On tap at Taphouse 15, sessionable helles lager retains musky wet grained dankness and light lemony orange-grapefruit tartness above honeyed biscuit base in straightforward manner. On tap at Biggie’s, delicate lemony sparkle gained perfumed mandarin orange spicing and latent herb-nuanced Noble hop astringency.
On tap at Ambulance, raw-honeyed pilsner malting gains floral-perfumed herbage and soured lemon rot pungency above mild milled grain base. Mentholated Lemondrop hops deepen herbal citrus continuance.
Wonderful light-bodied manna stays plainly satisfying while retaining truly substantive pilsner malt character, tempered Saaz hop herbage, zesty lemon twist and mildly creamed froth. Biscuit-y base adds Italian pepper bread, French bread and sourdough bread illusions that ultimately centralize highly sessionable Oregonian.
On tap at Equilibrium, sturdy dry-bodied German pilsner brings dank earthen graining to floral-nipped Noble hop spicing, lemon candied tartness and parched barnyard acridity in crisply clean manner.
Crisp lemon-oiled sunflower petals gain peppery Saaz-Hallertau hop musk and dark-roast grain assertion for augmented autumnal Czech pils. While salty sunflower influence stays subtle, latent leafy herbal astringency lingers.
DALLAS, TEXAS
Easily one of the most popular draught breweries ’round Dallas, PETICOLAS BREWING COMPANY lies just off the main drag in a spacious freestanding warehouse at Turtle Creek’s Industrial Park district. Owned and operated by Michael Peticola, its busy taproom opened January 12, 2017, and found instant favor with local denizens.
With its judicious slogan promising ‘honest, friendly, down-to-earth brewers delivering world class passion in a glass,’ Peticolas blue and white insignia dons the brick exterior while an expansive cement-floored tap room with 20-plus draught handles, separate ground-floored community tables, rustic backroom bar, mezzanine loft (with foosball and shuffleboard) and exposed black pipes affix the interior.
During my 1-hour stopover with wife, youngest son and old college pals Bob and Jeff, quaffed a rounded selection of fine draughts. While the sun baked outside, we grabbed a table in the loft to consume sampler trays of nine reliable brews this sweltering July ’17 afternoon.
Dry light-bodied Golden Opportunity Kolsch brought mild lemon souring to light herbal musk and doughy bread crust. Crisply clean Come And Take It (a Cascadian Kolsch) regaled a refreshingly tart Cascade-hopped lemondrop-candied piquancy and leathery oats-dried backdrop.
Dry Scotch licks affirmed Great Scot!, a moderate Scottish ale with a lemon twist and rye whiskey misting.
Mild Irish Red Ale, Irish Goodbye, let dewy peat earthiness seep into red apple, pear and apricot fruiting.
Brown-sugared caramel sweetness draped flagship Imperial Red Ale, Velvet Hammer, with floral-hopped pine resin and nutty residue picking up mild medicinal alcohol warmth at the polite finish.
Supremely confident Sledge Hammer Triple Imperial Red Ale lent a light woody smokiness to dewy peat mossing, brisk orange-peeled grapefruit bittering and red licorice snips.
Nitro Irish Dry Stout, Turn Out The Lights, gained sedate black patent malt bittering and sour-milked black chocolate luster for its mildly creamed Guinness-like eclair-headed mocha setting.
Decadently dark-roasted Imperial Stout, Black Curtains, coalesced black chocolate, cocoa bean and espresso overtones above muted hop-charred bittering.
Before leaving the crowded hotspot, enjoyed vibrant fruitful cornucopia, The Duke, an amber-paled barleywine allowing lemon-soured citrus zest and tangy orange, peach, pineapple and mango juiciness to create a veritable ‘passion punch.’
www.peticolasbrewing.com
DALLAS, TEXAS
Inside a taupe brick industrial building on Farrington Street near the Trinity Strand Trail, Dallas-based NOBLE REY BREWING COMPANY opened in 2015 and proved to be one of the most eclectic pubs in the Lone Star State. An old wood-paneled floor offers support for the open warehouse area and red umbrellas with tables fill the chaired deck.
