LIFESTYLE
BREWING in BOERNE By Claudia Alarcón
The United States has a long and complicated history when it comes to craft brewing. Modern U.S. craft beer history began in the 1960s, followed by an increasing popularity of homebrewing in the 1970s and the rise of microbreweries in the 1990s, which were legalized in Texas in 1993.Today, there are about 7,000 microbreweries across the country, including the Texas Hill Country and Boerne, home to a thriving craft brewery scene. With three gold and three silver medals from international competitions, DODGING DUCK BREWHAUS (www.dodgingduck.com) offers a wide range of core and seasonal beers. “We typically have four brews on tap from our tanks but occasionally we have as many as six,” says Keith Moore, owner of the popular brewery. “We’ve tried to always have a variety of beers to please every palate.”
62 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020
Brewmaster Ian Richmond almost always offers an India Pale Ale, but the recipe changes with every 10-barrel batch produced. The other three taps vary depending on what’s brewing. “We usually have a few batches of Duck and the Giant Peach Ale and HoneyDuckle Ale every summer, along with our Pine Road Pilsner and Pico de Pato Mexican Lager,” says Moore. Every fall they brew two batches of Ducktoberfest! and late fall usually brings the popular Quackinator Doppelbock and Zaner’s Old Geezer Pecan Brown Ale. Richmond occasionally makes barrel-aged beers, including the newly released Down the Hatch Green Chile Ale, aged in a Devil’s River Whiskey barrel for about nine months before they tapped at the brewery’s 18th anniversary celebration on August 1, 2020. “Periodically we make cask conditioned ales which we serve at cellar temperature — around 55°F,” says Moore. Moore says that craft brewing was coming along great in the Hill Country, with breweries popping up regularly, until COVID-19 hit. Since then, brewpubs with significant food operations have generally fared better than breweries without. “Our production has increased significantly over our history, but since we sell 100% of our production on site, our beer production has grown with our food sales,” he says. Dodging Duck also started canning small volumes of beer last year, and this has proven to be very popular with the current big increase in takeout and curbside sales. Nearby, a group of homebrewing enthusiasts comprised of coworkers, friends and family members opened TUSCULUM BREWING CO. (www.facebook.com/tusculumbrewingcompany) in 2019 in the landmark Bergmann Lumber Company, along Boerne’s Hill Country Mile. The lively brewery makes 12 specialty and seasonal beers that rotate through the year, with a focus on lagers and Belgians. “We usually try to have both our Belgian-style Big Tex Blonde and our Honeybee Blonde — a more hoppy but still light and easy-to-drink blonde — on tap or in bottles,” says co-owner Paige Matthews. “We always have a dark beer, whether it’s a porter, stout or brown ale, as well as a lager and an IPA. For our lagers and IPAs, we have a handful of recipes that may be available at any time depending on what our brewer is in the mood to make.”
Photo by West Vita
