Craft Beer News

Deep Ellum Brewing Co. expansion opens the lid on cult beer craze

Deep Ellum Brewing Co. will be brewing up a new kind of beer.

Deep Ellum Brewing Company/Facebook

Craft beer original Deep Ellum Brewing Co. is expanding in its neighborhood with a new distillery and brewing room where they'll brew spirits and that great white whale for beer fanatics: sour beers.

The expansion will go into the old Spirits liquor store, where founder John Reardon says they'll create a 10,000-square-foot "sour room" and an adjoining 5,000-square-foot distillery.

"Most of the space will be for our aging," Reardon says. "That will include our aged beers, which we're planning to increase, plus our sour brews. We have a lot of fun ideas for sours."

Sours are a big, growing category and a cult item among beer fanatics, who often go to great lengths to get them. Some breweries such as Jester King in Austin specialize in them, but many breweries avoid them because it's hard to do both.

"The main reason we didn't do sours up until now is the headaches it can cause within the brewery," Reardon says. "You're using bacteria as opposed to yeast, and it can be hard to eradicate.

"It's better to keep them separate and have a production dedicated to that. It's more time-consuming, laborious, and more expensive. And with the aging process, some will sit for two years. At our brewery, we didn't have that kind of space."

He says this will function almost as its own independent brewery, and, to that end, they're bringing on brewer Barrett Tillman.

"Barrett is probably one of the top five sour brewers," Reardon says. "He's been a 'traveling brewer' in Dallas, brewing under different monikers, like BlackMan Brew. He'll be joining our team on October 5."

Side by side with the sour venture with be a spirits operation, which they'll begin with a "really nice craft quality gin," then get into the brown spirits that require aging. They won't see any output for at least eight months.

"What’s nice is that there's no rush to get things out the door," Reardon says. "We can do stuff we'll be proud of."

Scoring the Spirits space was a major coup; finding a space that big in the urban core is next to impossible.

"We love that building, and we loved having Spirits there," Reardon says. "I know Devin Clanton, who owned Spirits, pretty well. He told us the space would be coming on the market, so it was like a torch passing."

Back in Business

Garland restaurant from Bobby Flay winner to reopen in downtown Dallas

Photo courtesy of Pangea

Chef Kevin Ashade has found a new home for Pangea.

Pangea, the popular Garland restaurant which closed in January 2025, has found a new home. A new iteration of the restaurant will open in downtown Dallas, at 1910 Pacific Ave., Ste. 1400, in a location that was once vegan restaurant Belse.

According to restaurant personnel, it will open at 4 pm Friday, February 13.

Pangea is from chef and restaurateur Kevin Ashade, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who won Food Network's Beat Bobby Flay in 2016 with his signature coq au vin, which will be served at the new restaurant.

Ashade has a strong culinary background in Dallas, which includes Craft at the W Hotel, Nana at the Hilton Anatole, The Oceanaire Seafood Room, and his GourmEats catering business, before opening Pangea in January 2020.

In this new chapter of Pangea, which is defined by Ashade as “elevated and globally inspired," the menu will expand past the original restaurant's upscale Southern eats to include new flavors and fusions from Italian, Nigerian, Japanese, French, and Caribbean cuisine.

“The focus will be on a true definition of what Pangea is, with new dishes and a true cultural approach to food,” Ashade says.

The menu will feature about half of the dishes from the original location, including the popular jerk roasted lamb shank, stuffed salmon, and crab cakes. It will expand to include more fish options, like a branzino plate, and more cuts of steak, in addition to the New York strip, filet, and ribeye that were served in the Garland location. Entrees will range from $35 to $50, with more casual options such as burgers and sandwiches available as well.

The new restaurant will also feature a full raw and sushi bar, including an omakase option starting at $85. They will also be serving brunch on weekends, with options such as chicken and waffles, eggs Benedict, omelets, steak frites, pastry baskets, and a full coffee menu.

Pangea downtown Dallas The menu is globally inspired. Photo courtesy of Pangea

The 240-seat space is upscale with a lounge vibe, with warm lighting creating a sophisticated but welcoming look. It features a full bar, a private dining room, and an ample climate-controlled patio. It is centrally located, across the street from Pacific Plaza Park and on the same block as the Majestic Theatre.

“This relocation means a better spot for us, an opportunity to be part of the business district. We want to create a vacation feel, a place that makes you feel like you are traveling in Mykonos, Tulum, or Ibiza,” Ashade says.

Pangea will be open for dinner seven days a week, as well as offering lunch on Fridays and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. The restaurant will stay open late — until 2 am — on weekends.

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