Cruise the Craft Brewers

The best North Texas brewery tours to get your weekend beer on

Craft beer is delicious, but it’s even more delicious when you drink it at the source. Fortunately, North Texas breweries are an accommodating bunch and offer tours so you can learn a bit more about your favorite brewery while drinking fresh from the tap.

Some of these breweries are close enough that you can fit in a couple in one day, but there’s no wrong way to do it.

903 Brewers
903 represents Sherman with free tours every Saturday from noon-3 pm. Besides offering the full lineup of beers for sale, 903 usually has a rare brew as well as music and food. If you can’t make it on Saturday, the brewery hosts trivia night every Thursday at 6:30 pm. The tasting room opens at 5:30 pm. Tables fill up, so get there early.

Cedar Creek Brewery
Cedar Creek Brewery in Seven Points keeps the doors open longer than most breweries, offering beers from 4 to 9 pm on Fridays and noon to 9 pm Saturdays. Unlike other breweries, Cedar Creek sells beers individually. Pints are $3; seasonals are $4. You can bring your dog.

Community Beer Company
Community in the Dallas Design District offers a couple of options to try out its beers. There’s the traditional tour for $10 from 2 to 5 pm on Saturdays, complete with food trucks, samples and live music. The brewery also opens up the tap room from 5 to 9 pm on Thursdays and Fridays and 5 to 10 pm on Saturdays after the open house tour.

Deep Ellum Brewing Company
Deep Ellum Brewing sports a strong stable of large batch and seasonals, like the new Oak Cliff Coffee Ale. Tours are Thursdays, 6 to 8:30 pm, and Saturdays, noon to 3 pm. For $10 you get a glass, complimentary beer and a tour. There's live music and a food truck at every tour, so you’ll leave with all senses satisfied. Luckily, being in Deep Ellum means you won’t have to travel far to find the rest of the beers on tap.

FireWheel Brewing Co.
The Rowlett-based FireWheel Brewing Co. has a Texas Pale Ale and a black ale named Midnight Ninja that can sneak up on you. Tours are Saturdays, 11 am to 3 pm, and $10 gets you a pint glass and three samples. The tours are dog- and family-friendly and usually have some food trucks. You’ll also be able to sample some of the small batch and special release beers.

Four Corners Brewing Co.
Four Corners in Trinity Groves knows that free is better, so it offers two free tours at noon and 1 pm on Saturdays. Samples abound, though each tour is limited to 50 people due to the in-depth nature of it. So you have to make a reservation on the website — but still it's free.

Franconia Brewing Co.
There may be a new brewery opening up every month, but Franconia has been doing its thing since 2008, making it one of the oldest in North Texas. Founder Dennis Wehrmann hails from Bavaria and has been involved with brewing since he was 12. This McKinney brewery has Saturday tours, 11 am to 1 pm. The $5 fee includes beer samples.

Lakewood Brewing Company
Lakewood Brewing has made a name for itself with European-styled crafts. The imperial milk stout, lovingly called “The Temptress,” clocks in at 9.1 percent ABV, but you wouldn’t know it. Tours are offered Saturdays from noon to 3 pm, and that includes a souvenir glass, four samples and an informal tour. It’s $10 cash at the door, and they usually wrangle up a food truck or two plus some live music.

Martin House Brewing Company
Fort Worth’s Martin House Brewing Co. is situated right on Trinity Trails, making it perfect for an afternoon of drinking and playing lawn games like cornhole and ladder golf. The brewery offers a tour every Saturday from 2 to 5 pm. For $10 you get a glass, three samples and a tour. The brewery encourages you to bring your own chairs to hang outside with your dogs and family.

Peticolas Brewing Company
Peticolas abstains from canning or bottling its beer, and the marketing plan is practically nonexistent. Still, the brewery has developed a passionate following thanks to award-winning brews including Velvet Hammer and Royal Scandal. The tours are the first and third Saturday of each month from 1 to 3 pm. $10 cash will get you a glass and three beers. Tours are also the only way you can try the new Black Curtains stout.

Rabbit Hole Brewing
The new brewery out of Justin, TX is already offering tours on Saturdays from noon-4 pm. It’s the standard $10 for a pint glass, tour and three samples of their beer, including Mike Modano’s 561 Kolsch-style beer and the Rapture Fusion brown ale.

Rahr & Sons Brewing Co.
When we’re talking North Texas breweries, we are legally required to mention these guys, and for good reason. Around since 2004, Rahr & Sons has been winning awards for nearly as long. Tours are Saturdays, 1-3 pm, but if you can make it to one of the Wednesday tours from 5 to 7:30 pm, you’ll experience a more intimate crowd and experimental and special brews that you can’t get anywhere else. For $10 you get a pint glass and three samples.

Lakewood Brewing's Saturday tours include four samples and a souvenir glass for $10.

Photo by Marc Lee

Lakewood Brewing's Saturday tours include four samples and a souvenir glass for $10.

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What Just Opened

Crazy wave of Dallas restaurants and bars have all just opened

Courtesy

1519 Main St.

The Dallas hospitality scene almost never sleeps and right now it's pulling an all-nighter, with a big slate of fresh openings, all of which have debuted within the past days, give or take.

Everyone's hustling to get their doors open in time for the holidays, and these establishments have all made it happen: From a cosmopolitan new lounge in downtown Dallas to a modern Asian restaurant in Plano to a bountiful AYCE Chinese seafood spot in Richardson, there's something here to pique everyone's interest and appetite.

