Past meets present at Ancient Future Beer Dinner, July 15

Image courtesy of Priory.

Priory Beer Dinners & Collab Brews has announced plans for its next beer dinner, with the group set to team up this time around with Celestial Beerworks of Dallas.

As always, the Priory team collaborated with the brewery beforehand to create a recipe using a unique culinary ingredient not typically seen in modern-day beer. In this case, the ancient grain fonio adds to the foundation for a hazy IPA, meaning there is an old school meets new school kind of coupling at the core of this partnership. 

Fonio is a type of heritage millet grain grown in West Africa and has been cultivated for over 5,000 years, making it Africa’s oldest cultivated cereal crop. It has a small grain structure similar to quinoa or couscous, but much smaller.

What’s truly unique about this grain is that it needs very little water to grow and can be harvested multiple times per year. This makes fonio very versatile and sustainable, especially in arid climates. Fonio is more well known in culinary circles, having only been used in the beer world in the last few years, primarily thanks to the efforts head brewer Garrett Oliver, from Brooklyn Brewery of New York.

According to a press release, fonio was added directly into the mash, which was hopped with Rakau hops from New Zealand to create a fonio hazy IPA. The hops will predominantly lend a fruity character with notes of apricot, peach and mango to the beer, while fonio will add a passionfruit-like flavor once fully fermented. These flavors combined will create a fruit-forward aroma bursting with notes of tropical fruit, and a punchy bite with notes on stone fruit on the tongue.

As for the beer's name, 'Ancient Future' relays back to the ancient roots of fonio while looking forward to its sustainability in a world where natural resources are becoming increasingly more valuable.

For the Ancient Future Beer Dinner, coming up on July 15th at Celestial Beerworks - The Satellite, Chef Ben Walter of Priory has designed a four-course menu for the evening, including fonio directly into some of the dishes themselves. Tickets for the event are $85pp and may be purchased at https://www.priorybeer.com/events/ancient-future-celestial-beer-dinner.

Simpsons show-runner bringing mystery dinner to Vector Brewing

Image credit: Bill Oakley.

Have a cow, man, or maybe not. After all, the menu for this seven-course mystery dinner must remain a secret.

But what can be shared is who’s behind it: Vector Brewing of Dallas and Bill Oakley, former show runner of “The Simpsons.” Yes, those Simpsons. He isn’t creating cartoon pop culture anymore. Instead, Bill has decided he wants to be a food celebrity. So far, so good. His many food-related projects include the creation and curation of an American Culinary Curiosity Dinner, which he’s bringing to Dallas via Vector Brewing.

“Bill reached out to us on our website. I couldn’t believe it,” says Veronica Bradley, co-owner of Vector Brewing. “In fact, I didn’t believe it. I had actually just watched a Simpsons documentary with him in it, so I thought friends were pranking me.”

According to a press release, the dinner will include seven courses of popular city-specific meals from around the United States. There will be an amuse bouche, two appetizers, a soup, a palate cleanser, an entree, and a dessert. During the dinner, Bill will give a presentation about the foods, share stories, play videos, and entertain. It’s a full night of curated food and comedy—truly dinner and a show. Vector has also created a seven-drink pairing to go along with the dinner (if stomachs can handle it).

“We’re having a lot of fun planning this dinner,” says Bradley. “We’re known for doing weird and wacky foods and events, so this feels very on brand.”

Bill Oakley Presents: An American Culinary Curiosity Dinner at Vector Brewing will take place twice, once on Sunday, July 19th, and then again on Monday, July 20th. Tickets for the event are $135pp, including tax and gratuity, and are available at vectorbrewing.com/tickets.

Thomboys Brewing Co. signs lease on space in Van Alstyne

Image credit: Thomboys Brewing Co.

A new project to be called Thomboys Brewing Co. has set its sights on Van Alstyne after signing a lease on a spot in the city's 121 Business Park, located just west of U.S. 75 at 14333 FM 121.

Thomboys is led by Bryan Thomas, who is looking to forge his own path with this self-branded venture after building a brewing resume which includes stops at Ivanhoe Ale Works of Denison, Steam Theory Brewing Co. of Dallas and others.

Obviously, it's very early in the development process, but Thomas hopes to get to work right away on the space with the goal of opening by the end of the year. Once that happens, plans are to focus on distribution at first, with a taproom to follow at a later date.

Three locals honored at 2026 National Homebrew Competition

Image credit: American Homebrewers Association.

Three area homebrewers were honored tonight at the 2026 National Homebrew Competition (NHC), taking place this year in Asheville, North Carolina.

Hosted by the American Homebrewers Association, this year's event drew 3575 entries from homebrewers located around the world. Submissions were then judged across 40 categories covering homebrewed beer, cider (and perry) and mead.

Award winners from North Texas are summarized below. You can also click here to view a complete competition summary.

Barry Forrest of Dallas.

• Silver in the Smoke-Flavored Beer category.
• Club Affiliation: Horsemen of the Hopocalypse.

Karl Wayne King of Colleyville.

• Silver in the Strong European Lager category.
• Club Affiliation: Cap & Hare Homebrew Club.

Jarrett Long of Arlington.

• Gold in the Specialty IPA category.
• Bronze in the Specialty Mead category.
• Club Affiliation: Horsemen of the Hopocalypse.

Cheers and congratulations to all!