Cat collectors rejoice: the cult favorite mobile game Neko Atsume has finally made its way to Android—and soon, to iOS—in English under the name Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector. (more…)

Ben Sabin didn’t grow up with aspirations of working in a brewery, but after years pulling shifts in the service industry and homebrewing on his apartment balcony led to a volunteer position, which eventually turned into a job at Thirsty Planet, a brewery was exactly where he found himself.

With peddling beers like Thirsty Goat and Buckethead around Austin came a passion for top quality customer service, and insight into the kinds of hurdles new breweries face.

Now, those lessons are serving Sabin well as he starts a brewery of his own–Friends & Allies.

Taking its name from the Hasinais meaning for the word Tejas (aka Texas) which was a friend or ally, the brewery aims to be deeply rooted in the Austin, TX community. Beers in the works include an Austin spin on a very formidable West Coast IPA, a Session IPA, a Belgian Table Beer, and a host of rotating seasonals.

Sabin will head up the sales, marketing and distribution efforts for Friends & Allies. His co-founder in the project is Devon Ponds, a McCombs Business School graduate who got his start in the beer industry working at South Austin Brewing in 2011, before moving to California to put in two years as Financial Manager for Port Brewing Company/ The Lost Abbey.

“He’s not just a CPA,” Sabin said, explaining the know-how that Ponds brings to the table. “He’s a CPA who has worked in a really unique industry. And when you’re in this unique industry, you realize you need to raise a lot of money to purchase all the equipment, and even when you’re doing well and you’re at max capacity, you need even more money to buy more equipment to even get you to the next stage to be successful.”

Joining Sabin and Ponds is Head Brewer Nathan Crane, who is himself a Port Brewing/Lost Abbey alum. And while Crane won’t have a brewhouse of his own to work out of for a while–Friends & Allies brewery and taproom off Springdale and Airport blvd won’t be up and running until at least Spring of 2016–the team has made a unique arrangement with another upcoming Austin brewery that will allow them to brew their beer earlier, and have it in the market by as soon as December of this year.

“We’ve worked out a great agreement with a new co-op brewery called 4th Tap in which we’ve helped them purchase their future capacity, basically tanks that they will inherit, and [in exchange] we get to use those tanks and use their space,” Sabin explained. “Without that we’d just be waiting for construction [on Friends & Allies’ own facility] and waiting for the city to approve stuff…We didn’t want to wait another year. We’re all happy working [for other breweries], but we’d be a lot happier working for ourselves.”

Initially, the beer Friends & Allies brews at 4th Tap will be draught only and self-distributed. Once the Friends & Allies brewery (three vessel, 30 bbl Marks system–for anyone curious) is open, they plan to keg and can the beer, but they will continue self-distributing and keeping the beer within the Austin area in an effort to follow a very steady and intentional growth plan.

“We want to control our own destiny at the very early stages…” Sabin said. “Beer is something that’s fresh, the quicker and closer it can be consumed, the better it can be monitored and faster it can be delivered.”

There’s nowhere people will be able to try the beer closer or fresher than the Friends & Allies taproom, which is expected to open around the same time as the brewery next Spring. With neighbors like Austin Eastciders and the upcoming Austin Bouldering Project, folks will have plenty of reasons to stop by for a pint on the weekends while they’re in the area.

“There’s nothing like Austin, literally nothing like Austin,” Sabin said. “Austin has a unique character to it, and I think the East Side has even more of that.”

One thing the East Side is starting to have more of is breweries. Just five years ago, Live Oak Brewing Company was the only brewery you’d find in Central East Austin. Now, other great operations like Hops & Grain, Zilker Brewing Company and Blue Owl Brewing call it home as well. As the number of breweries throughout all of Austin grows, so does the education of consumers, and a collective feeling among members of the brewing industry that quality across the board counts.

“There’s a lot of people who really care about the flavor and the product and are really taking good care of it,” Sabin said. “The more we can help teach people about craft beer and how it’s made, the better we can do for the whole industry.”

And the industry in Austin is growing fast, leading some consumers and brewers alike to wonder what it takes for a new brewery to stand out from the growing crowd.

For Sabin, the recipe to success is twofold.

“It’s really just providing the best customer service and the best beer,” He said. “If you’ve got alright beer and the best customer service, you can still be alright, but I want to have the best beer and the best customer service.”

You call follow along with the Friends & Allies progress on their Facebook Page. Look out for their beer on draught around Austin this December.

-Caroline

Chris Hamje (left) and John Stecker (right) are two of the Co-founders of 4th Tap.

Over the last several months, a nondescript warehouse space on Metric Blvd has been undergoing a quiet transformation.

From the outside, the building fits comfortably within the beige aesthetic of the North Austin industrial area that surrounds it. Yet, on the inside, a passionate team is prepping shiny new tanks to hold beer, and putting finishing touches on a stylish taproom to serve it from.

To the outsider, 4th Tap Brewing Co-Op’s location may seem a peripheral choice, but anyone who has spent a bit of time in a taproom in this town knows that with Austin Beerworks, Circle Brewing and Adelbert’s Brewery all sitting within two miles, the North Burnet area between 183 and Braker has become one of the city’s best neighborhoods for a brewery crawl.

The right building in the right location was important to the team behind 4th Tap, so much so that they spent eight months looking for a spot. The building they now call home checked a lot of boxes, including three separate AC units for what’s now a totally renovated and comfortable 10 tap tasting room.

Behind the glass doors which separate this tasting room from the rest of the facility, a 30 bbl system will work to crank out beer to serve in-house, as well as enough to can (with the help of Armadillo Mobile Canning) and keg for distribution around Austin.

While 4th Tap will soon be joining the ranks of homegrown Austin breweries, they are treading new territory as the city’s first worker-owner brewing cooperative, which will operate differently from Austin’s other co-op brewery, Black Star, which is member-owned.

“Our cooperative is actually 100 percent owned by the people working here,” Co-Founder John Stecker said, during a recent interview with Bitch Beer. “The happier the people are working here, the more sense of ownership they’ll have, and hopefully the better the beer will be. Those things all kind of go into our philosophy.”

Stecker (who will head up the business side of the brewery), co-founded the project alongside Black Star alum Chris Hamje (who will head up the brewing side) and Cellar Worker Mike Olfers. Future employees will work at the brewery in an apprentice fashion for one year before having the opportunity to transition into a worker-owner role.

While everyone will have their own positions and specializations, it’s important to the 4th Tap team to embody the common co-op principle of “One Worker, One Vote,” and take a democratic, collaborative approach to running the brewery.

“I think the way we’re designing this co-op, it’s going to foster that collaborative spirit,” Hamje said. “Everybody is so important to the final product, from a new packager to the head brewer.”

Along with a revolving door of seasonal releases, 4th Tap has plans for three flagship beers–a grapefruit IPA using Texas-grown Ruby Reds, a tamarind wheat ale with a light, tart finish, and Sun Eater Gruit, which has previously enjoyed a guest tap slot at Black Star Co-op. The beer uses all Texas-grown ingredients, like sorghum, lemon peel and rosemary, in place of barley and hops.

With brewing operations starting any day now, 4th Tap plans to be open by the end of September. An official grand opening party is on deck for October. Check out the photo gallery below for a look at the brewery’s near complete taproom which has plans to be open seven days a week, serving coffee in the AM and beer on into the evenings.

