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Along the Natchez Trace

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Saturday at the Brewery

Bill & I were shopping at the nearby H.E.B. grocery store last week and came across this flier:
Here it is...  front and back
It's about the size of a glass coaster....


Bill and I take tours of anything...   we've seen everything from nuclear power plants to JellyBelly jellybeans. But wine and beer tours are among our favorites.  So, we tore off one of the fliers and made plans to check this out.

Yesterday was the big day...  we planned to arrive when they opened at noon.  Figured it was the perfect place to have lunch on a cold, overcast Saturday.
This is the Revolver Brewery...  started their first brew last September and started selling draft beer in October.  

The entry fee was $7 a person, which included 4 (very generous) tastings of beer and the beer glass to take home.

Here's the line at the bar.  At this time the brewery sells only draft, and sells only to restaurants and other establishments.  They aren't licensed to sell on the premises.

If you wanted lunch to go along with your glass of beer...
 a vendor was selling pulled pork, BBQ, hotdogs and some other kinds of sandwiches.

They even had entertainment...
This woman sang country/western songs until the tour of the brewery began.

Seating was both inside and out...  we sat inside at one of the picnic table and met this delightful young couple...
Originally from Louisiana, Zack and Melanie now live in the Dallas area.  (I may have names wrong...  with the huge building, loud music and lots of conversation going on around us, hearing was difficult).  
Melanie has even been to OU in Athens, Ohio!  
We really enjoyed talking with the two of them.

The tasting starts out with the light beers and ends with the dark.  This is the darkest...  I didn't even bother to try it as I don't like stouts and ales...  give me a lager any day!
Bill has a plastic cover over his hat...  it was raining when we arrived and rain is bad for cowboy hats!

The tour started at 1:30...
Here's the brewmaster...  talking about the process of making beer.
Those sacks behind him contain various types of barley.  Or, more correctly... barley in various stages of roasting.  Those will determine how dark a beer will be.

He talked about malt, showed us hops (their hops are imported from France) and showed us the various vats...
Quite an impressive operation!

The brewmaster was born and raised in Texas...  went to Texas A&M...  left the area to work at breweries in several different states, and until recently, worked 16 years as a brewmaster at Samuel Adams in Boston.
When he saw an ad wanting a brewmaster for a brand new brewery back in Texas, he was ready to come "home".

His enthusiasm for his work and for this new brewery was so evident in his talk...  it's always great to hear someone who likes what they do.

Here we are...  with our "souvenir" beer glasses...  
And, by the way, the beer was very good.

What a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

That's All For Today!



11 comments:

  1. I like taking tours of most anything also. I think they're so interesting. :)

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  2. What fun! Granbury is a cute little town ... I haven't been in a while ... and now they have a brewery ... glad to know that. and well, yeah wet cowboy hats is just not done... y'all look so happy ... what's that like being so in like with someone! ;)

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  3. My kind of tour. On so many levels. You get beer AND a souvenir of the day. And a *useful* souvenir. The best kind.
    My idea of an ideal "road trip", is visiting micro-breweries with an RV. Do the tour, quaff the samples, and then just stagger out to bed, or at least a long nap. Not sure it'll ever happen, but a fellow can dream.

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  4. I don't like a lot of tours but I can tell I would like that one...

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  5. Tours are such a great way to stay warm and inside, and still enjoy the day. Glad you had a good time. Great photos, and thanks for sharing. Is that a rain fly on Bill's hat?

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  6. That was a great way to spend an afternoon . . . I don't drink, but it looks like you had a fun time!

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  7. Great looking tour - those were pretty generous 'tasting glasses' from the looks of them.

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  8. If your Jellybean tour was anything like the one up here at JellyBelly in Pleasant Prairie you were probably disappointed...but it did include unlimited jellybean tasting afterward!

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  9. Brewing is big here in Oregon also. Have you visited yet?

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  10. I'm a lager kind of girl, too. I think the only brewery we ever toured was the one in Olympia, Washington back in the early 80s ... time to check out another one, I think.

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  11. Zach and Melanie BinnsFebruary 12, 2013 at 12:31 PM

    So fun to meet you both and honored to be mentioned in your blog :) Blessings on all your travels-you inspire us!

    Hope to meet again, soon!

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