind the distillery through the garden path.
Back to the distillery itself, they’ve actually had their own expansion from a small taproom that seated about ten, to a much larger one on the same property (dubbed Fang and Feather). Crowded Barrel is crowdsourced, with their supporters also getting the fun name and website of Whiskey Tribe, and they vote on every decision the distillery makes. I’m not sure if “we should make beer!” was voted on, but we thank whoever made this decision because they’ve got two brews on tap now. So yeah, if you read all of this and you’re still not curious about becoming a Whiskey Tribe Knight and visiting Fang and Feather to try Crowded Barrel’s offerings outside the Wizard Academy in the Texas Hill Country, then you might not have a beating heart.
The Buzz: Bee Immortal Mead, Valkyrie’s Kiss Mead, and Packsaddle Nectars Bring Amazing New Mead to Texas
We all have different tastes when it comes to potent potables. Some of us like cider, some like wine, or liquor, maybe beer. Here’s a piece on mead.
If you’re new to mead, it’s honey wine. People like to go all Viking when talking about it, but in the modern day it’s generally just a sweeter dessert beverage (though some can be dry too). It’s pretty easy to list all the meaderies in Central Texas: Dancing Bee, Rohan, Texas Mead Works, Saint Michael’s, Meridian Hive, and Thorin’s. None of those six listed have a taproom that is dedicated solely to mead – four of them are also wineries, and the last two have no taproom at all.
Well I’ve got some good news, mead fans. There are now three brand new meaderies around and all three of them have dedicated mead taprooms, albeit with limited hours due to mead’s unfortunate (and temporary?) lack of popularity. You can help. The most prominent one is Bee Immortal Mead which is right off of i35 in Round Rock, launched by meadmaker Harper Luedecke and managed by his wife Sheila. Of all the far away things written about in this article today, this one is the most convenient, just stop on by any Sunday during their public hours of 1pm to 5pm for some really delicious hibiscus, triple berry, and orange blossom flavored meads. They just released an oak aged version of the triple berry so I’ve gotta get back there.
Second, Valkyrie’s Kiss Mead opened just west of New Braunfels… yes, we’re back to driving again. Founded by veteran Isaac Pruna with mentorship from Elgin Meadery’s Micah Erwin, this one is so limited that you must make a reservation on their website to visit. Spots are available 6pm – 8pm on Thursday & Friday, or 1pm – 6pm on Sunday. They’ve actually been open for a year, having their anniversary party just this past weekend, so go check them out if you’re in the area. They’ve got cherry, blueberry, lemon, and apple cinnamon meads!
Finally, we have Packsaddle Nectars. The brand was launched by Fain’s Honey, who have been serving sweet bee juice to the community since 1962 at their farmhouse in Buchanan Dam, just a few minutes away from the new Buchanan Brewing Company. Mid-2024, they decided it was time to move into the beverage biz and bought retail space in downtown Marble Falls, where they’ve been selling all of their products including the new mead brand, as well as a distilled honey beverage known as Somel. The location is open with fairly standard hours as it’s also a honey shop – but they are almost finished building the bar. And pretty soon, instead of just stopping in for a quick tasting, the Marble Falls community will be hanging out here all night.
Bonus 7th Thing
The Diversification (But More Extreme): Zilker Brewing Launches Cocktail Program, Oasis Texas Brewing Launches Tiki Bar, and Oddwood Brewing Launches… an Arcade
Phew, that was a lot of news. So here’s some quick hits:
- To cater to the stumbling bachelorettes who don’t like beer, Zilker Brewing now sells cocktails.
- To cater to the sightseers who are too stuffed from their overpriced burgers to walk up two flights of stairs, Oasis Texas Brewing Co. now has a tiki bar on the second floor named Sometimes Island. An easier solution would have been to fix that elevator, but what do I know.
- To cater to weird nerds like you and me, Oddwood Brewing is opening The Oddcade in the storefront directly across the parking lot. I peeked inside and it’s already decked out in Pikachus.