-Caroline

Photo Gallery: 4th Tap Tasting Room

If you attended last year’s two year anniversary party for Rainey St. staple Banger’s then you already know the Sausage House & Beer Garden is capable of curating a list of special tappings that’s as sizable as it is stellar.

This year, for Banger’s third anniversary, they’re continuing in that tradition with 100+ special tappings, a berliner weisse bar (!!!), rare kegs, seasonal one-offs, bottle releases & more. The party, which will also feature live music and Banger’s signature skewered animal roasts (not for the faint of heart), is scheduled for August 1st.

Some highlights (on a list that is very hard to whittle down to just the highlights) include Bourbon County Stout four ways, Austin Beerworks Templar Nights (Chocolate Milk Stout aged in whisky & wine barrels with sour cherries added) and just about every Avery, Founders, Prairie and Real Ale Mysterium Verum special release you could ever ask for.

Check out the flyer below for the complete list of what Banger’s is calling “one of the best beer lineups in Texas’ history.”

-Caroline

Because one flyer struggles to legibly contain all of that goodness, here’s that list broken down for you:

Beer Advocate Top 250 Beers in The World (as of 6/30/15)
Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout (2014)
Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Vanilla Rye (2014)
Founder KBS
Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout (2014)
Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Barleywine (2014)
Firestone Walker Sucaba
Brasserie de Rochefort Rochefort 10
Prairie Artisan Ales Pirate Bomb! (2014)
Deschutes Abyss (2014)
Prairie Artisan Ales Bomb! (2014)
St. Bernardus ABT 12
Firestone Walker Stickee Monkee (2014)
Lone Pint Yellow Rose
Avery Uncle Jacob’s Stout
Ballast Point Sculpin
Weihenstaphaner Hefeweissbier
Ballast Point Victory at Sea (2014)
North Coast Barrel Aged Old Stock
Oskar Blues Ten FIDY (2014)
Live Oak Hefeweizen
Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin
Founders Backwoods Bastard (2014)

Berliner Weisse Bar
Austin Beerworks Einhorn
Independence Red Bud
Saint Arnold Boiler Room

Bottles from the Cellar
Boulevard Love Child No. 4
Boulevard BBQ
Jester King El Cedro Batch #4
Prairie Artisan Ales OK-Si

Rare Kegs From the Cellar
512 Double Pecan Porter
512 Wild Bear
Austin Beerworks Sputnik
Austin Beerworks Templar Nights
Avery Rumpkin
Avery Samael’s Ale
Avery The Beast
Avery Pump(ky)n
Avery Liliko’i Kepolo
Avery Raspberry Sour
BFM Square Root 225
Birrificio del Ducato Chrysopolis
Boulevard Saison-Brett (2014)
Boulevard Saison-Brett (2015)
Clown Shoes Extremely Angry Beast
Deschutes Anniversary Black Butte (2012)
Deschutes Anniversary Black Butte (2013)
Deschutes Anniversary Black Butte (2014)
Dogfish Head Bitches Brew
Dogfish Head 120 Minute
Elevation Oil Man
Epic Wild Brainless on Peaches
Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin
Founders Blushing Monk
Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale
Founders Rübæus (NITRO)
Goose Island Lolita
Goose Island Madame Rose
Goose Island Halia
Green Flash Silva Stout
Green Flash 12th Anniversary
Jester King Mad Meg (Gravity Cask)
Jester King Black Metal (Cask)
Jolly Pumpkin Baudelaire iO Saison
Jolly Pumpkin Fuego Del Otono
Karbach F.U.N. 007 Bourbon Barrel Aged Hellfighter
Mikkeller Black Hole
Mikkeller Spontancassis
New Belgium Le Terroir
New Belgium La Folie
North Coast Barrel Aged Old Rasputin
Odell Brombeere Blackberry Gose
Odell Barrel Thief
Odell/Banger’s You Can’t Hazel the Hoff
Oskar Blues Sherry Barrel Aged Old Chub
Oskar Blues Sherry Barrel Aged Mama’s Little Yellow Pils
Oskar Blues Sherry Barrel Aged G’Knight
Prairie Artisan Ales Christmas Bomb!
Prairie Artisan Ales Wine Barrel Noir
Prairie Artisan Ales Brimstone Bomb!
Prairie Artisan Ales Cherry Funk
Prairie Artisan Ales Funky Gold Amarillo
Prairie Artisan Ales Gold
Prairie Artisan Ales/Evil Twin Bible Belt
Real Ale Mysterium Verum Imperium
Real Ale Mysterium Verum The Kraken
Real Ale Mysterium Verum Scots Gone Wild (2013)
Real Ale Mysterium Verum Scots Gone Wild (2014)
Real Ale Mysterium Verum Volume XVII
Real Ale Mysterium Verum Highlander
Real Ale Mysterium Verum Empire
Real Ale Mysterium Verum Devil’s Share
Real Ale Mysterium Verum Tenebrae Aeterna
Real Ale Mysterium Verum Morgul
Revolver Sangre y Miel
Saint Arnold Pumpkinator
Saint Arnold Bishop Barrel #9
Stone Farking Wheaton wOOtstout
Stone Cali-Belgique Red Wine Barrel Aged
Victory Wild Devil
Victory Sour Monkey
More Seasonal One Offs from: Jester King, 5 Stones Artisan Brewery, and Lone Pint

Banger’s Anniversary Party Facebook Event Page RSVP HERE.

Well fellow Texans and Texas lovers, the dog days of summer are truly upon us. Most legislators except a few strays have left Austin, and as usual I’m spending more time at the Western Headquarters in the Big Bend region of Texas, AKA God’s Country.

“They” say that nothing ever happens in Big Bend. And “They” are wrong. Big doings out there in the last few days.

How big? I’m glad you asked. We just had the crime of the century, and the liberal lamestream media has been ignoring it. Wake up, sheeple.

According to the weekly Brewster County Sheriff’s blotter, which is the finest piece of writing I look forward to reading regularly, a gentleman in Alpine called the sheriff to complain that somebody had stolen 11 of his rattlesnakes.

I had questions.

First, what does a dude do with a bunch of rattlesnakes (besides “whatever the hell they want to do?”)

Second, if he was complaining that 11 of his rattlesnakes got absconded with, that would be 11 OUT OF EXACTLY HOW MANY TOTAL RATTLESNAKES, FOR GOD SAKES?

But no matter – the crack team down at the sheriff’s office was immediately ON IT, as usual. I just read today that they caught the guy.

They arrested Carl Peterson for having swiped the snakes. Peterson is apparently 57 years old, which is approximately 56 more years than most people would need to know better. He was arrested for burglary and…wait…making a terroristic threat. Which brings up another question, come to think of it.

There’s another guy who lives in Big Bend who seems to be everywhere at once, and who almost everybody experiences in a fairly drastic way, and his name is Karma. Apparently that Karma dude has already visited Mr. Peterson, because one of the pieces of evidence in this theft had already bitten the ever-living crap out of the perp by the time the sheriff got involved.

This has been one of my favorite crimes in the Greater Big Bend Metropolitan Area ever since The Infamous Mishap With The Lajitas Mayor years ago.

