BMD on Tour: Dallas Trip Day 1 (Audacity Brew House, TUPPS Brewery, On Rotation, BrainDead Brewing)

The Dallas area of Texas has become a breeding ground for up and coming brewers to open up their beer making businesses all over the region. As a Craft Beer drinker, I do try to keep up with all of those breweries opening up. I have told close friends that I want to one day visit all of the Texas breweries at least once. For my 39th birthday, at the end of 2016, the wife and I packed up and visited this area for a few days, making brewery visits top priority. It was one hell of a birthday party. We had a blast. Here are some highlights from each brewery stop from this trip. Enjoy…

We woke up early in the morning so we could make sure we were able to hit up all to most of the stops in our itinerary. We drove over 5 hours straight right to our first destination, Audacity Brew House in Denton, TX. Damn, when arrived to the building, it was a sight for sore eyes just cause we were in the car for so long. We drove up to the bright green stand alone building in sheer delight we were definitely thirsty!

We arrived a little after thy opened at 11 AM. We both ordered a flight of beer, so we could taste all their offerings. The bartender was very nice, knowledgeable, and talkative with us, which helped us feel welcomed.

Beers tasted here were…

Evil Cream Soda, a spiced/herd Cream Ale. Rating: 3.75/5
White Knuckle, a Belgian IPA. Rating: 3.75/5
Boss Raptor (Passion Fruit), an American IPA with added Passion Fruit. Rating: 4.5/5
Black Widow Imperial Chocolate Stout, a Chocolate Imperial Stout. Rating: 5/5
Tequila Boss Raptor, an American IPA aged in Tequila Barrels. Rating: 5/5
Checkered Past, a Steam Beer/California Common. Official beer of Texas Motor Speedway. Rating: 3.75/5
Repercussion, a German Altbier. Rating: 4/5
Abbey Series Grand Cru, a Grand Cru or Belgian Strong Dark Ale. Rating: 4.75/5

Overall, I will say that our experience at Audacity Brew House was top notch. If I lived in the area, I would visit them all the time, if I could. I would make the trek again as well. Great job guys!

Audacity Brew House
1012 Shady Oaks Dr.
Denton, TX 76205
www.audacitybrewhouse.com

Our next destination was over in McKinney, TX, about 50 miles away to TUPPS Brewery. As soon as we neared the brewery, we could tell we would be in love with this place. To us, this brewery belongs in West Texas, near the Terlingua Ghost Town or something. We were greeted by an old rusted car with the brewery logo stamped on the door right at the entrance to the lot that the brewery sits on. Before entering inside the brewery there were hand made art pieces made from pipes wood, scrap metal, whatever the fuck they could find, it looks like. Exactly the type of stuff you would see all over Terlingua. We automatically felt at peace here.

Once inside, it was the same thing. It looked as if everything there was hand made by very artistic people. The bar, the tables, chairs, the stage, the restrooms, Hell there was even a small camper inside the brewery. Something you would see parked and lived in around the Big Bend National Park area of West Texas. We teared up in delight looking around this amazing brewery.

As usual, the wife and I got separate flights of beer, so we could share and sample all they offer. Here’s what we had…

Tuppkin, a Pumpkin Ale. Rating: 3.75/5
Black Ale, A Sweet/Milk Stout. Rating: 4.25/5
TUPPs IPA, An American IPA. Rating: 3.75/5
TUPPS Day Off, a Kölsch. Rating: 4/5
Cotton Mill Gold, an American Pale Ale. Rating: 4/5
Texas Shade, a Witbier. Rating: 3.5/5
Northbound 75, a Pale Ale with fire-roasted poblano peppers. Rating: 3.75/5
Raspberry Shade, their Texas Shade Witbier with added raspberries. Rating: 4.75/5

Once again, we feel in love with this brewery. As their beers are slowly making their way into the market here in San Antonio, I encourage all to buy, and support this brewery. Buying the beer in an outside market from where they are definitely does not give you the experience of being at this beautiful site. Take a weekend trip over to McKinney, TX and please stop by TUPPS. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

TUPPS Brewery
721 Anderson
McKinney, TX 75069
www.tuppsbrewery.com

Our third stop on Day 1 out here in North Texas was actually back in Dallas. a near hour drive, we arrived to a large shopping complex. From where we were coming in, we had to drive around back behind the to story building. On Rotation Taproom & Brewery was located on a different building in the back next to a pretty busy Italian restaurant.

