Ash & Ember brings first brewery to Cedar Hill

All photos: © Brian Brown/Beer in Big D.

Pandemic or not, the roster of North Texas breweries continues to grow, as evidenced by this weekend's opening of Ash & Ember Brewing in the City of Cedar Hill.

Located just off U.S. 67 at 226 Texas St., Ash & Ember is the first brewery in Cedar Hill. Its facility sits a fair distance away from other like businesses, with no other breweries existing within a 10-mile radius. This, according to co-founder Brian Krajcirovic, played a role in site selection as he and business partner, Timothy Martin, were deciding on where to establish the enterprise.

Now up and running, Ash & Ember occupies a 5000 square foot building. Currently, the company is utilizing about half of the space for its taproom and production areas, with the rest reserved for the possible addition of a lounge-like room in the future.

For production, Ash & Ember employs a five-barrel brewing system and four 10-barrel
fermenters. Beer names call attention to points of interest around the City of Cedar Hill.

As for the here and now, Ash & Ember's opening day offerings were Lumber Yard Lager, High Pointe Porter and Tower Red IPA. All were easy-drinking styles of moderate strength, and such characteristics will be the norm for most brews produced onsite. Bigger beers will occasionally appear, but the focus at Ash & Ember is on making what Krajcirovic refers to as "beers for the beer drinker."

In terms of the brewery's overall portfolio, Krajcirovic says recipes will rotate. At a minimum, though, patrons can expect Ash & Ember's tap wall to feature a light beer, something dark and an IPA on a typical day, with future selections to include a German-style hefeweizen and a Scottish wee heavy.

Once the pandemic passes, taproom hours will take place on Fridays at Ash & Ember, with tour packages set for Saturdays, and to-go only service available Tuesday through Thursday. Of course, for now it's to-go only all the time, so stay tuned to social media (Facebook, Instagram) for updates on operations at the area's newest brewery.