Big News in Brews
Pioneering brewery On Rotation taps unique beers at coveted White Rock Lake
A unique new brewery is opening in Dallas, in the heart of White Rock Lake. Called On Rotation, it'll make its home at the intersection of Garland Road and Grand Avenue, in what used to be part of CJ's Billiard Palace.
Founded by brewing enthusiasts Lindsay and Jacob Sloan, On Rotation promises to go beyond ordinary in every way, by merging brewery with tasting room and growler station. It'll be expansive, yet small-scale. It'll offer not just their own beer, but also select beers by other brewers. And it will spotlight the couple's own adventurous and advanced palate.
Founded by brewing enthusiasts Lindsay and Jacob Sloan, On Rotation promises to go beyond ordinary in every way.
Avid home brewers with a taste for unique brews, they've already made their mark: At the 2014 Brew Riot in Bishop Arts, their jalapeño saison was one of the event's biggest buzz beers, while their raspberry sour won the blue ribbon in the fruit beer category.
At On Rotation, they'll brew small batches, allowing them to showcase some of the fun experiments they've tried, such as peach cobbler ale and café au lait milk stout.
In addition to their own beers, they'll feature a tap wall of beers from other brewers, which no other brewer does.
"As a small-batch brewery, we won't be doing the high volume that other local brewers like Deep Ellum Brewing or Lakewood do," Lindsay says. "We'll have smaller equipment so that we can produce many different batches. It'll give us the ability to change and tweak things and also offer different beers on tap."
The Sloans began home brewing five years ago. It moved quickly from hobby to what Jacob calls a "borderline obsession." Feedback from friends was overwhelmingly positive; people asked if they would sell it. Two years ago, they decided to brew their beers on a larger scale and initiated their hunt for the right space.
Their small-batch model allowed them to find such a prime location. "It meant we didn't need a site with a high ceiling or large space to set up our equipment," Lindsay says.
And they knew they wanted to be in Lakewood. "We live in Lakewood and felt like Lakewood needed more craft beer establishments," Jacob says. "We're not going to offer food, at least not right away, so one of our criteria was that we wanted to be near other food establishments, so that our patrons could get food if they wanted."
They're right next-door to the White Rock branch of Cane Rosso, with other restaurants such as The Lot nearby. For lack of a better term, they're calling their facility a "tasting room."
"We're not quite sure what to call it yet, but 'tasting room' is the best fit," Jacob says. "You should be able to come in and try something new every time you are here. And you can enjoy a flight of our brews alongside other beers of the same (or similar) style."
Having just secured the location, with permits and at least eight weeks of construction in the cards, it'll be a couple months before they open; they'll announce updates on their website and Facebook page. They have full-time jobs in accounting and social media, which puts them in good stead for their own business.
"Neither of us has branched out before; this is special for us," Lindsay says. "Dallas has had many breweries open in the past few years, but if you look at a city like Austin, where there are at least 26 now, and they're still opening breweries every month.
"We feel like there's plenty of room for people to keep finding new beer they like. There's no limit to the number of beer recipes you can make. More and more people are getting excited about craft beer. The more local breweries there are, the easier that’ll be."
