New Real Ale Packaging

BLANCO - Real Ale Brewing has rebranded its product labels and related packaging materials, including some designs featuring local Austin artists.

The new packaging will also include four-pack carriers for their Sisyphus barleywine, the first time this beer has been available in a multiple packaging format.

Independent Ale Works Signs Lease

KRUM - Independent Ale Works signed a lease this week on a location for the first production brewery in Denton County.

Although the mailing address reflects the city of Krum, owners Stefen Windham and David Miller say the physical location is on county land outside the city limits of both Krum and Denton.

TABC Online Product Database

AUSTIN - The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has made its full label approval database available online to the public.

The move to make this information public is part of TABC's increasing transparancy effort and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. They state that a "parent or teacher's ability to view a product's label and see the alcohol content can help them play a more educated role in monitoring a young person's activities."

Consumers can search the database by permit number, brand name, manufacturer, type of product, approval date or percent alcohol by volume, with each record including a graphic image of the approved label.

Jester King Beer Geek Rodeo

AUSTIN - Jester King has announced another collaboration with Danish brewer, Mikkeller, to be named Beer Geek Rodeo.

Brewed especially for the Texas market with no plans to distribute out of state, Beer Geek Rodeo will be an "Imperial Oatmeal Stout brewed with smoked malt, chipotle peppers and Vietnamese coffee."

Rogness Brewing Opens

PFLUGERVILLE - Rogness Brewing Company officially opened this weekend with a release party of their first two beers at Austin's Black Star Co-op.

Owners Forrest and Diane Rogness purchased Austin Homebrew Supply in 1999, and decided to move into commercial brewing from there. With head brewer David Ebel, Rogness plans to eventually release beers in 16-oz cans and 22-oz bottles.

Accident at Franconia Brewing

McKINNEY - A fermentor ruptured under pressure and was blown through an interior wall yesterday at Franconia Brewing, injuring several people.

Two visitors were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. The incident occurred minutes after the regular Saturday tour concluded, with about 100 visitors still on-site. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Photo: Winston Edwards (Connoissaurus)

Franconia employees were treated for only minor injuries. No word yet on when the brewery will be operational once again.

Lone Pint Brewery Under Development

MAGNOLIA - The Lone Pint Brewery has moved into the construction phase, with production equipment to be delivered this summer.

Owner and brewer Trevor Brown anticipates their first commercial batch to be available in August.

Union Bear Opens

DALLAS - Union Bear opened this week in the West Village area of Dallas, sporting 40 craft beer taps and plans to operate as a nanobrewery.

The latest venture from the owner of Eno's Pizza Tavern in the Bishop Arts district, Union Bear will dedicate at least one tap to beers brewed on-site. Brewing equipment is still being set up but they expect to have their first beer ready within two months.

Darkside Moving to Production Facility

SAN MARCOS - Darkside Fermentation, the in-house brewing operation of the Root Cellar Cafe & Brewery, is leaving to establish its own production brewery.

Darkside Fermentation will end its association with the Root Cellar at a second anniversary block party on February 11th. One of the goals of the celebration is to reduce the present stock as much as possible to make way for the Root Cellar's new brewer and new beers.

Darkside Fermentation plans to have their facilities open in San Marcos before the end of this year.

Original Flying Saucer Moving

FORT WORTH - The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium located in Sundance Square, the first of the multi-state franchise, is moving out of its original location.

Currently located downtown in the historically protected Land Title Block building since 1995, the move is required because of restoration of the 1889 building to its original layout. The Flying Saucer will relocate across Sundance Square to the present site of 8.0 Restaurant & Bar, which will close on February 24.

Developer and restauranteur Shannon Wynne owns both the Flying Saucer and 8.0, and decided to retire the 8.0 concept in favor of a nearby larger, redesigned Flying Saucer location.

The Flying Saucer will continue to operate in its present location through the end of the Main Street Arts Festival, and will reopen at its new location sometime in late April.

South Austin Brewing Opens

AUSTIN - South Austin Brewing becomes the latest craft brewery to open in Texas with a grand opening celebration planned for next month on February 11th.

Head brewer Jordan Weeks plans to focus on artesianal and Belgian-inspired ales, offered in traditional cork-and-wire-capped 750-ml bottles.

Buffalo Bayou Brewing Opens

HOUSTON - Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company became the fifth craft brewery to open in Houston this week with a kick-off party at the downtown Flying Saucer.

Owner Rassul Zarinfar and brewer Ryan Robertson started off with only one beer named 1836 but plan on brewing more traditional styles with their own unique touches. A grand opening is planned at the brewery in mid-March.

Cedar Creek Brewery Signs Lease

ATHENS - The planned Cedar Creek Brewery has just signed a lease on a location in Athens, with an expected opening date around May of this year.

As reported by Teresa Gubbins of Pegasus News, owner Jim Elliott found a location near the Cedar Creek Reservoir on US Highway 175. Elliott and brewer Damon Lewis plan to build one of the few craft breweries ever located in the East Texas area.

Revolver Brewing Planned

GRANBURY - Another new brewery is planned for the greater North Texas area, Revolver Brewing Company, to be located in Granbury, southwest of Fort Worth.

Owner Rhett Keisler has hired Grant Wood to be his head brewer. Originally from the North Texas area, Wood has spent the past 16 years working as the senior brewing manager for the Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams).