The aforementioned Mayor of Lajitas is Clay Henry, and he’s actually a goat. This probably would make more sense to us if we’d been there the drunken night they made that decision. But he’s been the mayor for years, and he’s the most scandal-free public official in that end of the state.

A few years ago, it seems that some tourists turned their beer intake valve up too high, and by the end of the evening they decided it would be an absolutely fantastic bang-up idea to castrate the Mayor, which they proceeded to do. Maybe they figured he wasn’t using ’em anyway, since there was no Mrs. Clay Henry in the mayor’s pen with him.

The perps were apprehended by the authorities, and brought to trial by a jury of their peers. In perfect Big Bend tradition — that tradition being that irony is much more important than justice — the trial ended with…wait for it…a hung jury.

How could I not love far West Texas?

Here’s the latest on the MoPac Bicycle & Pedestrian Bridge. This is going to be great for Southwest Austin!

Once again for the first time, welcome to the Austin City Limits stage: the King of the Blues, Mr. B.B. King.

“B.B. King personified blues music for the whole world,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona, “but when he first appeared on Austin City Limits in 1983 it was rare for a blues artist to command a full hour on national television.” In honor of the late, undisputed King of the Blues, ACL is proud to bring that iconic hour out from the vault and back to television for the first time in 22 years.

The first of two legendary appearances on ACL, King’s debut episode was recorded in 1982 and originally broadcast in 1983 as part of Season 8. The 11-song set spans the length and breadth of his career to that point, from his then-new album Love Me Tender (including “Since I Met You, Baby” and the title track, a cover of the Elvis Presley classic) to his own standards “Everyday I Have the Blues” and “The Thrill is Gone.” In a powerhouse performance, King hits full-force with a voice that is neither harsh nor sweet, that bends, like his fingers, with each note.

“There was electricity in Studio 6A that night like no other,” says Lickona. “It was pure B.B. – just him, Lucille and one of the best road bands he ever toured with. He mixed up hardcore blues with Elvis ballads, and had the audience in the palm of his hand, following his every lead. It was historic!”

“He was larger than life, but a gentle man with a kind soul and big heart. His ACL performance ranks as one of my personal favorites, and I was never more proud than when he somehow slipped ‘Austin City Limits’ into the lyric of his classic rendition of Willie Nelson’s ‘Night Life.’  We’ve lost a giant.”

Go here for more information on this episode, and check here to see where/when you can catch it. Be sure to follow our Facebook and Twitter pages for the latest ACL update, and subscribe to our newsletter for even more info. Next week: Bob Mould and Delta Spirit.

My friend Jeremy (Meddling with Nature) is full of awesome.  He’s a taxidermist/artist/prop maker who works with roadkill/animals who died of natural causes and who sends me wonderful emails that include lines like “Today my biggest challenge is making a zombie dog that can vomit a gallon of fake blood.”    He made me Rory (the ecstatic raccoon who is on the cover of FURIOUSLY HAPPY) and you’ll have to read the book to hear that story, but last month Jeremy was all “Hey, I made this goat and he’s been frequenting bars and parade floats.  His name is Totes MaGoats” and I was like “Um, no.  He is Totes MY Goat.  Because that is my goat.  Seriously.  I need him.  And I will christen him Vincent Van Goat so he can have two names.”

Well, hello there.

He’s fucking irresistable.

But then Victor was like “No.  Just…what?  No.”  And I did agree that Totes MaGoats/Vincent Van Goat was a bit pricey but he’s also enormous and so pound-per-pound he was a steal.  Victor disagreed because he doesn’t understand how buying-in-bulk works so I turned to my publisher with this email:

My friend Jeremy (the one who made Rory) just sent me a picture of his latest creation AND I NEED IT.

It’s a giant goat reading Alice in Wonderland but we could place a copy of FURIOUSLY HAPPY in his hand-hoof and then it’d be a taxidermied animal reading about a taxidermied animal. My head hurts from the awesome. Plus, you can take Vincent Van Goat to Book Conventions as a conversation piece and everyone would take a picture. INSTANT PUBLICITY. Then I’d buy it from you later (but at a big discount obviously because “used goat“) and then you won’t have to find a place to store a goat after the tour ends. EVERYONE WINS.

Long story short, will you buy me this goat? Does it help if I mention that I’m a Capricorn and that this is The Year of the Goat? If you don’t want to fund the goat I’ll probably still buy it myself but I’m gonna need you to buy him a seat on the airplane when I go on tour because I think I just found my new service animal. Also, Victor thinks the goat is ridiculous but he also just said that the goat would look good with a jeweled ascot and a pipe so I think he’s warming up to it. Which is good because it’s going in the bedroom.

Hugs, Jenny

Then my publisher was like “Who is this?” and so I decided to just buy the goat for myself.

(Really my publisher said “We love you but this is gonna look weird on an expense report. So, maybe?” and I was like “I CANNOT WAIT FOR YOUR SLOW DECISIONS.  SOMEONE ELSE IS GOING TO SNATCH THIS MAGICAL GOAT UP” and that’s why I had to buy it immediately.)

Last week Jeremy drove Totes to my house from Cincinnati and it was awesome because it was lovely to have someone look at my weird taxidermy with appreciation rather than frightened judgement, and also because it’s hard to even get pizza delivered at my house, much less a full sized goat.

Jeremy and Totes. It sort of looks like Totes is giving you a rude hand gesture but I assure you he is not, unless you’re an asshole, in which case he totally is.

Then Ferris Mewler snuggled up with Jeremy and when we pointed out that Ferris is polydactyl (a cat born with opposable thumbs). Jeremy was like “Whoa.  I’d super like to see your skeleton, buddy,” and then Victor was like “Oh dear God, there are two of you.”

Jeremy explained that Totes still had a lot of lanolin in his hair so when I braid and style him it’ll be really healthy for my nails and cuticles – as if I needed another reason to love this goat.  Also, lanolin is really great for irritated nipples so I decided to put Totes in the guest room so that if someone is breast-feeding in that room he can serve as a medicinal goat.

I put a peony in his hoof because (according to the design blogs) peonies are super in right now.  Then I was like, “OH MY JESUS, VICTOR.  THIS GOAT IS THE BEST VASE EVER.”

It’s nice because that room really needed something and turns out what it needed was a goat.  Upside?  I think I might be able to go into interior design if this whole writing thing turns to shit.

UPDATED:  As requested, a Totes MaGoat tote.  Available in big and not-as-big.

Small missives from the house I grew up in, since we’re visiting for Easter:

Last year my dad designed a special spoon so he could pull brain stems out of animals to check them for diseases. It’s pretty glamorous. He does it after they’re dead, obviously. Otherwise that would be a pretty cruel and pointless test. I told my mom that he should sell them but she said there wasn’t much of a call for brain stem spoons. This is exactly why we’re in a recession. Because people don’t have enough faith in their inventions.

Speaking of inventions, my dad had to style a bear’s hair so he made a blow-dryer out of a leaf-blower, duct-tape and PVC pipe.

My father is the MacGuyver of Taxidermy.

Happy Easter, y’all.