1519 Main
Spectacular lounge is now open in downtown Dallas at 1519 Main St., in a nearly century-old building across from the Joule Dallas hotel where it's serving up stellar drinks in a space that's both cosmopolitan and low-key. The bar is from Hospitality Alliance, the company led by restaurant wunderkind Kevin Lillis, who helped create the original AT&T Discovery District. It's a stunning space with many original features like the rose-and-cream marble floors from the 1920s and the brick walls with signage from prior businesses in the space that dating back decades. The menu has cocktails from Brian Van Flandern, who oversaw the program at Per Se, The Carlyle Hotel, The Plaza Hotel, and Palm Court restaurant, and also has a homage menu featuring recipes from some of the most impactful but now closed cocktail lounges in the country. They're open Thursday-Saturday from 5 pm-12 am.

Centrale Italia
New concept from veteran restaurateur Patrick Colombo (Cru Wine Bar, Princi Italia) opened in November at Preston Hollow Village at Walnut Hill Lane and US-75 with a menu of wood-fired dishes, Neapolitan style pizza, pastas, and gelato made in-house. They're debuting brunch on Sunday December 7 and lunch on Monday December 8, with a menu that includes spicy meatball sub, chicken parm on toasted ciabatta, and a parmesan garlic cheeseburger with Wagyu beef and arugula. Salads include Little Gem Caesar, chopped salad with salami, prosciutto, and soppressata, and an Italian Cobb salad with chicken, Romaine, radicchio, avocado, beets, prosciutto, eggs, and Campari tomato in a creamy gorgonzola.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Restaurant in Richardson which just opened in the former Maxim's space is an all-you-can-eat sushi/seafood buffet featuring a daily rotating menu with 300-plus items from various Asian cuisines. There are oysters, crab legs, lobster, sushi bar, ramen bar, dumplings bar, skewers bar, noodles, stir-fries, and Chinese dishes both Cantonese and Sichuan, such as spicy boiled beef and kung pao chicken. Plus dim sum and desserts such as precision-cut layer cakes and a chocolate fondue station where you can dip strawberries and other fruit. (The lobster and crab are available at dinner and weekends only, not at lunch.) The price is $20 at lunch, $30 at dinner on weeknighs, and $35 all weekend long.

Jashan
Indian ambitious new Indian restaurant with a one-of-a-kind menu offering has opened at Plano's Legacy North with a chef team who are bringing flavors from cities and regions across India, from Dehli's fried potato tikkis to pepper chicken from the south. For those seeking something truly unique, Jahsan also offer a Dil Se menu — an omakase-style tasting, available in 7- or 13-course versions, featuring a procession of these flavors, letting guests discover the stories of these cities in one visit.

La Stella Italian Steakhouse
Stupendous Italian restaurant just opened at a storied North Dallas address at 14655 Dallas Pkwy. in the former Lawry's space, where it stands as a bigger, grander spinoff of its sibling La Stella Cucina, the Italian restaurant in Dallas' Design District. The menu is an expanded version of the original: combining Italian seafood and a chophouse, plus an accompanying music lounge for live entertainment.

LuLu Modern Chinese
Glamorous new Asian restaurant just opened in Plano at 3310 Dallas Pkwy. #121, with a goal is to bring an authentic and modern Chinese American dining experience. The menu features classics like Peking duck, xiao long bao (soup dumplings), and seafood executed with spices and recipes from various regions of China — from Shanghai to the Pan Asian continent. The 4,300-square-foot space features a subtle lounge theme — a place you can dine or grab tequila shots over a soundtrack of '90s hip-hop and pop, plus craft cocktails, and a serious collection of sake and wine — but not what you'd typically find at a Chinese restaurant.

Mendocino Farms
California chain known for creative sandwiches, salads, soups, and other healthy fare, has opened its newest DFW-area location — the sixth — at NorthPark Center, joining Addison, downtown Dallas, Plano, Preston Hollow, and Dallas' West Village. With its casual but upscale menu, featuring staples such as the Chicken & Hummus Crunch Wrap — as well as seasonal offerings like the November to Remember sandwich with turkey, mozzarella, mushroom & turkey sausage stuffing, spicy cranberry chutney, and Romaine on toasted cranberry walnut wheat bread — NorthPark seems like a perfect fit.

Old Ferry Donut
Doughnut shop chain from Korea entered the U.S. in 2023, with five locations in California. Now they've made their Texas debut in Carrollton at 2225 Old Denton Rd. #215, Their doughnuts are unique: They have a slightly chewier, more bready texture than the fluffy texture of a Krispy Kreme, and are a little less sweet than traditional American doughnuts. Many of their doughnuts have fillings, made from premium ingredients. The menu includes old-school flavors such as Boston Cream, Original Glaze, and Cinnamon Sugar — but also new-school flavors like White Chocolate Sesame, Earl Gray, and Matcha Cream.

Roots Chicken Shak
Fried chicken restaurant concept from celebrity chef Tiffany Derry, just opened a location at 3748 Belt Line Rd. #118, in a former Einstein's Bagels on the southeast corner of Marsh Lane. There are chicken wings, tenders, nuggets, and sandwiches on sweet potato buns. Derry opened the first Roots Chicken Shack at Plano's Legacy Food Hall in 2017, but the Addison location is owned by franchisees.

Yearby’s Barbecue & Waterice
Halal BBQ spot which originated in Pilot Point is in soft opening mode at a new second location in Plano at 3201 Alma Dr., just west of US-75, where they'll be open from 11 am–3 pm or sell out. There's likely to be a line, because BBQ places like to have a line, but the Yearby's in Pilot Point also earned a slot on Texas Monthly’s 50 Best list for 2025.

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