Taylor, Texas is experiencing a revitalization downtown. Nowadays, you can make a trip out there for something more than Louis Mueller’s Barbecue because the town has a brewpub where hanging out with friends is truly special.
A little northeast of Austin, Texas Beer Company is in the heart of town in a restored portion of the historic McCrory-Timmerman building in downtown Taylor. However, there is nothing old about this place as you walk in to a state-of-the-art brewpub that has craft beer on tap, bottles for sale, as well as their own brewing facility operating on a 3.5 barrel system. We had just gorged on a beef rib at Louis Mueller BBQ and needed something to quench our thirst.
My friends, John and Virginia, had been on their website that morning and noted a private party happening that afternoon and mentioned they were closing early. I honestly thought the folks at Texas Beer Company were going to be a bit pushy to get us out of there quickly. On the contrary, they were incredibly welcoming. Founder and CEO, Ian Davis, quickly greeted us and asked us where we were from, what brought us down to the brewery, and proceeded to treat us with so much friendliness, we felt right at home from minute one.
Another friend, Glenn, proceeded to ask them what was the best IPA they had on tap. Without skipping a beat, Ian suggested their house-made IPA. Different from most of the commonly made West Coast IPAs, this was a more malt-forward offering that seemed more like an English IPA. While I’m not normally a fan of this type of IPA, it did drink easily and seemed like a quality offering for the style. I was a bit disappointed that this was the only house beer they had on tap as they had recently blown the keg of their porter and their Oktoberfest had already been crossed off of the board. Quite possibly, they were saving their in-house beers for the private event, which is understandable. All it means is I’ll have to make another trip to see them soon.
Since one beer wasn’t going to be enough, we decided to drink some of the others they had on tap. I went with Big Bend Hefeweizen and Real Ale Axis IPA since I know both of those beers well and they are among my favorites. Texas Beer Company’s commitment to keeping Texas beer on tap was impressive as I only saw one non-Texas beer (Dos Equis) that seemed to be there to appeal to the casual non-craft beer drinker.
As owner Ian was getting the place ready for their private party, our bartender, Gerald Anderson, took over and continued to chat with us about beer, the town, the area, and everything relating to the area. I was seriously struck by how friendly everybody was as they seem to have a real commitment to doing everything to make any patron feel comfortable at their place. Gerald even went as far as asking about SHADEtxCraft as he was interested in our focus on Texas craft beer.
For me, the best part about this place is the friendly atmosphere. You definitely need to make trip out to Taylor to visit Texas Beer Company. I can guarantee you they will treat you so well and they’ll have some great craft beer for you to drink. Hopefully, you can try some of their other in-house beers and let us know what you think.