************

And now, the weekly wrap-up of awesomeness:

Shit I made in my shop (Named “EIGHT POUNDS OF UNCUT COCAINE” so that your credit card bill will be more interesting.):

•  If you’re blue and you don’t know where to go to why don’t you go to the place that sells those really good tacos.  That place is awesome.
• People always ask how to see the newest stuff.   Click here.

Untapped, the indie music and beer festival that’s rocked Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston, will now lay down some roots here in the Live Music Capital of the World.

The festival will makes its Austin debut April 18 at Carson Creek Ranch.

According to a press release that went live today, the beer list for the Austin festival will feature more than 200 unique craft beers from more than 65 breweries.

“We have looked to bring Untapped to Austin for several years now so we are thrilled that the circumstances finally aligned to make this possible,” Festival Organizer Matthew Harber of Spune Productions said in the press release.  “We believe Untapped is uniquely tailored to fit the Austin scene in a way that genuinely speaks to both the city’s music and beer culture.  We are very, very excited.”

The musical lineup for the Austin festival will consist of Manchester Orchestra, Phosphorescent, Black Joe Lewis, Jean Grae, Bear Hands, In The Valley Below, Bop English (featuring members of White Denim) and Calliope Musicals.

“We are proud to have worked alongside and featured many of Austin’s fine breweries at previous events and aim for this edition to both showcase and support the culture of this important craft beer community,” Festival Organizer Corey Pond of The Common Table said in the press release.  “It is also safe to assume we will bring several breweries with us that are not typically distributed in the Austin area.”

Tickets are currently available for pre-sale from $25-60, prices will increase when they officially go on sale to the public Tuesday, February 3. Check out http://www.untapped-festival.com to snag yours now.

You can see some of our past coverage of various Untapped festivals over the years HERE.

-Caroline

It seems like it was JUST National Dress Your Cat Up Day but I guess it’s here again.  Let’s celebrate, motherfuckers.

Read more on MAKE

Whole Foods Market Brewing Co.’s brewmaster Dave Ohmer loves being able to make beers with fresh seasonal ingredients he can get only feet away from the brewhouse.

When brewers Dave Ohmer and Stephen Pace are wanting to make fresh takes on classic beer styles, they don’t have to go far to get new ingredients and ideas. They just have to step outside of the brewhouse walls – and an entire grocery store beckons.

Tucked within Houston’s Post Oak Whole Foods is the Whole Foods Market Brewing Company, the first in-store brewery for the Austin-based grocery chain (and first brewpub within a grocery store, period). It’s got the capacity to produce between 400 and 500 barrels annually, according to a press release, and has an accompanying bar where up to seven Whole Foods beers (plus other draft options) can be served at a time.

Those beers often feature seasonal food items, from herbs to spices to vegetables, that Ohmer and Pace have picked out fresh from other areas of the store, a defining hallmark of the small brewery and an advantage that both brewers are eager to use.

The Whole Foods brewery has a keg bike that employees take around the store, offering free samples of the beer to shoppers.

In the short time that Whole Foods Market Brewing has been up and running – the Post Oak store opened on Nov. 6 – the duo has brewed a weizenbock with sweet potatoes, an old ale aged on organic dates, and a pale ale with Satsuma citrus, a sweet seedless fruit grown in Texas. They received all of these ingredients from the produce section and, in the case of the sweet potatoes that needed to be baked before going into the mash tun, used the on-site commercial kitchen. A smokehouse is also available to them.

In other words, brewing in a grocery store has given them myriad options for the beers they can make.

“We almost don’t have enough time to brew all the ideas that come from the store,” Ohmer, the brewmaster, said in a recent interview, noting that other Whole Foods employees can come to them when a seasonal fruit has arrived or they have a suggestion for what to make next.

Pace, the assistant brewer, also appreciates having so many resources at their fingertips – resources that are often eco-friendly.

“It’s definitely the most enviable facet of this brewery,” he said. “But I’d also say the culture that we are in is also important because everyone here is all about being green. That’s really nice because in brewing, you’re taking all these different elements from the earth and you want as few byproducts as possible – no pesticides on your grain, no funky chemicals in your fermentation – so as brewers we are very environmentally conscious. This culture is great to be in.”

Both Ohmer and Pace came to Houston from Knoxville, Tennessee, where they worked at Saw Works Brewing, a very different sort of brewery than where they are now. For one, Pace said, Saw Works specializes in English-style ales, and Whole Foods Market Brewing hasn’t shied away from making any type of style. Lacking mainstays, the brewery is focused mainly on experimenting and offering constant new beers. Pace noted he and Ohmer recently made their first lager, a doppelbock that’s being released in a month or two.

The bar at Whole Foods Market Brewing features a total of 20 beer taps, a handful of which are devoted to in-house beers, such as the Berry White, a Belgian White Ale.

Another difference between their experience brewing in Tennessee versus the one in Houston is that “we’re much more visually exposed to the customers,” Ohmer said, referencing the glass wall that separates the brewhouse from the bar. “They can see what we do. That’s the big difference and something I love: sharing our passion, sharing the beers with our customers… I’m looking out here at 11 a.m. and we have a full bar and growlers being filled for tomorrow.”

A Whole Foods in California opened in December with a microbrewery of its own (albeit with another name, Mission Creek Brewing). And the store in Houston hopes to eventually send kegs of its beer to other Houston Whole Foods stores and, after that, to regional stores in the chain.

Opening an in-store brewery was a natural next move for a grocery store that’s already been giving shoppers, in many of its locations, a place to dine in and hang out, with meal stations, ample seating and draft beers galore. Whole Foods originally started implementing bars within its stores in 2010, and their success – they sell more than 885,000 pints and growlers annually, according to the press release – made the addition of a brewery a no-brainer.

In coming months, look for an IPA that will get one significant tweak each time it’s brewed. Like Hops & Grain’s Greenhouse IPA, Whole Foods Brewing’s will feature a different variety of hops each time. The brewery also has regular tours, meet the brewer nights and pairing events.

“This place is like a little laboratory,” Pace said. “We’re working through all the startup stuff right now, but we’re over the moon ecstatic about what it’s going to be.”

Whole Foods Market Brewing is located at 1700 Post Oak Blvd. Houston, TX 77056.

– Ari

Out of the way ladies, these are man cans!

I’m not sure why we didn’t write about this sooner.

Maybe it’s because the notion that a breastaurant chain that prides itself on having waitresses with “signature ‘Girl Next Door’ charisma and playful personalities” serving draft beer at a “teeth-chattering 29 degrees” may be doing a disservice to women or the culture of craft beer in Texas arguably goes without saying.

Maybe it’s because prior to this you actually had to go into a Twin Peaks to try their beers, with charming names like Dirty Blonde, Knotty Brunette and Gold Digger.

Maybe it’s because we all kind of got a slick sense of satisfaction seeing that even though they brought in a small army of booth babes to the Texas Craft Brewers Festival this fall to lure in would-be samplers, the Twin Peaks line was a relative ghost town as beer fans flocked to Jester King, Lakewood, Austin Beerworks and other buzz-worthy breweries putting quality first.

At any rate, news that the Irving location of the national Twin Peaks chain, which was granted a brewpub license last July, will now be distributing their beer across Dallas-Fort Worth in what they are calling 16 oz “Man Cans” was enough to take fingers to keys.

Rest-assured, no women were involved in the making of this beer!

