Documentary on Texas Microbreweries

With the failure of HB602, and the seeming lack of interest in the subject of it and Texas breweries with most of the general public, I'm considering doing a documentary on Texas breweries. Now, I am in NO way a filmmaker. I have friends involved in the Houston film scene that may help but primarily, this will be my baby. At this point I am mainly gathering info before I make a decision to go ahead with the project. What I would like from the HBT community, is your knowledge, experiences with our breweries here in Texas, and where you feel would be good breweries to highlight. I will definately visit Saint Arnold, Southern Star, and Real Ale, but I know there are other smaller companies out there that I could showcase. My ultimate goal is to generate more of an awareness of our craft beer industry here, and help educate voters on how something like HB602 is good for Texas. ANY story, advice, or criticism is welcome. (Mods, I know this slightly deals with politics, but as I'm not a PM, I coukdn't post it in the appropriate place. If deleted I totally understand.)

Depends how far you want to drive. I always enjoyed the little German town Fredericksburg. It's a brewery/restaurant that serves great food and they have beers that are seasonal so there is always something different. There's a park nearby called enchanted rock, awesome motorcycle ride.

Yeah, they are on my list, as well as Franconia in McKinney.

You could talk to Deep Ellum Brewery in Dallas. They are in the license phase. It would be interesting to hear what they say about the whole process.

Rahr is in Ft Worth. I would 2nd Franconia. Dennis is a nice guy and their beers are pretty tasty.

Independence in Austin is worth a look.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/189327151X/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Denton-County-Brewing-Company/125188594225035

Denton County Brewing is another up and coming that would be interesting to interview.

Austin has 512, independence, live oak, jester king, circle brewing, hops and grain, thirsty planet, and I'm sure several more in the ramping up stages. It's starting to get crazy (read: awesome) around here.

Oh and Freetail in San Antonio was very involved with the bills this session.

No label brewing right outside Houston in Katy has only been going a little while now.

calebawilson said:

No label brewing right outside Houston in Katy has only been going a little while now.

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Really? I haven't heard of them. I'm hoping we can get the brewing scene here growing like it is in Austin and DFW. I will have to go check them out. Are they a brewpub or a full scale brewery

Thanks, for all of the suggestions guys! I'm in talks with a director and film crew hammering out details, and will be working on getting some interviews done in the near future with the brewers listed on the Bill.

There a full scale brewery. There web site is www.nolabelbrew.com there real good people that make good beer.

Also you have Karbach brewing company opening in Houston which is run by the former CEO of flying dog and freetail brewpub in San Antonio is expanding and opening up a brewpub in Houston.

We had a big push here for it. There is a small brewery called Darkside here in San Marcos, they are real small so might make for a good interview.

My garage. JK. OP, I'm right down the road from you. In fact until a year ago I lived in Kemah Oaks. PM me, I'd love to help out.

Ravenshead said:

My garage. JK. OP, I'm right down the road from you. In fact until a year ago I lived in Kemah Oaks. PM me, I'd love to help out.

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Most of what I'm doing is the VERY early stages of research, and using what few connections I have to try and help me with the filming aspects. Once I'm absolutely sure I can do this I will move forward. It really ticks me off not just as a beer lover, but as a citizen that this bill was dealt with the way it was by Whitmire and Dewhurst. I just feel that as a community, we need to do SOMETHING to try and raise awareness.

In the list of San Antonio breweries should be blue star brewing and ranger creek brewing and distilling. all three actively support the home brewing community. In fact, ranger creek has been hosting brewing lessons in conjunction with the Bexar brewers for the last few months.

Do it. Please.

That is all.

Here's one more for you I just thought about. There is a new brewery opening in Dallas called Deep Ellum Brewing. They are not even open yet. Could make for a really good interview about opening a small brewery. You can find them on Facebook and contact them through there. http://www.facebook.com/deepellumbrewing?ref=ts

XtremeBrew said:

Most of what I'm doing is the VERY early stages of research, and using what few connections I have to try and help me with the filming aspects. Once I'm absolutely sure I can do this I will move forward. It really ticks me off not just as a beer lover, but as a citizen that this bill was dealt with the way it was by Whitmire and Dewhurst. I just feel that as a community, we need to do SOMETHING to try and raise awareness.

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this is a bit of a stretch, as I'm sure they'd be interested in doing it anyway, but when I start going down to southern star and "interning" I'll be sure to bring this up if the atmosphere for it's right.

WildGingerBrewing said:

Here's one more for you I just thought about. There is a new brewery opening in Dallas called Deep Ellum Brewing. They are not even open yet. Could make for a really good interview about opening a small brewery. You can find them on Facebook and contact them through there. http://www.facebook.com/deepellumbrewing?ref=ts

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There's two others in the process of opening in Dallas as well. Lakewood Brewing in Lakewood and Peticolas Brewing on Preston near Tollway and NW Highway. Denton has a couple in the process of opening as well, although I can't think of their names off the top of my head.

Faust Brewing Co in New Braunfels was involved with HB602 if i remember correctly, and dont forget about Shiner.

In Lubbock: Yellow House Canyon Brew Works and Wicked Beaver Brewing. These are two start up production brewing companies.

I hear that there is a brewery in the works in the Keller/Westlake area not too far from where I live but I can't seem to find anything this year about the status.

I didn't see Black Star down in Austin listed in the Austin posts.

One additional area to go is to look up brewmasters and brewery owners of breweries that closed down (e.g. Celis) and maybe get their take on the struggles they faced, why they closed, what they think of the Texas beer scene, etc.

Unfortunately, I can't visit every brewery in Texas. No matter how much I want to. This project is going to be in the works for some time. As someone completely unfamiliar with the filmmaking process as I am, I've found that the amount of capitol I will need far exceeds what I can do at the moment. Hopefully I can generate some interest in local circles here and get things rolling within the next year. My work schedule, and convincing SWMBO that this is a worthwhile venture are huge obstacles at the moment. I've talked to a few breweries about this and the response has been very positive, so I'm doing what I can, when I can. I am really happy to see the Open the Taps group come about. I would suggest that anyone passionate about Texas Craft Beer check them out and give what support you can. Thanks for all the suggestions/input guys. Your support is appreciated!

Any progress?