Several colorful caricatures line the pub and the serving station’s tap handles are built into the black-boarded wall. A small front stage, cozy couch area, arcade games, a few TV’s and a beer-to-go refrigerator inundate the one-room setting.
A second Noble Rey taproom will open on nearby Harwood Street, November ’17.
My friend Jeff and I visited the charmingly roughhewn brew room July ’17, quaffing each of the twelve wide-ranging draught selections available.
Corn-flaked popcorn-like light body, Sex In A Canoe Lager, allowed wispy sour apple, spiced fig and dry whiskey illusions to flutter.
Stylish peculiarity, Golden Rey Dandy Bavarian Witbier cuddled banana-clove-coriander sweetness with sour lemondrop tartness and strangely, a herbaceous peppercorn-parsley-ginger twist.
Raw-honeyed citrus souring deluged Bee Hurder Honey Kolsch, a dryer-than-usual stylistic moderation with lemon-rotted pale malt musk.
Spiced apple and peach tones guided Off The Leash Red Ale, a Lipton tea-like moderation with dewy amber-grained malt crisping.
To support Ales For ALS, Ice Bucket Pale Ale let honeyed citrus spicing and floral-perfumed herbage meander thru the dried fruit midst.
With its brisk IPA fruiting and pine tones, Paladin Pale Ale brought tangy grapefruit and orange juicing to perfumed hop spicing.
Sharp East Coast-styled IPA, Tactical Combat Firefighter, linked cherry, grape and orange fruiting to polite hop astringency and dry gin snips.
Another East Coast-styled IPA, The Juice Is Loose, gained a juicy peach-orange-pineapple tang above caramelized pale malting.
Sessionably mellow Vertigo Double IPA stayed off-dry as its spiced grapefruit-mango-peach-orange-berry tang picked up dank earthen mustiness.
Dry lager yeast informed Steampunk Hoppy Amber Ale, a California Common Steam beer with dewy tea earthiness and leafy hop astringency contrasting mild honeyed fig-apricot sweetness.
Earthen nuttiness sheltered Baracus Brown Ale, a light-roasted medium body with molasses caramel-spiced walnut, dark chocolate and vanilla illusions.
The most eccentric delight, Pink Tuxedo Kettle-Soured Blonde Ale brought hibiscus flowering to oaken cherry dryness, puckered cranberry bittering, cologne-like musk and mildly pungent alkaline acidity.
www.noblereybrewing.com
DALLAS, TEXAS
In the bustling arts and entertainment section East of downtown Dallas, DEEP ELLUM BREWING COMPANY came to fruition during 2011 (and closed in 2022 when Monster Beverage Corporation closed its Dallas taproom and production facility but retained a few flagship offerings).
Inside a rustic blue and gray brick warehouse with a nifty Love Runs Deep mural on its side corner, this spacious pub features a wide right side bar with colorfully designed chalk-painted beer plaques, community tables, stool seating and a tucked-in merchandise area.
A grain silo, aluminum-covered stage area and oversized beer can collection enhance the back deck for this sweltering Saturday afternoon block party, July ’17.
Cool local minions and a steady flow of brewpub-searching travelers try to beat the heat sucking down several rewarding suds. A great local band, enjoyed by all, plays raspy blues-rock and baritone sax-led Morphine vignettes.
We stand in the furthest back space behind the brown trellis wall and quaff six trusty brews, three of which were well-defined India Pale Ales.
First up, sessionable summertime quencher, Easy Peasy IPA, brought brisk lemon-peeled grapefruit, peach, pineapple and tangerine tanginess to the fore as its mild resinous pine bittering contrasted the tenacious sweet pale malting.
More rounded than Easy Peasy, mid-range flagship brew, Deep Ellum IPA, let its lemon-peeled tangerine adjunct integrate with floral-bound orange, grapefruit and mango tropicalia spread across moderate piney hop bittering.
Raw cane-sugared Dream Crusher Double IPA allowed dry oaken pine bark to embitter its lemony pineapple and grapefruit tang above honeyed Vienna malts.
Mild sun-kissed sour ale, Cherry Play Date, merged dry cherry tartness with mild date tartness (and lemony green apple subtleties) above lactic acidulated malts.