That’s because there’s something profoundly icky about a brewery that touts its beers as “man-crafted” and served in “man cans” while the beer names reduce women down to tired bedroom personas associated with hair color and money grubbing. There’s also something troubling about the idea that these beers are distinctly crafted by big, strong, lumberjack-like men (as the logo suggests), yet served by a scantily-clad all-female waitstaff. ‘Cause, you know, men make things, and women just try to look good while serving them, ya hear?

Equating the size of a beer with masculinity (or the lack thereof, for that matter) isn’t a new thing for the Twin Peaks chain. As one Atlanta-based food writer notes, when you visit one of the restaurants, “you have to make a critical choice that will certainly call your manhood into question: ‘girl-size’ or ‘man-size’? A sissy girl size beer comes in a 10-ounce mug, but a big, strong man beer is 22 ounces.”

It’s a distinction that’s frankly just as insulting to men as it is to women. That all it takes for a woman to be stripped of her femininity is 12 extra ounces of brain freeze beer, and, by the same token, men are emasculated for deciding to opt for a smaller pour, no matter what kind of responsibility might have motivated that choice.

What do we want? Beer! How do we want it? Dirty, Knotty & Gold Digging!

Let it be said that changing the culture of Twin Peaks as a whole, or the casual brestaurant dining phenomenon that encompasses other chains like Hooters, Bikins, etc., is a lofty (and probably deluded) idea that will not come to fruition as long as men go there to feed “the stomach and the ego at the same time” (y’all, that is actually a DIRECT QUOTE from the “Own a Franchise” page of Twin Peak’s corporate website, so….at least they’re self aware?) but we should all think long and hard before letting these kinds of outdated tactics marketed at the lowest common denominator bros in the bunch start to creep in to Texas craft beer, an industry that has by and large (with a few notable exceptions) relied on quality and integrity of craft.

So, on that note, Texas ladies (and men, for that matter), if you think your oh-so-delicate constitutions can handle it, I’d recommend opting for a can of Martin House Brewing Company Day Break, or the latest Austin Beerworks Heavy Machinery release instead, both terrific beers brewed right here in Texas, and packaged in 16oz cans by brewers who believe you’re actually capable of drinking them.

While you do that, I’ll be here, waiting for some internet bros to call me a lesbian for writing this.

-Caroline

Disclaimer: This article is referencing the Irving location of the national Twin Peaks chain which recently began operating as a brewpub, not to be confused with Twin Peaks Brewing and Malting Co. in Port Angeles, Washington which is unaffiliated with this brewpub and the Twin Peaks Restaurant chain as a whole.

Chip McElroy speaking at a press conference at Live Oak Brewing in Austin, TX on an upcoming lawsuit concerning distributor rights.

Three Texas brewers have teamed up to challenge restrictions on craft beer distribution.

Chip McElroy, owner of Live Oak Brewing in Austin, Michael Peticolas, owner of Peticolas Brewing Company in Dallas, and Rhett Keisler, owner of Revolver Brewing in Granbury, TX, held press conferences on Dec. 10 to say that they would be filing a major property rights lawsuit against the state concerning compensation for distribution rights.

You can read the full complaint on the Institute of Justice’s website here.

A brief summary on the reasoning behind the suit has also been released by the Institute:

“Before 2013, distributors would pay brewers for the right to sell their beer in markets like Houston or Austin. But Texas made it illegal for brewers to accept compensation for their distribution rights—distributors pay nothing for something potentially worth millions—creating a windfall for distributors. Even worse, distributors can then sell those rights to other distributors and pocket the money. Brewers have traditionally reinvested this money to grow their breweries.

This law has nothing to do with protecting consumers. It is a transfer of wealth from brewers to distributors. But the Texas Constitution protects the property rights and economic liberty of entrepreneurs. Brewers should get to keep the value of the businesses they built.” – Institute for Justice

Keisler, in an email to Bitch Beer, talked about his reaction to the passing of the 2013 beer laws and his decision to file this suit.

“Our reaction was utter dismay and a feeling of helplessness.  It is well documented that almost everyone testified against Senate Bill 639, but that didn’t stop it.  We felt the bill would never pass, but we were wrong,” said Keisler. 

“We believe the current law, which prohibits Texas craft brewers from selling their own territorial rights, is unconstitutional and has no place in a State that traditionally prides itself on open and free markets. It should say something about this case that the Institute for Justice, a champion of economic liberty, has taken up our cause.”

Fellow DFW brewer Peticolas spoke on how his brewery came together with Live Oak and Revolver to challenge the law.

“The genesis of this was in the last legislative session,” said Peticolas in a phone interview. “When the laws were passed, it really ignited a spark in a lot of Texas brewers. These three brewers [Live Oak, Revolver and Peticolas] took more offense than others.”

Peticolas, an attorney turned brewer, also expressed his frustrations with the restrictions in the 2013 beer laws passed in the Texas Legislature.

“When I talk to people about the laws, they’re as dumbfounded as I am. They ask,’how is it that the brewer has to give away their rights, but the distributor can sell theirs?” said Peticolas.

When asked how much money was potentially lost during the time after the laws were passed to prevent the selling of distribution rights, Peticolas said that much of that information would be difficult to find and ultimately confidential, but that it would likely be significant.

However, Peticolas isn’t looking for financial damages.

“We’re not seeking money, it’s not about that. I’m just seeking out the rights that I lost.” he said.

Keisler also stated that he is not looking for compensation, focusing instead on getting the restrictions lifted.

“We want this law declared unconstitutional.  If the law is struck down, then we can have normal, free-market negotiations with distributors.  Let the market decide if our territorial rights have value.  We want to get our beer to craft beer drinkers in other Texas towns and this law hinders our ability to do so by forcing us to give away something for free in order to expand.  This law limits the craft beer consumers’ choice and is not pro-business,” said Keisler.

You can see Bitch Beer’s posts from the passing of the 2013 Texas beer laws here and here.

-Wendy

Tanks are filling up and taps are flowing now at Freetail Brewing Company’s highly anticipated second San Antonio location.

The S. Presa St. production brewery’s taproom officially opened last Friday, and will now give thirsty Freetail fans an opportunity to hang out and enjoy beers by the glass, or pick up growlers, bombers or canned six-packs of various production beers to-go.

The new brewhouse, sparked by last year’s legislative changes, has given the brewery the ability to distribute its beer beyond its own walls for the first time, with Freetail beer now available at bars and bottle shops around San Antonio. Most recently, the 2014 batch of the highly lauded La Muerta imperial stout dropped just in time for Dia De Los Muertos.

The production brewery boasts a four-vessel, 20 bbl brewhouse with four 40 bbl and two 60 bbl fermenters. The system allows the Freetail team to brew between five and eight batches of beer per day. According to Freetail Founder/ CEO Scott Metzger, that will allow the brewhouse to have an annual capacity of 5,000 barrels, though there are plans to add some additional tanks soon.

Freetail’s original brewpub location will of course still remain open, and will continue to feature some exclusive small batch beers which won’t be available in the production brewery taproom, as well as tasty food like that oh-my-gawd-good green chili artichoke and goat cheese dip we all just really, really can’t get enough of.

We checked out the new location this past weekend. Take a look at the gallery below for a glimpse of the great new space.

