If you need anymore evidence that craft brewing as an industry is here to stay, look no further than Eastfield College’s latest move. When its Journeyman Brewer certificate program gets underway for its fourth term on Sept. 12, class capacity will have nearly doubled from 18 seats to 30. After…
The 6th annual Dallas Observer BrewFest is fast approaching, and this year’s fest is bigger than ever. With 135 breweries on the bill — each one serving four different brews — that leaves you with more than 500 different beers to choose from. Time to start putting together your must-drink…
One of Ocean Prime’s newest cocktails, the Rum Punch, is an exciting version of an old classic thanks to the addition of Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur and a touch of chocolate bitters. The spice from the chile liqueur is faint but noticeable, and then you’re left with a slight whisper…
Grapevine Craft Brewery’s Tropical Double IPA, released earlier this month, is one of the latest signals of an interesting dichotomy that has popped up in the DFW beer scene. It certainly has some things going for it: a combination of interesting flavors, a healthy ABV and can branding that makes…
Great minds do think alike – like mine and the bar manager’s at Meddlesome Moth. We both decided that during the Moth’s Belgian Beer Week there should be a cocktail featuring a Belgian beer. This beertail features one of their features for Belgian Beer Week in a simple, yet delicious cocktail,…
A spirited game of tag wove its way through Oak Highlands Brewery’s first birthday party this past Saturday. Every 20 minutes or so, a gaggle of 8- to-10-year-olds would sprint by, running past the rows of fermenters, weaving through groups of grown-ups congregating in the taproom, even inadvertently interrupting an…
Through the years, Dallas has heard the name of legendary restauranteur Gene Street time and time again. (Ahem … Black Eyed Pea, Snookie’s, Liberty Burger, Good Eat’s, etc.) Luckily, the restaurant industry runs in the family. Recently opened Street’s Fine Chicken is owned by one of Gene’s sons, run by…
In 2014, homebrewers Macy Moore and Matt Hill were part of a social bike riding club in Fort Worth. During a ride on a near-freezing evening, a discussion of what kind of brewery they would open if they could became the catalyst for HopFusion Ale Works’ founding. Not long after…
I’m a busy girl. For that reason, I enjoy multitasking. Alex Fletcher’s recent creation for Atwater Alley, the Cubano Daiquiri, helps me do just that — it’s an expertly portioned daiquiri with a little something extra: cigar smoke-infused rum. Since it’s doing double duty, this cocktail packs a wallop, so take…
Matt Ragan has done amazing things at Victor Tangos. Not only is the Henderson Avenue locale still a hot spot serving unique and delicious food and drink after eight years of business — a miracle in a market like Dallas — but they continue to keep things interesting. An impetus…
Craft beer has been a booming industry in Dallas for a number of years, but Fort Worth may soon rival Dallas’ lineup, with several breweries planning to open before the end of the year. In 2014, the Collective Brewing Project first came onto the North Texas craft beer scene after renting…
Get ready, beer fans: The Dallas Observer’s sixth annual BrewFest, sponsored by Whole Foods Market, will take over the Dallas Farmers Market on Saturday, September 10. The outdoor beer sampling event features more than 400 beers from around the globe, plus live music and local food vendors. The ticket price for…
Eating the recommended daily amount of fruit seems easier for kids. Between bananas in lunch bags, apples and peanut butter after school and orange slices at half time during soccer games (let’s not even talk about the Capri Suns), kids are pretty fruit flush. Adults seem to buy fruit and…
For the third year in a row, beloved local rock band the Toadies have teamed up with Martin House Brewing in Fort Worth to brew something they can crush on stage. And indeed, the sudsy hits keep coming as the two beers released on Sunday, Hell Below, a strong black…
The men behind Pilot Point’s Western Sons Distillery expanded their sphere of influence as the booze barons of Denton County by launching Whistle Post Brewing Company on Saturday right next door. John Straits and Evan Batt have added another wing to the “Old Panty Factory” building in central Pilot Point (hard…
Right now, we all want one thing: A/C. OK, actually we want two things: A/C and cold drinks. Victor Tangos has some serious A/C blasting, and their Cool Like That cocktail by Andrew Stofko satisfies the latter. We’ve never considered radicchio for a cocktail, but we’re glad that Stofko did…
Balcones Distillery in Waco last week released a small batch of Texas rum that the distillery says will slowly makes its way onto Texas shelves — and then quickly disappear. This particular batch of rum, Balcones’ third, started with Barbados-style and blackstrap molasses and was put away to mature in…
The folks behind Fort Worth’s newest brewery, Wild Acre Brewing Co., aren’t screwing around. It’s true, they might be the seventh brewing operation in a three-mile radius centered roughly on the Sundance Square area, but Wild Acre is coming in hot, already having built up a cache of cans of…
A relative to tequila has been showing up of late on cocktail menus all over Dallas. Mezcal is a spirit made from agave, but with some seriously smoky notes. For the uninitiated, Abacus’ Smoke on the Water is the perfect gateway drink to the smoky spirit, thanks to tequila infused with…
Deep Ellum venues on Main Street open their doors every third Thursday evening for Wine Walk. This event is perfect for the art-lover whose resveratrol levels could use a little pick-me-up. For $10 you get a specially designed wine glass which will be topped off as you meander through participating…
It’s Negroni Week, which is a lot like Christmas if Christmas were a week-long celebration of aperitifs. Basically, you drink a lot of them and, for each negroni purchased at participating bars, the bar will donate $1 to their chosen charity. That means every bar from Mesquite to Saginaw will…
Dallas does a boozy brunch pretty well. It’s basically a way of life around here. Who was it that said “a brunch without alcohol is just a sad, late breakfast”? An omniscient Sunday bruncher, that’s who. When Houston transplant Max’s Wine Dive opened its brunch-friendly, chicken-fried doors in West Village without…
