Community Beer Co. recently moved into a new 70,000-square-foot brewery. Craft Breweries are Hopping TEN YEARS AGO THE DALLAS BREW- ERY SCENE WAS IN ITS INFANCY. NOW, BIERGARTENS DOT LOCAL NEIGHBOR- HOODS, POURING GREAT BEERS AND BUILDING COMMUNITIES. BY LAUREN DREWES DANIELS Strong gusts whipped through Community Beer Co.’s large biergarten just northwest of downtown Dallas on an overcast Saturday afternoon in April. A glass of beer toppled off a table and bounced on a bench before breaking. Throughout the multilevel indoor and outdoor brewery, friends, coworkers, dates, toddlers, strollers and countless varieties of doodle dogs gathered around tables. Two food trucks sat nearby, and a de- livery driver dropped off a stack of pizza boxes to one of at least three birthday par- ties being held, all for adults. A few games of cornhole were getting serious; in one, a 2-year-old was dropping bags straight into the hole. Cheater. All of it was washed down with one of 24 Community beers pouring through the taps, made on site. This February, Community moved 14 from a 14,000-square-foot warehouse in the Design District to this new stand-alone sprawling two-story behemoth that is fi ve times bigger than the original brewery. Th ey were outgrowing their original space before the pandemic hit and switched to a production-only space for most of 2020 and 2021. With this new location, they’re back and bigger than ever, a fl agship example of Dallas’ craſt beer culture. On that same windy day, just a couple of miles east, a sporty group wearing tight shorts and tank tops gathered in a fi eld across from Celestial Beerworks. It was the brewery’s 2nd Annual Field Day, when jocks, nerds and everyone in between relived the best day of each year in elementary school. Inside the taproom, others loaded up on four-packs or sipped draſt beer that was made just feet away. Celestial is also working on a “satellite” that will allow them to increase production and distribution while freeing up “space” at this ground control facility. Ten years ago, events like these weren’t allowed at local breweries. Laws that fa- vored mega producers stifl ed any craſt beer buzz Dallasites hoped to get. Before 2010, Rahr and Sons Brewing Co. in Fort Worth and Franconia Brewing Co. in McKinney were the only craſt breweries in North Texas. In 2011, when Peticolas Brewing and Deep Ellum Brewing Co. opened, they were only allowed to give samples to visitors who paid for a tour. (Remember sample cards?) Th ey couldn’t serve a pint. Nor could they sell cans from their own brewery to take home. Instead, they had to sign a contract with a distributor and land space on a retail shelf. Meanwhile, the city of Dallas was try- ing to rein in the blossoming industry as brewers tried to explain to code inspectors that they didn’t need grease traps or ice machines. Micheal Peticolas had to get approval from both the City Plan Com- mission and City Council before he could start production. Peticolas says he had some city staff come to the brewery one day to give them a tour of what a production brewery entails. It wasn’t until 2012 that the City Council offi cially allowed breweries to operate within the city limits. Th en, in 2013, legislation passed that allowed taprooms to open. According to the continued on page 16 SEPTEMBER 8-14, 2022 DALLAS OBSERVER CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS dallasobserver.com NATHAN HUNSINGER
