Public Ale
Community Beer Company softly introduces pint sales at Dallas brewery
Join the Community Beer staff in a pint.Photo by Rasy Ran Photography
Community Beer is the first brewery in Dallas to sell pints at its facilities.Photo by Rasy Ran Photography
On the heels of its most recent win at the U.S. Open Beer championship, Dallas brewery Community Beer Company will open its taproom today for a soft launch of sales by the pint.
"Today we're going to dip our toe into by-the-pint on-premise sales," says owner Kevin Carr. "With the recently passed beer legislation, this is something we can now do. Eventually, we'll have a taproom with set hours, probably two to three days a week in the late afternoon, where you can come in and buy by the pint."
"We'll be able to release new brews only in our taproom and get immediate feedback from folks," says owner Kevin Carr.
This makes Community the first brewery in Dallas-Fort Worth to take advantage of the new laws in Texas allowing onsite consumption at breweries, approved on June 14. Prior to that, breweries were not allowed to sell beer on premise. They still can't sell six-packs or growlers. But customers can now go to a brewery and order a pint.
Although the sales are nice, Carr says the other advantage is customer feedback. "We'll be able to release new brews only in our taproom and get immediate feedback from folks," he says.
Pint sales will differ from the popular tours most breweries host, in which you pay an entrance fee and then get "free" samples. "Tours are fun, it's a lot of good energy, you make an expedition out of it," he says. "With this, it is a direct 'come in, order by the glass,' which you can do during times there is no tour."
He hasn't set a price on pints yet but speculates they'll be around $4.50 to $6. Today's event is half soft-launch, half celebration of the brewery's awards. Community won two silver medals, for the Witbeir and Public Ale in the "ESB" (Extra Special/Strong Bitter) category, and a bronze for the Inspiration.
"We've only been distributing six months but head brewer Jamie Fulton and assistant brewer Aric Hulsey are really good brewers," Carr says. "What we try to do overall is to brew things through the style.
"If you're a certified beer tasting judge, what you’re looking for are things that are high quality and true to style. One guy from England who had our Public Ale commented that it was the freshest ESB he's been able to find in the States. Usually when you get an ESB, it's made over there and shipped, and it's not as fresh. We try to do things true to style, and beer judges recognize that."
