512 Barrel-Aged Pecan Porter

AUSTIN - (512) Brewing has just received label approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) for their first commercially bottled product, a whiskey barrel-aged and 8.2% "double" version of their popular Pecan Porter.

Only one 200-liter batch was produced of this special beer in 750-ml bottles only, so availability is expected to be very limited. No release date has been announced.

(512) Featured in Rare Magazine

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

AUSTIN - (512) Brewing earned a feature in the October issue of the Austin lifestyle and entertainment magazine Rare. The feature is a profile of Kevin Brand and (512)'s operations and beers entitled, "Brew (512)."

(512) Brewing First Anniversary

Austin's (512) Brewing is celebrating its first anniversary on August 1st with an open house at the brewery from 2pm to 5pm.

To celebrate, (512) Brewing is also releasing their first anniversary ale, the ONE, a Belgian-style strong ale brewed with organic grains and wildflower honey.

(512) Expansion and New Beer

Austin's newest brewery, (512) Brewing, has just installed an additional 80-barrel fermentor at their facility, greatly expanding their existing capacity. This is the first major expansion at this brewery, occurring prior to their first anniversary.

(512) Brewing is also planning a new anniversary beer, entitled simply ONE, to celebrate their first year in operation.

Austin Microbreweries in Daily Texan

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

A short guide to the Austin microbreweries appeared in the University of Texas' The Daily Texan as "Beer me: Mandy's guide to Austin microbrews." The piece includes brief profiles of Live Oak, Independence and (512) Brewing.

(512) Brewing Spring Open House

(512) Brewing will hold their Spring Open House on Saturday, March 21st, from 2pm to 5pm at their brewery facilities in Austin. This open house will include a live local band plus the release of their newest beer, the (512) Alt.

Texas Brewers in the News

A busy month for media coverage of Texas brewing. An op-ed piece appeared in UNT's North Texas Daily as a local guide to the best of Denton's liquor stores and other retailers entitled, "Beer Snob's guide to Denton booze shops."

J.R. Labbe of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram mentions Rahr & Sons in an editorial about HB 1062 in another op-ed piece entitled, "Easing restrictions on microbreweries."HB 1062 is current legislation in Austin known as the Texas Brewers Parity Amendment that would allow Texas brewers to sell their product direct to the public.

The Covey's brewmaster Jamie Fulton and Head Chef Sean Merchant again appeared on the cooking portion of the Dallas morning show, WFAA's "Good Morning, Texas." They appeared in a segment called "Valentine's Day Dishes with The Covey," promoting their Valentine's Day specials for both food and beer.

Austin's breweries also received some national media attention with a piece on National Public Radio (NPR) concerning the economic effects within the brewing business entitled, "Brewery Business Hopping Despite Tanking Economy." Featured in this story were Josh Wilson of the Draught House and Kevin Brand of (512) Brewing.

Barry Schlacter of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram posted a review of Spoetzl's Shiner 100 entitled, "Flavorful beer marks Spoetzl's centennial." And Patrick Beach provides a suitable tribute in the Austin American-Statesman to Austin's relocating Ginger Man with his homage, "There's a tear in my beer - the Ginger Man is moving."

(512) Brewing Goes Organic

Austin's (512) Brewing has made the switch to using USDA certified organic malt for their recipe bases. This two-row barley malt comprises about 80-90% of the ingredients in their pale ale, IPA and porter, and about 50% of their witbier.

This change should be reflected in future tap handles and bottle labels. It is unknown at this time whether (512) will seek formal USDA certification for their beers as well.

(512) Brewing Fall Open House

(512) Brewing will hold their Fall Open House on Sunday, November 23rd, from 2pm to 4pm at their brewery facilities in Austin. This open house will include the release of their newest beer, the (512) Pecan Porter.

Texas Brewers in the News

October is proving to be a rich month for media coverage of Texas brewers. Brad Buchholz provided a very insightful profile of Texas brewing legend Pierre Celis in his Austin American-Statesman piece, "Full circle: At 83, Belgian master brewer Pierre Celis shares his expertise with a new generation." The article follows Celis on a recent visit back to the Austin brewing scene, including his friendship with Kevin Brand and the start-up (512) Brewing.