Freetail Brewing Company’s new production facility and taproom are located at 2000 S. Presa San Antonio, Texas 78210. The taproom is open Thursdays & Fridays from 4-9pm, and Saturdays 2-9pm. Tours are held Thursdays at 6pm, Fridays at 5pm and 7pm, and  Saturdays at 3pm and 5pm. 

-Caroline

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Governor Rick Perry’s aggressive response to his felony indictments so far has pretty much been limited to name-calling and counter-accusations.

Partisan Democratic politics, his narrative goes, is solely responsible for this indictment.

Obligatory Perry Mugshsot

Let’s set aside for a moment the unlikelihood that a Republican judge, who assigned another Republican judge, who named a Special Prosecutor with Republican credentials, then named a special Grand Jury containing Republican, Democratic, and non-registered jurors, could in any way secretly further some Democratic agenda. I mean, it’s hard to set all that reality aside, but let’s just give it a shot.

And let’s just pretend Perry might have a point – that this is some secret plot by partisan Democrats to derail his career. Humor me.

Stick with me here: why would Democrats do that?

Perry won’t be a statewide candidate for public office any more. He’s retiring as Governor. If you’re a Democrat who opposed Perry every chance you got, who was willing to leave no stone unturned to ensure that he’d stop being Governor…well, your prayers were already answered before this indictment. Problem solved – he’ll leave the Governor’s office  the third Tuesday in January, no matter what else happens.

Ah, but Perry’s running for President, you say? Fair point. Let’s explore that. Name me one Democrat in America who thinks it would be a disaster if Rick Perry were to become the Republican nominee for President. I’ll wait.

Fact is, if the Republicans were to nominate Perry for President, it would be the gift that keeps on giving. It would end up being a credible, qualified Democrat – Hillary Clinton perhaps – against the oops guy. The smart money is that Perry would Sarah Palin himself all year and go down in flames, handing the Presidency to the Democrats for another four years.

So, logic dictates that there is absolutely no motivation for partisan Democrats to engineer a Perry indictment.

But wait! I can hear Republican allies of Perry countering the above with “it’s the revenge, stupid.” A generation of Democrats have detested Perry since the earth cooled, and now they will get their revenge for all the years that Perry ruled that earth with an iron fist.

Oh. I get it. You’re putting revenge on the table as a possible motive? I couldn’t be tickled pinker about this, because now we get to explore that line of logic too.

If revenge is on the table, that also means that the big conference call Perry’s legal team had with reporters last week is back in play. You may recall that Perry’s lawyers trotted out an affidavit from the former Public Integrity Unit investigator claiming that neither the Governor nor his staff was part of the CPRIT investigation. And from that, they concluded that there’s no way that the CPRIT scandal could have possibly had anything to do with Perry’s threats against the Travis County DA’s office, or his subsequent veto of their funding.

But wait – I thought we just agreed that revenge is a possible motive? And if so, isn’t it still possible that the CPRIT scandal could be front and center as a motive for Perry’s actions? After all, CPRIT was full of Perry appointees, most of whom were deeply embarrassed by the entire episode. Their ethics and honesty were called into question. There’s no doubt their reputations as leaders and overseers is shot to hell. Some of those Perry appointees and allies probably had to lawyer up and defend their actions in a grand jury. One of those people remains under indictment today. Don’t you think the Governor whose friends and allies he appointed into that big mess might have been a little annoyed by that?

So either revenge is a motive, or it’s not. The only way for Perry to claim that Democratic partisans are behind his own indictments is to conclude that Democrats are seeking revenge for years of Perry being in charge. And by the same logic, the only way for Perry’s legal team to conclude that the PIU investigator’s affidavit proves that CPRIT had no part in Perry’s decision-making is to assume that a revenge motive does not exist.

So which it is, Governor?

Fact is, I still stand by my first thoughts on the indictments. The indictment document itself says next-to-nothing. We still know little or nothing about the evidence that led to the indictments. We don’t know whether the Special Prosecutor’s case is weak or strong. And we will continue to not know until the Special Prosecutor decides that it’s time for him to lay out at least part of his case. Almost the entire body of punditry on this issue so far has consisted of Democrats wishing and Republicans grumbling.

But until the Special Prosecutor tells us more, we won’t know much. But meanwhile, it’s safe to conclude that Rick Perry still hasn’t said anything worth listening to, since little of it makes any logical sense.

Exploitation posted a video:

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How many times (be honest) have you found yourself drunk and beerless at 10:30 PM. It’s not too late in the night to grab another 6 pack to keep the party going, but drunk driving is A REALLY BAD IDEA. (Really.) But you are so thirsty and there is still so much drunk to be had this evening! What are you to do?

Well, the fine folks at BrewDrop, an Austin based mobile delivery app, are here to solve all of your sloshed shindigs and effed up events. They make it exceedingly easy to browse through local liquor stores’ inventories of beer, wine, and liquor and place an order through their slick new mobile app.

And then something magical happens. They deliver the alcohol to you. THEY bring it to YOU. Like an order of post-breakup Pan Asian food! 

While being named one of the booziest towns in our fine nation for the better part of a decade, Austin has also become one of the fastest growing mobile and tech meccas in recent years. Apps like Instacart and Favor are growing in popularity every day, and with nationwide app-based services like Uber and Lyft launching deep in the heart of Texas as recently as last month, local beer drinkers are becoming as tech savvy as they are thirsty. So it makes sense for a product like this to be born and brewed in Austin.

We gave the app interface the once over and found it not only chipper and bright (and just a touch patriotic for the Fourth coming up) but also really easy to use. We put together a short demo.

1. Install the app. It’s available both in the App Store and on Google Play.
   
2. Log into the app or register for an account and verify your age. It’s trying to be convenient, after all. Not delinquent.
3. Enter your zip code. Currently BrewDrop is serving the following Austin zip codes and are adding new turn every day:
   • 78701
   • 78702
   • 78703
   • 78705
   • 78721
   • 78722
   • 78723
   • 78731
   • 78751
   • 78752
   • 78756
   • 78757
4. See a local partner store’s selection of beer, wine and liquor in the app. Yup, just browse away. In our testing we could verify there were many tasty choices for beer drinkers, from Founders Porter to Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA to local standbys like Hops and Grain Alt, Pale Dog and even Zoe for an emergency Shotgun Friday. There are also a huge selection of liquor and wine available. It’s mind blowing this is happening on a phone and in 30-60 minutes, you will have the beverage of choice in your hand. Mind blowing.
   
5. Tap on the libation of your choosing and select the amount you’ll be needing. This should be kept within reason. A person has to go buy this and bring it to your house, after all. Don’t go cray.
6. Checkout securely through the app and wait patiently. The only additional cost to the user is a $5 delivery fee that is used to pay BrewDrop drivers. Expect to get a knock on the door in around 30 minutes. 
7. Answer your door. Give the person nice enough to drop off your beer your ID (again, they aren’t here to break the law). They will hand it back to you. Give that friendly individual a high five and a tip for their troubles and take your beer off their hands.
8. Raise a glass in celebration. Drink up. Marvel at technology.

It’s that easy! So do your part. Keep Austin Weird. And also Wired. And especially Wi-asted. And even more especially safe from drunk driving. BrewDrop it.

- Sarah

BrewDrop is available in the App Store for iOS devices and on Google Play for Android users. 

