Beer drinkers rejoice: Craft breweries will be allowed to sell beers-to-go from Sept. 1, just in time for Labor Day holiday.
The Texas Legislature this year passed new laws that now allow Texas brewers to sell the equivalent of one 24-pack of beer, or 288 oz., per customer per day to go.
The changes to the Texas Alcohol Beverage Code enabling brewers to finally become retailers of their own products were welcomed by its proponents as a potential boost to the economy and tourism sector.
Full of hopes and hops, brewers will open their taps from September to incorporate beer-to-go sales into their operations.
However, several North Texas brewers have been quenching customer’s to-go thirst all along. Breweries such as Fort Worth’s HopFusion Ale Works has sold beer to-go for the past 4 months.
HopeFusion has a brew-pub license instead of a production brewery license, which doesn’t put a cap on how much beer consumers can buy to-go from the brewery.
“We decided to change our license to a brew-pub license because we didn’t want a maximum on how much beer a consumer can purchase to go,” said Macy Moore, co-owner of Hop Fusion Ale Works. “We wanted the freedom to sell beer to-go without quantity restraints.”
Partners Moore and Matt Hill opened their craft brewery, located 200 E. Broadway in Near Southside, in 2015.
The brewery is the only brewery in the Dallas-Fort Worth to sell disposable kegs to-go. The kegs can fill up to 676 oz. of beer.
In addition to kegs, 6-packs, and crowlers, HopFusion sells custom growlers ready for filling or the customer can bring in their own growlers for filling.
According to HopFusion, no production brewery will be able to sell beer to go in that quantity in one day per person for at least the next 12 years.
HopFusion has about 15 to 20 beers on tap available to-go, which include limited and annual release beers.
“Our customers can put it all on one-tab in the taproom, get a pint, order something to-go, hang out and pay for it all at once,” Moore said. “Then, we will hold the to-go order in the cold room until they are ready to leave.”
Fort Worth has three breweries with brewpub license currently operating, as noted by The Texas Craft Brewers Guild. Cowtown Brewing and The Collective Brewing Project being the other two. Turning Point Beer in Bedford is also a brewpub.
According to data from Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, total beer selling establishments in Fort Worth has so far this year has generated more than $48 million in beer sales.
With the new “beer-to-go” law going into effect and the booming craft beer industry in Texas, it won’t be long before more brewpubs pop up in the region.
https://hopfusionaleworks.com/
For more on the growth of brewers and distillers in Texas:
www.fortworthbusiness.com/news/food_wine/in-market-texas-distillers-thrive-but-hoped-for-more-from/article_3b5fef1e-943c-11e9-be25-03d7bfa6bf41.html