Rob Walsh also provided a very good piece in the Houston Press entitled "Texas Wants Beer: Change This Law!" This article details the struggle Texas breweries have had with the TABC restrictions of simply selling beer on premises directly to the public. This was followed up with an opinion piece, "Texas Wants Beer: My Ten Top Texas Beers." Walsh also published a similar article in the Dallas Observer regarding the TABC restrictions on beer festivals with "Beer is good: Texas law stifles state's craft brewers."

Several stories were published about the recent Great American Beer Festival that included nods to Texas brewers. Saint Arnold received a mention in the Associated Press piece, "Finding God at a beer festival," due to their titular patron and inspiration (which also appeared in several local Texas newspapers). Uncle Billy's and Fredericksberg Brewing's gold medals even drew mention from as far away as the Philadelphia Daily News with "Texas comes up big at Great American Beer Festival."

The recent Flying Saucer Fall Beer Festival in Austin received some coverage in the Austin American-Statesman with "Less music, better beer -- that's my kind of festival." Oddly, the similar Flying Saucer festival in downtown Fort Worth received no media mention.

Texas Brewers in the News

More Texas brewers and retailers have appeared in various media throughout the state, including several video segments. Austin's Fox television affiliate (Channel 7) covered the grand opening of the new (512) Brewing with the piece, "New Austin Brewery Opens its Doors."

The Dallas/Fort Worth morning program, "Good Morning, Texas," of WFAA (Channel 8) carried a segment interviewing Jamie Fulton of The Covey Restaurant & Brewery with the piece, "Local Brewer wins the 'Super Bowl' of beer brewing."

Houston's CBS affiliate KHOU (Channel 11) broadcast a piece featuring Brock Wagner and Saint Arnold regarding the rise in keg thefts with "Metal thieves tapping beer kegs."

Also noted in the Austin-American Statesman's Food & Drink section is a brief paragraph announcing that Whip In has expanded with a small in-store restaurant (including wine and beer sold by the glass) with "You go there for beer, but Whip In now whips up fresh Indian food."

(512) Brewing Grand Opening

Austin's newest brewer, (512) Brewing, is holding their official grand opening next Saturday, August 9th. Free tours and tastings of all three of their current beers will be available at their brewery from 1pm to 4pm.

Ginger Man Hosts "Texas Breweries" Tasting

The Ginger Man will host a "Texas Breweries" tasting at its Austin location on Monday, August 4th.

The tasting will include selections from five different Texas breweries such as Real Ale, Live Oak and Saint Arnold, as well as a few surprise guests as yet unannounced. Head brewers from the Austin-local breweries will also be present to lead the tasting and field questions.

Update: One of the unannounced breweries will be (512) Brewing, with owner and brewer Kevin Brand attending.

(512) Brewing Now Open

The latest operational Texas brewery is now (512) Brewing in Austin. Built and owned by Kevin Brand, (512) Brewing has brewed its first commercial beers in the past few weeks.

The first beers that will be available from (512) Brewing are their IPA, an American pale ale and a Belgian-style witbier. These beers should be available in keg only in the Austin area for now; there are no plans to bottle or can in the immediate future.

(512) Brewing is still awaiting final TABC approval before selling to the public.

Texas Brewers in the News

A snapshot summary of the 2008 Texas craft brewery scene entitled "Beer mugs runneth over" appeared in Tuesday's edition of the San Antonio Express-News.

Written by Travis Poling, reporter and beer columnist for the Express-News, the article touches on the status of new breweries such as (512) Brewing, Southern Star and Franconia, as well as the upcoming Freetail Brewing brewpub in San Antonio. Also mentioned is the recent Ben E. Keith acquisition as well as a number of out-of-state craft beers likely to appear here soon.

Additionally, a report by Lee Nichols appeared in the Austin Chronicle last Friday entitled "A Disaster Brewing," recounting the origins of the drastic current hop shortages and how local Austin brewers such as Live Oak, Uncle Billy's, North by Northwest and Real Ale have been impacted.

(512) Brewing Lauches Website

New Austin brewery (512) Brewing has launched their new website, including full details about the new location and operations.