Brutal Beerworks closing in North Richland Hills

Image credit: Brutal Beerworks.

Brutal Beerworks has announced it will close its brewery in North Richland Hills.

Founded by Eric Johnson, Sallie McIntyre and Jason Perez, the company opened in July 2019 as the first brewery in the city. From there, Brutal Beerworks embraced a more modern approach in featuring an ever-changing lineup of hazy IPAs, stouts, and the brewery's popular Gusherz line of fruited sour beers.

As apropos as it is given the circumstances, the Brutal name was a reference to the difficulties in opening and maintaining a brewery in the face of market challenges and other everyday responsibilities. That message coming through loud and clear in a social media post sharing the news.

"We’ve fought tooth and nail to keep the brewery going, but due to our lease coming to an end and rent prices shooting through the roof, we are no longer able to keep moving forward. "

Operations will continue through the final day of business on Saturday, December 2.

False Idol medals at 2023 Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer

Image credit: False Idol Brewing.

Marking its territory as the site of arguably one of the area's better barrel programs, False Idol Brewing of North Richland Hills has been honored with an award at the 2023 Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer (FOBAB).

Started in 2003, FOBAB is put on by the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild. The event is the largest and most distinguished festival of its kind in North America. At this year's competition, over 300 entries were submitted, with brewers vying for awards across 12 distinct categories.

False Idol received a bronze medal for Two Faced Terror (14% ABV), an English-style barleywine aged for 17 months in bourbon barrels from Heaven Hill Distillery, and then for another 7 months in barrels from 1792. The beer was a limited batch released by the brewery in late October - cans of which sold out quickly.

For more on the 2023 FOBAB, click here to view a complete list of winners.

False Idol Brewing, North Richland Hills

• Bronze for Two Faced Terror in the Barleywine/Wheatwine category.
  

Cheers and congrats to False Idol Brewing!

Keyworth Brewing Co. now open in North Richland Hills

All photos © Brian Brown/Beer in Big D.

By all accounts, the road to opening the area's newest brewery has been a long one. The name Keyworth Brewing Co. first popped up during the pandemic, with the build-out originally beginning sometime in late 2020. All's well that ends well, though, as the company finally reached the finish line and is now pouring beer in North Richland Hills.

A family-owned enterprise sporting an eponymous moniker, I counted at least two Keyworth couples working the crowd on opening day - Josh and Michelle Keyworth, along with Kevin and Angela Keyworth. Together they welcomed a steady stream of thirsty beer drinkers anxious to experience all the new business has to offer.

Keyworth's locale, by the way, occupies a 2,500 square foot spot at 6428 Davis Blvd., this being part of a retail development called The Railyard in North Richland Hills. The structure itself is raised, with patrons primarily accessing the brewery by way of a stairwell leading up from a parking lot down below.

The production space - equipped with hardware from Stout Tanks & Kettles - fronts the primary taproom seating area at Keyworth Brewing Co.

Once through the doors, visitors are met with an open and inviting space designed around the production area acting as a centerpiece. Amenities include typical seating options (barstools, table tops) and a family-friendly lounge (complete with a selection of board games) on the inside, with a small patio supplementing the public area outside. Wide-screen televisions are tacked to the wall as well, for those desiring a bit of visual distraction during their visit.

Shifting gears to the beer, Keyworth offered up a starting slate of nine house recipes (tapwall capacity is 12 handles). In addition to straightforward selections like a kölsch, helles bock and a farmhouse ale, the lineup featured a pair of fruited sours, two IPAs and a chocolate-peanut butter stout. There was also an interesting pecan amber ale called Scrat's Stash, this beer presenting with a sort of candied caramel pecan character.

As for other menu items, guest wines and cider are available for those preferring a different indulgence, while sodas are stocked in the fridge as a non-alcoholic alternative. Food-wise, snack chips are sold in the taproom, or you can order in from the neighboring Back Forty Smokehouse.

It's also worth mentioning Keyworth is the third brewery to set up shop in the city, joining Brutal Beerworks and False Idol Brewing. The trio exists within a three-mile stretch, which creates a convenient day-trip for craft beer seekers making a trek to the Mid-Cities.

On that note, look for Keyworth Brewing Co. to operate on weekends initially, with doors opening at noon on Saturday and Sunday. The brewery plans to expand its hours to select weekdays sometime later in September.

False Idol's opening week puts wolf pack on the prowl

False Idol debuted with six beers in cans (© Brian Brown/Beer in Big D).

In March 2019, founders Dominique Van Ausdall and Brandon Pitzer debuted the False Idol brand with the first in a series of beers released under license at another local brewery. Since then, they've held to a vision of opening day at the company's permanent home in North Richland Hills, with beers flowing inside a packed taproom and overflow crowds spilling out into the parking lot.

Images of a grand gathering had to be put on hold, however, thanks to the pandemic. So, with a thirsty wolf pack waiting, False Idol chose to persevere through the pause by shifting all efforts to full-scale production. This, even knowing options might be limited when it came time for delivery due to the economic shutdown. Thankfully, though, the company hit on a stroke of luck right when the initial run was ready.

