Hops and Grain Opens a New Tap Room

Local brewery Hops and Grain opened their new tap room over the weekend for their popular tasting room hours. The new space boasts one hundred seats for beer enthusiasts, as well as eight taps for their experimental Greenhouse beers. Owner Josh Hare told Eater back in October that this new, expanded space should eventually transform into a brewpub with a small food menu. For now, tasting room hours will be Wednesday-Friday from 2-8pm and Saturdays from noon-6pm. The full press release, which includes some details on the brewery's new "lab," is below.

HOPS & GRAIN BREWERY OPENS NEW TAP ROOM
Answering Patrons' Demands, Hops & Grain
Will Now Seat 100 in New Tap Room Space

(Austin, TX) –As of last weekend, Hops & Grain Brewery has opened its new tap room to the public, adjacent to the brewery and boasting 80 more seats than previously, eight Greenhouse beers on tap and cans of its permanent lineup. The new hours will be Wednesday – Friday from 2 - 8PM, and Saturday from noon – 6PM. Tours will be offered daily and if guests take their beer with a side of Yahtzee, they are in luck, as a variety of board games will be available. Hops & Grain will also open up additional space in the brewery on Saturdays to give guests a more intimate look at the production facility. In addition, the space will be available to rent Sunday – Tuesday for private events and charitable functions.

"We made the conscious decision to use the new space for the tap room, when we very well could have used it for fermentation space. We did this simply because we want folks in our space, comfortably—learning more about what we do and educating them on our passion for craft and sustainability. And if you have visited our tap room before, you will appreciate the extra room," says owner Josh Hare.

In addition to the new space, Hops & Grain has been quite busy. Just on the heels of their two-year anniversary, Hops & Grain has quadrupled fermentation capacity, going from two fermenters to nine, and increased staff size, from three to six employees. In addition, they have produced over 140 different style beers in their own personal beer lab, the Greenhouse—quite the feat for a three bbl pilot system. In 2012, the brewery produced and sold 1,250 barrels, and by the end of 2013, they put out 3,000 barrels. In 2014, they are expecting to produce 6,000.

Hare also promoted Bob Galligan to a head brewing position and brought Bree Clark to the team as the brewery's very own lab manager and quality control specialist. Under Hare's tutelage, Galligan went from manning the canning line, to brewing, to now managing the brewery's Greenhouse production. Clark boasts a bachelor's degree in Biology and Genetics and a master's in Biochemistry from A&M, where she spent several years doing research on yeast metabolism. The former tap room will be transformed into Clark's lab.