On this Thursday night, we were some of the only people there at the taproom. That was OK though, as we were able to sit right up at the bar, and chit chat it up with workers, and friends.

The look was pretty clean and slick looking. All in white with a few wall hangings throughout the place. Very welcoming. The weird thing is, right next door is an Italian restaurant, and it was busy. I remember seeing a wait for seating. I don’t know why more people weren’t drinking at On Rotation. Not only do they have their own house-made brews, they carry a lot of different beers from several different breweries. I know if I lived near there, or had to wait for seating at the restaurant next door, I would be in the taproom ordering a beer or two.

We were able to taste several beers of their own this day. Check out what we had…

Watermelon Wheat, a Belgian Witbier with added watermelon. Rating: 4.5/5
Cucumber Blonde, a Blonde Ale with added cucumber. Rating: 4.5/5
Cloud City, an American IPA. Rating: 4/5
Moar Blackberry, a Saison/Farmhouse Ale brewed with champagne yeast and blackberry puree. Rating: 5/5
JC Superstar, a Blonde Ale with added cucumber and jalapeño. Rating: 3.25/5
Son on Nel, an American Strong Ale aged on white wine soaked oak chips. Rating: 4.75/5
Café Au Lait Chicory Coffee Milk Stout, a Milk Stout with added cold brew coffee and chicory. Rating: 4.5/5

As you can see, these guys have some experimental and amazing beers. I see new stuff posted from them all the time, and I wish I could get my hands on some of their newer beers. These guy run a small production, and the batches are small. I highly recommend checking out this little hidden gem of a brewery.

On Rotation Taproom + Brewery
7328 Gaston Ave., Suit 110
Dallas, TX 75214
http://www.on-rotation.com

The end of Day 1 nears us, as we arrive to our last destination, BrainDead Brewing Company in Dallas, TX. This is a place we have been dying to come to. They have a Metal attitude, and was really looking forward to this stop. One major problem though with this visit. Since we wanted to make sure we met our plans, we have not eaten yet except fore the gas station food we had picked up in San Antonio before we took off on our journey. Yes, I know we are stupid It is already evening time and we were starving, and both had huge headaches when we arrived to BrainDead, so I guess you could say that we were braindead. Lucky for us, they have an amazing food menu to compliment their awesome house beers.

We order an appetizer and eat everything buy the plate it came on. Dinner arrived, so we ate before we dove into their beers. Feeling full, but still worn down, we ordered a flight of beer.

GRITz, a pre-prohabition style Cream Ale. Rating: 3.75/5
Wild Brew Yonder, a 100% Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Var. Drei fermented wheat beer. Rating: 2.75/5
Braindead Red, an American Amber/Red Ale. Rating: 4/5
Tipperyery Stout, a Dry Irish Stout with rye and Czech hops. Rating: 4.5/5
Idle Playthings, a Belgian Strong Golden Ale. Rating: 4.25/5

We had only ordered 1 flight of beer so we shared this. We really felt comfortable and welcomed in BrainDead, and I even ran into an old friend who works there, Tyler Berry, who used to play in a band I booked a couple of times in San Antonio back in 2008, I believe. The place looked amazing, and we were happy to finally have gone there. The old retro fridge doors which make up the tap wall looks amazing. The one regret though, is as I mentioned above, we had huge headaches at this point due to lack of food in our bodies, so we need to make another visit to this brewpub again. Next time, we will be smarter about it. Food first throughout the day.

BrainDead Brewing Company
2625 Main St.
Dallas, TX 75226
www.braindeadbrewing.com

Day 1 in the books and posted here on this site. The part that takes the longest is uploading and doing minor edits to each photos. These breweries were visited on November 3rd, 2016. I am sure there has been some changes to these breweries since my last visit. Please check out these amazing Texas breweries, and support local businesses.