"The loss of taproom sales for an opener is a big hit, but kegs sales were better than expected," says Van Ausdall. "We were fortunate to have sold out kegs to FullClip Craft Distributors for Dallas-Fort Worth distribution the week before most places seemed to open back up as normal."

Thus began an opening week Van Ausdall's describes as "interesting to say the least." In addition to kegs, False Idol packaged six beers (two IPAs, two stouts, a hefeweizen and a blonde ale) for sale in four-packs in time for its premier. These, in turn, were doled out by way of beer drops occurring across the area.

Among the beers, one of the better hazy IPAs I've enjoyed of late, Cut the Red Tape, has been the brewery's best seller so far. Fans of the beer will be happy to know it's set to return, but in general stouts and IPAs will rotate at False Idol (in terms of both style and strength), with alternatives like a pilsner and a mango passionfruit Berliner weisse added to the mix as well.

"We have a lot in store, and balanced offerings is the plan," explains Van Ausdall. "We want to make sure we can provide beer for all walks of life when people come to the taproom, drink our beer around Texas, or buy our cans to-go."

As for what's ahead, False Idol intends to resume work on the hospitality side of the business, with production continuing to ensure a consistent supply of kegs and cans remains in the market. 

"We put all our money and focus on getting beer brewed and canned, so the next step is getting our taproom ready for guests in the next month or two," says Van Ausdall. "One bright spot is Covid allowed us to focus on one thing and get the process down. So, when we add the taproom to the mix we should be ready to roll."

Second Greg Etzel memorial beer to benefit Direct Relief

Image courtesy of Brutal Beerworks.

The newest entry in an ongoing series of beers honoring the memory of Fort Worth homebrewer Greg Etzel is set to debut this week, with the release of Etzelbock (5.8% ABV) by Brutal Beerworks of North Richland Hills.

Etzelbock follows the beer that kicked-off the series, Wetzelbock, a weizenbock brewed by Cowtown Brewing Co. of Fort Worth. Like the first beer, Etzelbock is based on one of Etzel's own homebrew recipes, but as the name implies, Etzelbock adheres to the standards of a traditional German bock beer. The style selection being a purposeful departure from the everyday lineup at Brutal Beerworks, which tends to feature a variety of IPAs, sour beers and stouts.

"We wanted to do a beer style that we typically don't do, and Greg's Tic Tok Bock was a perfect choice for us," says Eric Johnson, co-founder at Brutal Beerworks.

As for why he thought it was important for the team at Brutal Beerworks to get involved in the project, Johnson's reasoning was simple and succinct as he added, "We did a beer in Greg's honor because he was an all-around great person to everyone."

Sixteen-ounce cans of Etzelbock will go on sale at Brutal Beerworks beginning on Wednesday, May 6. A portion of proceeds from sales of the beer will be donated to Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization providing targeted assistance to communities recovering from disasters like the Covid-19 pandemic.

Brutal Beerworks a new Mid-Cities stop for hops

Brutal Beerworks' week three taplist included Mother Heffer, a milk stout,
and Collider, a hazy Pineapple IPA (Photo: © Brian Brown/Beer in Big D).

North Richland Hills is the latest North Texas city to welcome its first-ever brewing operation, as Brutal Beerworks is now up and running at 8447 Boulevard 26, in the southeastern section of the Fort Worth suburb.

Founders Eric Johnson, Sallie McIntyre and Jason Perez form the team behind Brutal Beerworks, a name which has been a mainstay on the homebrew competition circuit for a number of years. The group converted a 3400 square foot retail end cap in order to make the business a reality, opening the space to a standing-room only crowd on June 16.

Early visitors lined up to try inaugural offerings which included a half-dozen IPAs, two flavored stouts and a German-style kölsch thrown in for good measure. A similar array of selections was found when I stopped in for a few beers (and crowlers to-go) this past weekend, but a Belgian amber brewed with boysenberries was added to the mix as well. That beer, called Valkyrie, was the preferred pour for me among those I tried, with Electric Haze Machine being the favored hazy IPA.

The brewery's location in North Richland Hills features an open layout that helps
maximize available elbow room (Photos: © Brian Brown/Beer in Big D, click for a larger version).

Regarding the location itself, Brutal Beerworks is the second brewery to pop up near the Mid Cities region of North Texas, following Turning Point Beer's debut in Bedford last year. Eventually, they'll both be joined by False Idol Brewing Co. (also in North Richland Hills) to form a triad along the TX-183/TX-121 corridor between Dallas and Fort Worth. Once they all are established, a mere five miles will separate the three breweries.

Getting back to the here and now, though, look for Brutal Beerworks to rotate its lineup regularly while pouring upwards of 16 beers on a weekly basis. And based on early returns (not to mention the group's history at amateur events in the past), expect hops to continue to play a big role in the brewery's portfolio.

As for when to visit, Brutal Beerworks is currently set up as a late-week destination, with hours Thursday through Sunday.