| CITY OF ATE | ▼ Dish A Local Beer Mecca Community Beer Co. finally opens their shiny new brewery. BY CHRIS WOLFGANG B eer lovers can rejoice; Community Beer Co.’s new taproom is finally open on Commonwealth Drive. The taproom had quietly been serving suds for the last half of February, and Saturday, March 5, marked the official grand opening party with live music, food, new beers to try and a crowd happy to come out and celebrate. “I think it was 1,500 or 2,000 people here through the day,” said taproom manager Connor Kjer. “It was a really great day.” We dropped into Community’s new digs after the party on Sunday, which allowed us to take in the space at a more relaxed pace. Community’s former taproom and brewing operation in the Design District was a 14,000-square-foot warehouse, but the new two-story taproom easily dwarfs the old space. A wall of windows that overlook the new bier- garten let the natural light pour in and highlights the color- ful murals throughout the space. The first floor of the taproom has a bar (naturally) along with a spot dedicated to selling Community merchandise and beer to go. Later this spring, Community plans to open Community Kitchen, a restaurant next to the taproom, and work is also ongoing for a private events space. Kjer was quick to show off one of the taproom’s coolest features. Hanging from the ceiling is a chandelier made of glimmering stainless steel, which Kjer tells us was made from the hopper that milled grain for all of Community’s beer at the old location. “If you drank any of our beer over the last eight years, it came through this tank,” Kjer says. And with a tap of his phone, Kjer kicked off the color changing lights installed in- side the cylinder. Looking closer, the pattern of the cutouts looks just like a stylized grain stems that are part of Commu- nity’s logo. It’s an extra cool touch and a terrific nod to Com- munity’s history. Head upstairs, and there’s a second bar, more seating and more giant windows that can open when the weather is agree- able. Tables are scattered about on both levels, but there’s plenty of floor space for people to mingle over a pint. Opposite ICYMI IN CASE YOU MISSED IT $1 OFF PER POUND MONDAY & TUESDAY CRAWFISH DAILY NEWSLETTER DALLASOBSERVER.COM/SIGNUP SUBSCRIBE TO OUR 15 15 the view outside is another set of windows that look into the production space where all the beer magic happens. On Saturdays, Community will host a pair of brewery tours that will fascinate casual drinkers, would-be cicerones and everyone in between. Kjer was kind enough to give us a brief tour on our Sunday visit, and we can’t recommend it enough if you come by on a Saturday. There’s a lot of work that goes into filling those shiny steel tanks full of beer then getting them into cans and kegs, including a two story high cooler with a trick automatic door that keeps the kegs and cans chilled. “We’re really proud that our beer is brewed cold, bottled cold and stored cold,” Kjer told us while we stood in the massive cooler, wondering what we might have to give up for five minutes unsupervised in the cooler with a cart to haul away our favorites. The production room was quiet on our Sunday sneak peek, but Kjer says the operation is about to ramp up to seven days a week to meet demand, including plans to sell Community beer outside of Texas in the next year. It’s a long way from Kevin Carr’s small garage-based brewing hobby he started over a decade ago. Community’s launch in 2013 helped clear the path for craft brewing in Texas, and since then it has gone on to be- come the third-largest independent brewer in the state, a supporter of local arts and a philanthropic partner for multi- ple groups across the area. Despite a year-long struggle with the city of Dallas to get permits approved for the new site that almost killed the brand altogether, Community’s new space is a cause for celebration, and we can’t wait to get back and hoist more pints with our friends. Community Beer Co.’s new taproom interior. Community Beer Company, 3110 Commonwealth Drive. Open 3-10 p.m. Tuesday - Wednesday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Thurs- day-Friday, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. -10 p.m. Sunday. ▼ FOOD NEWS CHICAGO, WE GOT BEEF I THE ITALIAN BEEF SANDWICH IN DFW: A JOURNEY. BY HANK VAUGHN n 2021, Chicago institution Portillo’s announced that they will finally expand to the DFW area, which is a welcome relief for Chicago ex-pats in search of a good Italian beef sandwich. Let’s hope they fare better than another at- tempted Chicago transplant, Al’s Beef, which seemed to open and then close in Addison quicker than it took Harry Caray to get sloshed during a Cubs’ game. In any event, there are several places in DFW that serve Italian beef sandwiches. It’s hard to visit them all, but here’s a sample. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list (it doesn’t include perhaps one of the best, Jimmy’s Food Store, after all, which has a great sandwich bar in the back. We all know Jimmy’s, however, and they offer much more than made-to-order sandwiches). Here are a few lesser-known places, not intended to be The Top Three Places in Dallas for Italian beef, but rather places whose raison d’être was the Italian beef sandwich and other Chicago food … places to go for a quick bite, whether you may prefer it dry, wet, dipped, sweet or hot. >> p16 Chris Wolfgang dallasobserver.com dallasobserver.com | CONTENTS | UNFAIR PARK | SCHUTZE | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | MOVIES | DISH | MUSIC | CLASSIFIED | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS DALLAS OBSERVER DALLAS OBSERVER MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 MARCH 17–23, 2022