Gentle lemon-peeled chamomile and hibiscus flowering caressed easygoing dry rye spicing for Deep Summer With Spice, gaining distant date and fig illusions at the finish.
Sessionable milk-sugared dark ale, Local Legend Stout, plied dark-roast coffee, espresso, dried cocoa and black chocolate to mild oats-dried hop bitterness.
On November ’17 revisit, discovered three more brews.
Musky Deep Ellum Lager placated pale lager malting with earthen grains as well as sour lemon and wayward cabbage nuances.
Hybridized Neato Bandito Czech-inspired Mexican Lager combined musky herbal hops (Czech) with dry barleycorn crisping (Mex), leaving unripe fig illusions in its wake.
For Stage Fright IPA, lemon-sugared pineapple and orange tang contrasted mild grapefruit bittering and grassy hop astringency.
www.deepellumbrewing.com
RICHARDSON, TEXAS
Affluent Dallas suburb, Richardson, got its first genuine brewpub in 2015 when entrepreneurial brewmaster, Drew Smeeton, decided to create handcrafted “English ales with a Texas twist” for commercial consumption under the Wild West banner, FOUR BULLETS BREWERY.
Interestingly, the Brit-born zymurgist (now a 30-year-plus homebrewer) lived close to my hometown in Northern Jersey for a decade and experienced Suffern, New York’s now defunct, but once quintessential, Mountain Valley Brewpub.
During my initial visit, July ’17, assistant brewer Doug Steele joins Smeeton and I to talk beer styles and history while my wife and friend, Jeff, dig the rangy English Pale Ale on tap.
Inside a crude cement-floored warehouse at a corporate Industrial area just off George Bush Highway, Four Bullets’ friendly tasting room features a cozy living room with TV, several stainless steel brewtanks, a handful of draught lines, wood furnishings and strewn British flags. A rustic back porch with patio furnishings provides extra space.
Just for kicks, Smeeton’s original brews utilize cool card game jargon as monikers.
Dewy moderation, What Are The Odds English Pale Ale, brought dried fruiting to mild reedy and floral tones as well as leafy hop crisping.
Sweet-honeyed dark rye toasting enriched Royal Flush Red Ale, leaving ancillary apple-plum-pear illusions and mild floral hop daubs.
Leaning towards an IPA, emboldened Cascade-hopped Two Pairs Pale Ale dangled dried cherry, tart grapefruit and tangy tangerine illusions atop mild wood tones and caramel malts.
Stylishly combining the dewy peat mossing of a British IPA with the sharp piney fruited caramel malting of a West Coast version, All In retained a cornucopia of flavors.
For dessert, Four Bullet’s signature elixir, Black Jack Brown Ale (a traditional English Brown Ale) let its nutty core receive mild caramelized chocolate, cocoa and toffee creaming.
www.fourbulletsbrewery.com
PLANO, TEXAS
One of the better craft beer joints in Plano, Texas (north of Dallas), BRICK HOUSE TAVERN & TAP competes favorably with local competitors such as Fillmore Pub, Holy Grail Pub, Taverna Rossa and Vickery Park.
A freestanding TV-replete sportsbar with basic pub fare and fine Texas draught brews, its central bar services a cozy fireplace-centered couch area, several surrounding booths and tables and a front patio deck.
On my initial journey in July ’17, quaffed (512) Pecan Porter and Pecan Porter with Chipotle, Franconia Wheat, Revolver Ironhead IPA and Revolver Blood & Honey Wheat Ale. (reviewed fully in Beer Index). There was also Texas fare from Rahr & Sons, Community Beer, Lakewood, Deep Ellum, Peticolas and Shiner.
On tap at Brick House Tavern – Plano, eager-to-please schwarzbier leaves rich dark-roasted mocha trail. Black patent-malted chocolate and coffee tones enjoin earthen peat dewiness and ancillary fig-date snips as its burnt toast spine develops firmness.
On tap at Brick House Tavern – Plano, impactful dark-roast pecan influence endows black rye-like pumpernickel toasting as well as ancillary cola, walnut and praline licks in moderately creamed molasses-sapped setting.