By now, you’ve probably heard a few whispers (or, dare we say–hoots) about Blue Owl Brewing.

Helmed by Brewmaster Jeff Young and CEO Suzy Shaffer, both formerly of Black Star Co-op, the new operation is set to open in a recently acquired space in East Austin before year’s end.

Drawing on a technique Young began to refine at Black Star, Blue Owl’s forte will be classic, sessionable styles with one major twist—sour mashing. And, as if that weren’t enough to excite the palates of sour beer lovers around Austin, Blue Owl will be putting their flagship beers into cans.

While Young and Shaffer are keeping many of the details of Blue Owl close to the chest until the fermenters are full, they were excited to share one important (and fun) element of the new brewery with us—their branding, including can designs for the first two beers.

It started with the name…

It took Young and Shaffer around two months to land on a name for the brewery that they were happy with, and just as importantly, that hadn’t already been claimed by one of the other 3000+ craft breweries in the United States.

First, they decided to incorporate the owl because of its popular connotations, it was something Young could relate to.

“They have a smart, kind of nerdy thing to them,” Young said. “I always liked that because of my own personal nerdiness.”

With a background in chemistry and a passion for naming beers after math principles, this resonance makes sense, but that wasn’t Young’s only tie to the owl.

“It does turn out that according to the Internet my spirit animal is an owl,” he joked.

It’s true. According to the almighty Internet, three independent totally, completely, absolutely accurate personality tests across a variety of platforms (we’re hoping one was a Myspace quiz) all found that the owl is pretty much the embodiment of Jeff Young.

After some exploration of different colors and polling some friends, the pair eventually landed on Blue Owl Brewing.

Next came the logo…

When it came time to give Blue Owl Brewing a look that captured the spirit of the beers they wanted to brew, Young and Shaffer really resonated with the art of screenprinting. Sure, East Austin boasts many, many screenprinting shops, so that tradition was part of it. But, on a more core level, they liked the idea of screenprinting being a fusion of handmade artistry and a machinery process, resulting in beautiful imperfections, off-set creations birthed from a set, controlled framework. For Blue Owl, this embodied the spirit of their sour mashed session brews.

That’s why they went to Jessica Deahl.

“It was her poster design work that drew us to her,” Shaffer said. “She just really meshed with us.”

Deahl, (who, full disclosure, recently started contributing to Bitch Beer) cut her teeth in the Los Angeles poster design scene, illustrating movie posters for gallery shows immortalizing the works of filmmakers like Wes Anderson, and gig posters for bands like Yo la Tengo, City and Color and Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy.

Deahl moved to Austin in 2012, and being a craft beer lover, it wasn’t long before she started drinking in the same circles as Young. So, when Blue Owl needed the help of a poster artist, she came to mind pretty quickly.

Deahl, Shaffer and Young collaborated on Blue Owl’s logo, going through a few iterations before Deahl crafted the iconic Great Horned Owl seen above.

Then, the cans…

“Once we had the logo, we pretty much had the idea of what we wanted [for the cans], “ Shaffer said.

What they wanted was something clean and classic to embody the drinkability of their beers, but with a unique pop of color and pattern to differentiate each beer from one another, to be eye-catching on shelves, and to mirror the quirky twist of sour mashing.

The can designs below are for the two brews that Blue Owl will launch with—Spirit Animal (a sour pale ale) and Little Boss (a sour session wheat aka Berliner Weisse). The brewery will quickly follow these up with a yet-to-be-named Sour Cherry Stout and a Flanders Brown.

“The names themselves are almost like pop music—simple and recognizable,” Young said.

This principle carried through to the cans.

“It was all about putting the least amount of words possible on there to say what each beer is all about,” Young said.

While Blue Owl is still awaiting TTB approval on the can designs, they were kind enough to share what they hope to be their final iteration with us.

Feast your eyes on these cans now, because it’ll still be a few months before you’re able to feast your palates on Blue Owl Brewing’s beers.

(click designs to enlarge)

-Caroline

Connect with Blue Owl Brewing:

Twitter: twitter.com/BlueOwlBrewing

Facebook: facebook.com/blueowlbrewing

The biggest source of federal funds for bicycling and walking projects is under attack in the U.S. Senate.

Tomorrow morning, the Senate Finance Committee is voting on a plan to fund the Highway Trust Fund. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) has introduced an amendment to eliminate the Transportation Alternatives program in its entirety. TAP is a vital federal funding source for local leaders to build biking and walking projects in communities like yours.

Please ask your lawmaker to vote NO on Toomey #1.

Bikeable and walkable communities create healthy and vibrant downtowns and boost neighborhoods that attract millenials and baby boomers alike. Communities that offer real transportation choice, including biking and walking, ensure that EVERYONE has safe access to jobs, school, shops, and recreation alike. The future of transportation in American communities includes biking and walking.

Just this month, almost 400 Mayors from across the country signed a letter encouraging Congress to bolster — not weaken — the Transportation Alternatives program, hailing it as a vital tool to build local transportation options. Don’t allow Congress to take away local control — tell your Senator to vote NO and voice their support for transportation choice.

The committee votes tomorrow morning — take action now!

Let’s set aside for a moment all the women in Texas politics who already reaped the fame that came with the office. They already have their walls full of photos, shelves packed with awards, and reams of newspaper clippings documenting countless achievements. Governor Richards. Congresswoman Jordan. Comptrollers Strayhorn and Combs. Senator Hutchison. Mayors Whitmire, Miller, Strauss, Parker, and Cockrell. State Senator Zaffirini, the first Latina ever there. We salute you all. Your trail-blazing is well-documented.

This piece isn’t about them. It’s about the other women essential to Texas politics. The ones whose names aren’t as well-known. They’re the driven ones who pay attention to the details, work themselves to exhaustion, and really get things done. They may not be elected themselves, but they’re the ones who work to elect others, and keep the trains running on time. They’ve often had to be twice as good as a man to get noticed, and half as much headache as other staff to get ahead.

A few prime examples: Mary Beth Rogers, Ann Richards’ chief of staff. Cecile Richards, founding Executive Director of Texas Freedom Network, and now President of Planned Parenthood. Samantha Smoot, former Executive Director of Texas Freedom Network. Deirdre Delisi, Rick Perry’s former chief of staff. Sarah Floerke, field director of Greg Abbott’s campaign for governor.

I bet if you put these five women, and another ten just like them, in a room, they would agree on very little – they’re in different political parties and hold varied ideologies. But I know all of them well, and take my word for it – they’re all deadly smart, driven women in politics, policy, and government who are very, very good at what they do. Each of them not only demonstrates that women earn their seats at the table, but also that it wouldn’t be just a horrible damn thing if women were at the head of that table from time to time. Few work harder to achieve political and policy objectives, and they have all met with success.

In other words, they all remind me of Grace Garcia.

Grace Garcia

In fact, my personal gold standard for “highly successful woman in Texas politics” is “wow – she reminds me of Grace Garcia.”

I’ve known Grace for 22 years. We first met early in Bill Clinton’s upstart campaign for President, and at the time I was much more terrified of Grace than I ever was of Clinton. Grace was a driven, focused, opinionated, serious, smart workaholic.

