When we envisioned opening our brewery, we pictured a full and bustling taproom full of great conversations, games being played, beers being shared. We got a glimpse of that on our soft opening weekend March 7th, 2020. The news came out about the first cases and spread of Covid in the days between our soft and “grand” opening, and we already felt the impact of it on that weekend. We then had to close immediately after our grand opening and took some time to re-evaluate safety measures and how to move forward. A canning machine, cans, labels, etc. were not things we initially needed, but we realized quickly how we would need to pivot to survive. Luckily, we had our partners Takavron standing by our side and helped us shift to a BEER & TACOS to-go campaign and got into a groove of a curbside model. Especially memorable for us was Cinco de Mayo, in which the car line was down River Bend, and we realized what a huge support and response this community was going to be.
Fast forward through the several re-openings and closings due to Covid and winter storms, and what a whirlwind it has been! If you’ve been with us since the beginning, you’ve seen lots of changes made to our space. We’ve slowly made improvements to our outdoor patio including shade and more greenery to make the space more inviting and invited a local artist (Makara Sernett of Play with Pigments) to paint an indoor mural in our taproom. Several of our friends and members have offered their skills (see our new outdoor stage and bike rack made by VIP members) for which we are eternally grateful. We released 26 different beers including many experimental small batches, sold over 200 barrels, distributed to six accounts and nailed down our line-up of staple beers (Finn McCool, Eurotrip, Quarantine Island, Morning Venom, Hefeweizen). You can currently find us in rotation at Pizza Delight in Round Rock, 600 Degrees in Georgetown, Slapbox Pizza in Round Rock, The Loose Screw in Taylor, and Chupacabra in Salado.
Lastly, what made this struggle with opening a business in the past year all worth it was giving back to the community. We partnered with the Brookwood in Georgetown and brewed a honey lemon ale using their honey, called the Sticky Situation, and will be donating 50% of the proceeds to their organization to help support programs for their Citizens. We encourage everyone to support BiG by visiting their store, which is a great place for unique gift items including their amazing fudge, all supporting a great cause, and their café which is all delicious! We also participated in the Black is Beautiful beer collaboration, organized by Weathered Souls Brewing out of San Antonio, which is an effort to raise awareness about the social injustices experienced by the BIPOC population. To date, over 1,200 breweries in all 50 states and 22 countries worldwide have joined the effort. Participating breweries donate all of the proceeds to a local organization of their choice. We chose the Austin Area Urban League as our recipient, due to the work they do locally for underserved communities and people of color including most recently, helping Central Texas families following the devastating winter storms. To learn more about AAUL or to make a donation, go to their website here.
In summary, it has been an unprecedented year full of obstacles but we’re still standing here. This next year we look forward to releasing more styles of beer and being able to have more taproom events. If we haven’t said it enough, we want to thank everyone for their support through the past year and our staff for sticking it through with us. Every Quarantine Island downed helped us keep the lights on. Cheers to another year!
