Jen P.
Yelp
Holy cow! What a fantastic craft brewery. After coming to visit my sons in Dallas (from St. Pete, FL), for the first time since the pandemic, they knew I was going to want to hit up as many craft breweries as we could ideally and safely fit into one 5 day trip. They had a few they wanted to take me to, but after looking at those, and looking online myself, I knew this was the one brewery I wanted to hit up without fail, because I love a good Hefeweizen more than anything else, and they had a few of them.
After trying to find the location one night, and not having any luck, we went back by the next day, during the afternoon after their hours said they opened. Even still, the signage wasn't great, but we eventually found our way in the front door, after having parked next door. It was funny, but the first thing I said to the nice young man standing just inside the doorway to the right of the main bar was, "Wow ~ this place is hard to find, but I can't wait to try your weizen!" He explained that yeah, they were trying to do better by their signage, but he was glad we'd found them and he hoped I would like it.
And did I ever like it!! The first thing that we enjoyed, was the super-nice, helpful and enthusiastic beertender. If I remember correctly, his name was Ben. If I am wrong, I apologize to whoever he was, because he was great and I really should've written it down, because he impressed me that much and I knew I was going to most likely be writing a good review with him being a highlight. Whomever was working on August 19th at 4:30 that afternoon, is who I am speaking of, and since he was the only guy we spoke to behind the bar, I hope he recognizes our appreciation. You could tell he was excited to tell us about their beer, taking care to tell me the differences in their weizens when he knew it was my favorite. He went on to also tell us about a special 'ice cream beer float' that we should try and save our 'appetite' for, as a special treat before we left. It was made of one of their stouts, and vanilla ice cream. Before I get into how good the Hefeweizens were, I'll tell you that we DID try one, and it was everything he said it would be. What a delicious treat! I'd have thought it would be heavy, but it wasn't. So rich, creamy and yummy!
Now, getting to my favorite. The Hefeweizens. Along with one other, a dark Belgian Quad, called Lord Far Quaad (hilarious names BTW!), I had the Hugh Hef, the What the Hef, and the Cole. I honestly can't recall, which it was, but one was a TRUE Hefeweizen. Perfectly heavy to the true banana taste a German Hefeweizen has, and all. Perfection. After living in Germany for several years and coming to love this beer, the real ones really stand out. The only other closest one I have EVER had in the states, was at another (old) Virginia brewery which will go unnamed in this review, because I don't want to take away from this one, which I think was actually superior. It made me wish I could had driven to Texas, because if so, I would have loaded up a cooler FULL of this beer. I told my poor sons that they might be a secondary reason to my not being able to wait to come back to Texas from Florida! HaHaHa!!! They are okay knowing I am only partially joking when I say this! LOL! What can I say - they know their mom, and they have been imparted and inherited my love of craft breweries and good beer. Over the past 12 years, we have been lucky enough in St. Pete to have found ourselves surrounded with no less than 13 craft breweries within 5 miles of our home, so they know what good beer is. One of them even worked at one of the larger breweries over in Tampa. So he knows a quality beer as much as his mom.
Upon closing out our tab before leaving, I explained to 'Ben' (?) how much and why I loved their Hefeweizens so much. He said I should tell their brewer myself, as he would love the feedback. He then explained that the brewer was the young man I had spoken to on the way in the door. Wow. But not the last wow moment. He really was the sweetest person ever - because when I approached him to explain how and why I loved his Hefeweizen so very much, and told him I would be there at their brewery several times a week if I lived in Dallas (probably best for my bank account that I don't!), he asked where I was from. WHAT A SMALL WORLD! I was very surprised when he told me he had actually moved to Dallas FROM St. Pete 4 years ago, and he had worked at this brewery ever since moving. I mean seriously - I am an old woman, so I was so impressed that these young men were so talkative, helpful and FRIENDLY to me in the first place. But that this guy Dave (I think) (seriously - I'm not so old that I don't know that I should write these things down, because I knew before leaving that I would be giving them a great review?!?), was so very excited to discuss his beer was very impressive to me. And I am sure anyone who talks to him gets the same positive impression. Can't wait to go back!!!!!