I’m not entirely sure Bill Clinton would have been elected President but for Grace’s efforts. Later on, I’m fairly certain Grace’s efforts were one key reason Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s tenure in the State Department was so successful. And I bet Senator Leticia Van de Putte would not have answered the call to run for Lt. Governor but for Grace, since it was Grace who was making most of those calls in the first place.

For the last year or so, Grace was the Executive Director of Annie’s List, the organization dedicated to electing more women to public office in Texas. The organization was already successful when Grace came home from Washington to Texas to take the helm, and she expertly positioned Annie’s List to improve on that success.

Grace put together her team at Annie’s List, and together they seemingly know only one speed: pedal to the metal full blast. They raise money, recruit candidates to run for office, raise more money, train those candidates, raise more money, recruit top-notch campaign staff and train them too, and raise more money. And then they break for lunch.

Tragically, Grace Ann Garcia was killed yesterday afternoon, in a senseless car wreck. She was on her way to attend a Dallas event featuring Van de Putte and Wendy Davis. They took her away, and nobody who knows her can believe it. I know I can’t believe it; I’m crushed. Hell, it’s only in recent years that I learned how not to be terrified of her, and now she’s gone.

But here’s what I can believe: I believe that because of Grace Garcia and political women like her, there will be a lot more women who see public service as a viable and attractive option. I believe that it’s Texans like Grace Garcia that you could put in front of a classroom full of ten year old girls, and by the end of the talk it would dawn on those girls – some for the first time – that there isn’t anything they can’t achieve if they’re willing to work hard enough. I believe that because of political women in Texas like Grace Garcia, more and more women will involve themselves in politics, and will be successful at it. And I believe that some day, because more women will be in charge around here, we’ll all be bickering about a higher class of stuff than the low-rent crap we bicker about in Texas politics today.

My phone was ringing all evening. Late last night, I talked with my friend Amber Mostyn, who is the Board Chair of Annie’s List. Shortly after midnight this morning, I hung up the phone from a painful call with another friend of mine named Emmy Ruiz, who is Annie’s List’s political director. We were talking about Grace, and the events of the day, and emotionally leaning on each other a bit.

After the calls died down, and as I plugged my phone into the charger as I was getting ready for bed, I thought, “both Amber and Emmy sure do remind me of Grace Garcia.”

And that’s why I’m pretty sure things are going to be alright.

Rest in peace, sweet Grace.

When a new brewery boasts the catch phrase “Drink our beer, save the world,” it’s pretty easy to take them up on that offer.

And new Marble Falls based Save the World Brewing Co., is definitely putting its money where its malt is.

That’s because the brewery, founded by husband and wife team Dave and Quynh Rathkamp, was created to donate 100 percent of its proceeds to local, national and international charities.

Dave and Quynh are both physicians by trade, but a love of Belgian beers, and a desire to give back, sparked the idea for the brewery.

The project has been around five years in the making. Since moving from the Dallas area to Marble Falls, David has retired from medicine and dedicated himself to getting the brewery off the ground. Quynh still works as a doctor, as David puts it, keeping the lights on.

As the brewery has come together, there hasn’t been any question about what styles of beers they would brew.

“My first passion was Belgians,” Dave said, in a recent interview with Bitch Beer. “Then I wanted to brew all kinds of styles of beers, but I eventually came back to Belgians. Like all homebrewers I dreamed about starting my own brewery.”

But it’s one thing to go from being a passionate homebrewer to starting your own full fledged production brewery.

“Being doctors, education was always paramount,” Dave said.

For Quynh, this meant becoming a Cicerone, making her a real asset when it comes to sensory analysis of Save the World’s beers.

For David, this meant enrolling in brewing school at the American Brewers Guild. It was there that he met Alex Payson, who was working for a philanthropic coffee company at the time, but was looking to set his sights on beer. The lure of coming to brew with Dave at a philanthropic brewery brought Payson from New England to Texas.

For a hands on education, Dave also did an internship at a pretty venerable brewery you may have heard of—The Lost Abbey, and the brewery’s influence on Save the World’s beers is definitely evident.

“They [The Lost Abbey] were fantastic,” he said. “I learned a lot. They let me do anything I wanted to do, and learn anything I wanted to learn. That’s where I learned how to bottle condition, and how to do it right.”

As such, Save the World has launched with three bottle conditioned Belgian styles, Humilus filius, a belgian style pale ale, Froctum Bonum saison, and Lux Mundi, a patersbier that was inspired by the Rathkamp’s travels in Belgium. Dave modeled the beer after the patersbier brewed at Chimay, which is only available at the brewery itself, and is the drink of choice for the monks.

“It’s got a little more of a hop profile than your typical Belgian beers that you think about,” Dave said. “Not in a grapefruity American hop kind of way, but just in a little more of a bitterness. So that’s actually our hoppiest beer, but when you smell it you still get your fruit esters.”

Beers on the horizon for Save the World include a wit, a tripel, a quad and a Bière de Garde, as well as some future experimentation with Brettanomyces and barrel aging.

Save the World plans to build out their taproom and open for tours in the near future, thanks to a recent petition effort and city ruling that will now allow them to sell beer onsite.

“So now we’re in the second phase and we’re going to build out our tasting room so we have room for people to come and taste,” Dave said. “We sit on three acres…We’ve got oak trees and picnic benches, so we want people to be able to come out there and watch the sunset and drink the beers.”

Save the World will offer free tours and samples, and sell draft beer for sale by the glass. As of right now, the plan is for the tasting room to be the only location serving Save the World beers on tap, as all other on and off-premise retailers will only be carrying beers by the bottle (currently 22oz, with 750ml releases in the works). The reason for this is threefold, equal parts aimed at drawing people out to the taproom, keeping starting costs low, and maintaining quality control, as Dave is admittedly a control freak when it comes to making sure his beer is transported, stored and served correctly.

“If I bottle condition it, I know it’s going to be pretty stable,” he said. “If you want our beer on draft, come to our brewery!”

As a new brewery, this is something Dave finds particularly vital. While Save the World is still making very minor tweaks to their recipes, it was important for them to launch with beers they felt proud of—beers they hoped would impress customers.

“A lot of people won’t give you a second chance, Dave said. “So you want to give that first good impression.”

While Save the World is set to make a good impression, they’re also doing it with a good conscience. They’ve partnered with three charities to be the beneficiaries of their proceeds, Food for the Hungry on an international level, Meals on Wheels on a domestic level, and Habitat for Humanity Highland Lakes on a local level.

The brewery will be self-sustaining, retaining only enough money from sales to cover its operating costs (ingredients, equipment, a living wage for its handful of employees, etc.) and donating all other funds to its charitable partners. In terms of a donation schedule, since start-up brewery earnings are difficult to forecast, Save the World will donate 10 percent of its gross receipts every month to its partners. Then, at the end of the year, all remaining proceeds left over will be donated to them.

It’s definitely worth mentioning that even with these charitable contributions, Save the World isn’t passing on extra costs to consumers. Their first three 22oz bottle releases are very reasonably priced, selling for $6-7 at most retailers. While the 750 ml bottles of higher ABV beers with longer aging times will be a bit more expensive to account for ingredients and time, Save the World still wants to keep price points reasonable so new customers will be excited to try their beer, and of course, save the world.

-Caroline