Keisler plans to have the brewery operational by July of this year.

Firewheel Brewing Planned

ROWLETT - Another brewery is planned for the North Texas area, Firewheel Brewing Company of Rowlett, with plans to have beer available by summer.

As reported by Teresa Gubbins of Pegasus News, owner and brewer Brad Perkinson is planning only a "nano-brewery" to start, with little more than 500 kegs his first year, and serving the local eastern cities of the Rowlett and Garland area.

Odell Brewer Coming to Austin

AUSTIN - Joe Mohrfeld, head brewer at Colorado's Odell Brewing Company, is leaving to start his own Austin brewpub, as reported recently on Beernews.org.

Mohrfeld plans to open Pinthouse Pizza with a 7-barrel system sometime in mid-2012.

Fort Bend Brewing Planned

SUGAR LAND - A new brewery is planned for the southwest Houston area, Fort Bend Brewing Company, with an opening expected in spring of 2012.

As reported by Houston Craft Beer Examiner Brian Carey, Fort Bend Brewing is to be a retooled effort of Jeff King, Ray Self and the former Kreuz Creek Brewing, a craft brewery start-up that failed to materialize as planned in 2011 for undisclosed reasons. The new brewery is to be located in the Sugar Land area and should package beer in kegs, bottles and cans as early as April.

Of interest to North Texas consumers is the former owner and brewer of Fort Worth's award-winng The Covey Restaurant & Brewery, Jamie Fulton, will be involved in Fort Bend Brewing as a consulting brewer.

Correction: Fort Bend Brewing is not associated with the former Kreuz Creek Brewing but is a separate effort by Ty Coburn of the same area, bringing King and Self on board as a new venture.

Houston Breweries in Chronicle

HOUSTON - A good summary of the past year's growth of the Houston craft beer scene is found in the Houston Chronicle in a piece by Ronnie Crocker entitled "2011: A year for beer to flow in Houston."

Peticolas Brewing Opens

DALLAS - Peticolas Brewing became the latest operational craft brewery in Texas with their first brew day this last week of 2011.

Located just blocks away from the Meddlesome Moth, Peticolas is the second craft brewery to open in Dallas in the past few months after the city's lack of any production breweries for many years. Beers are expected to show up on local taps soon into the new year.

Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale

SHINER - Spoetzl Brewery has received label approval for their next new beer called Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale.

The pale ale style marks another rare departure from traditional German styles for Spoetzl. There are indications this beer may serve as the 103rd installment in their continued line of special anniversary beers.

Jester King Recalls Beer

AUSTIN - Jester King has issued an official recall of their Commercial Suicide dark mild beers due to uncontrolled bottle conditioning.

In a statement, Jester King has admitted that "the fermentation has continued to a point where bottles may now be showing significant signs of leakage and may gush extensively upon opening." The brewery is asking all retailers and consumers to return any unopened bottles for exchange with one of their other products.

Adelbert's Brewery Opens

AUSTIN - Adelbert's Brewery became the latest craft brewery to open in Texas with their first bottled beers made available for sale just before Christmas.

Based in North Austin and named for the brewer's late brother, Adelbert's plans to focus on bottle-conditioned Belgian styles. No news yet on whether beers will be available on local retail taps.

Dallas Brewers in D Magazine

DALLAS - The three new Dallas-area commercial craft breweries will be featured in the January 2012 issue of
D Magazine.

Brief profiles are included of Peticolas Brewing, Lakewood Brewing and the already operating Deep Ellum Brewing as well as the owners and brewers themselves in an article entitled "Dallas Brews" by David Hopkins.

Jester King Wins Judgment Against TABC

AUSTIN - A federal court ruled Monday in Jester King's favor on several key issues in a suit brought against the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC).

Judge Sam Sparks of the US District Court ruled in favor of Jester King, Authentic Beverages Company and Austin's Zax Restaurant & Bar with regard to their First Amendment challenges of restrictive beer labeling laws included in the TABC Code. As a result, breweries will no longer be bound by arbitrary label definitions of "beer," "ale" or "malt liquor," or descriptions of strength or alcohol content that have proved troublesome in the past.

Judge Sparks writes:

Although the Code is free to define "beer" and "ale" as it sees fit, Texas may not compel malt beverage producers to use those terms, and only those terms, in advertising and labeling. Accordingly, all statutes and regulations that compel such speech, including Texas Administrative Code, Title 16, Sections 45.77 and 45.90, are declared unconstitutional. Again, nothing prevents Texas or TABC from passing appropriate regulations requiring producers to include accurate statements about the alcohol content of their products in labeling or advertising; absent a constitutionally sound justification, however, Texas may not dictate the exact words producers must use to do so.

The restriction of brewers advertising or promoting retail locations where their products can be purchased was also lifted, with some Texas breweries already preparing their websites to include commercial listings.

However, Judge Sparks ruled that the plaintiffs failed to produce sufficient evidence for overturning the restriction of direct sales from breweries, citing:

Authentic bears the burden of demonstrating there is no reasonably conceivable basis which might support the classifications in the challenged sections of the Code...

The ruling affirmed Texas has the right to regulate businesses in such a way, with changes in this respect necessarily coming through the legislature.

The TABC responded favorably, releasing a statement that said they have no plans to appeal.