Tastemaker Awards News

Cheers to the best breweries in Dallas who keep the craft beer flowing

This is a sampler of beers. Courtesy photo

We're back with another chapter in our 2023 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, honoring the people who make our local restaurant scene soar.

We've elected nominees in all categories of food & beverage, who are featured in a special editorial series and whom we'll celebrate at a party on May 4 at Fashion Industry Gallery (F.I.G.) with tastings and awards. Tickets are on sale now.

We've already profiled the nominees for Rising Star Chef, Neighborhood Restaurant, Bar of the Year, and Best New Restaurant (don't forget to vote!), and we'll soon be covering Restaurant of the Year, Chef of the Year, Bartender, Wine Program, and Best Burger.

This time, we're applauding the kings of craft beer. Here are our nominees for best brewery of 2023 in Dallas:

Celestial Beerworks
Delicious New England-style hazy IPAs with cool otherworldly names like Electromagnetism are the specialty at this Medical District taproom from founders Matt and Molly Reynolds. For non-IPA fans, they offer sours and a few lighter options, as well as wine by the bottle. Food is available via a taco truck parked on-site.

Intrinsic Smokehouse & Brewery
Craft brewery and brewpub serving house-made beer, soda, and BBQ resides on the city's historic square, at 509 W. State St. Garland natives Cary and Molly Hodson wanted to bring something special to their hometown. There's an equal focus on BBQ and beer, and it's also a spot to fill growlers.

Lakewood Brewing
Craft beer pioneer makes fine brews to the exacting standards of founder and native of Belgium Wim Bens. Their beer is widely available, on tap and in bottles and cans while the brewery is a destination for its tours, free to the public on Saturday and Sunday, where their 16 taps always feature something new such as the recent Bear Claw Brown Ale.

Manhattan Project Beer Co.
Acclaimed brewery in West Dallas is particularly accommodating, with numerous innovative beers on tap, a beer garden, live music stage, serious food program, and user-friendly hours: 7:30 am Monday-Friday, and at 9 am on weekends, when they serve coffee from Edison Coffee of Flower Mound.

Pegasus City Brewery
Design District brewery celebrates its Dallas roots, with its name honoring the city's iconic Pegasus red horse. Their beer lineup is extensive, and their Art Deco labels are cool. They have a second taproom with additional brewing space they opened in downtown Dallas' Dallas Power and Light building in 2020.

Rollertown Beerworks
Brewery in Celina has big hipster credentials: It's from the hugely popular radio team Ben & Skin, AKA Ben Rogers and Jeff "Skin" Wade. Their beers include their Dirk homage, The Big German kolsch. They also offer cocktails, wine, live entertainment, and food truck fare, and are building a massive new facility in the works in Frisco, as well.

Texas Ale Project
Veteran- and family-owned and operated craft brewery project in the Design District is a fun hangout with a beer garden, trivia nights, sports watching, parties, and food trucks. They're getting ready to celebrate their eighth anniversary with special brews as well as their signature Fire Ant Funeral American-style red amber ale.

Tupps Brewery
Since their 2014 launch, this McKinney brewery has earned a sterling reputation for its innovative and well made IPAs, seasonal, and sour beers. In a multimillion-dollar project with the city of McKinney, they'll be relocating in spring 2023 to the historic McKinney Grain site for a space that's double their current size, creating a destination on the east side of town.

White Rock Alehouse
Lake Highlands residents Dave Kirk and Greg Nixon opened this brewery-combination-restaurant with all of the things that Lakewood likes: food, drink, and dog-friendly outdoor space. They have a new spinoff in West Dallas called White Rock Brewing Co., which expands their offerings into pizza and cocktails.

tastemakers craft beer awards

Stoner's Pizza Joint brings buzzy new takeout to east Dallas

Stoner's Pizza Joint Stoner's

A pizzeria with a serious buzz is rolling into East Dallas: Called Stoner’s Pizza Joint, it'll be located at 2335 N. Fitzhugh Ave. #10, where it's slated to open in May.

Stoner's is a delivery and takeout quick-serve concept with pizzas, calzones, strombolis, wings, salads, and desserts. The chain was founded in Georgia in 2013, which began franchising in 2018. In 2020, Fort Lauderdale franchisee John Stetson bought the company and became CEO.

The menu includes basics like pepperoni but also specialty options such as the steak pizza with onion, mushroom, and pepper on a white garlic sauce; and the taco pizza, with beef, jalapenos, and taco seasoning, served with a side of lettuce, tomato, sour cream and buffalo sauce.

Pizzas come in three sizes: 10-inch, 14-inch, and the Really Big 18-inch. Prices range from $10 to $27.

The name is a fun play on stoner culture and joints which manifests itself on the menu as well. Appetizers are called "munchies," and include pepperoni pizza rolls, cheese sticks, and garlic knots.

This will be the second location in the DFW area, following a location that opened in Rowlett in September 2024. Both locations are from franchisee Wakaas Abdrazak, who has spent the past 20 years in construction.

He's also opening a location on Fort Worth's West 7th Street in early April, as well as a location in McKinney in 2026.

"We were looking to bring something new to the market that was different than other pizzerias," Abdrazak says. "What impressed me about the group in charge of it is they have a background of doing this business for 30-40 years and know everything from scratch."

With his background in construction, he's designed the DFW locations himself, to appeal to DFW's sophisticated taste. That meant toning down the chain's vivid color scheme and modernizing the ambience.

"We keep some of the soul of the city in each location and keep elements of the area in the logo," Abdrazak says. "It's how we serve the community."

pizza openings