San Antonio Homebrew Supply

Homebrew

111 Kings Ct
San Antonio, Texas, 78212-3505
United States

// CLOSED //
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.6
Reviews:
7
Ratings:
7
pDev:
17.78%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews.
Photo of BrotherKegger
Reviewed by BrotherKegger from Texas

3.13/5  rDev -13.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 3
When I was staying in San Antonio I went to Todd's place all the time to buy my homebrew supplies, review his recipe notebook and drink one of the fine brews he has on tap. Yeah, really layed back but thats how I like it. Ya get to do what the father of home says to do,,, "Relax and Have a Brew" (Charlie Papazian). If you are a fancy yuppy brewer then this may not be the place for you,, but don't diss my favorite homebrew store. I travel all over the country and will not be back in SA for another year or so but I will be right back at the bar drinking a brew when I am back.
Oct 26, 2012
Photo of vickersspitfire
Reviewed by vickersspitfire from Texas

2.53/5  rDev -29.7%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 3 | service: 1.5 | selection: 3
I read a lot about this place before visiting it, some good and some bad. Well, I have to say its leaning more toward the bad...
Walking in I was greeted and thats it, the guy behind the counter wasn't all too intrested in me or the other customer who walked in. Everything was in some sort of order, and though it looked like it had been there a while, there was no dust on anything. He did seem to have a good selection of things, The yellow bicycle in the store was about the best thing he had in there.
Mar 27, 2010
Photo of goatgoat
Reviewed by goatgoat from Arizona

3.55/5  rDev -1.4%
New homebrewer - so take this with some salt...

The shop is in an odd state of disordered order. Everything is there, somewhere. While the fella isn't going to bust his ass for you... he'll get what you need at his own pace. Whether that's retrieving gear, milling grain, going to the back for DME or repackaging hops. And though he doesn't bubble over with advice, he did notice my newb mistake when picking out liquid yeast and got me a nice fresh bottle. It seems that a lot of ingredients tend to be 'tucked away', so asking for some help is highly recommended.

Everything I've gotten seems fresh, and my beer is pretty tasty, so I've no complaints on quality. Don't know much about selection either, but he's always had what I wanted.

It's a quirky shop that takes laid-back to a new level. Plus, a pint while shopping doesn't hurt.
May 24, 2009
Photo of cadaverous
Reviewed by cadaverous from Texas

3.7/5  rDev +2.8%
San Antonio Homebrew Supply is the only homebrewing shop in town. The selection isn't the greatest, and the hours are a bit funny, but the prices are reasonable and I've always found the owners to be pleasant and helpful.

It's good to know that there is a place in town where you can go when you find yourself lacking a key component to get a brew going without having to wait a few days for mail order.

Besides, he always has a handful of awesome beers on tap to make the trek across town a little more worth it.
Dec 11, 2008
Photo of Mitchel
Reviewed by Mitchel from Texas

2.65/5  rDev -26.4%
Hmmm...Not quite what I was expecting. I walked in and it was a modest, sullied shop. There was a small bar which at 11:00ish (am) was full of old men. Kind of a funny thing to see so early in the day. The shop part of it (homebrew supplies) was inadequately stocked and was void of organization. There were bags of supplies on the floor and not a whole lot going on.
Having that said, the employees or owners (whatever) were polite. Prices were tolerable, but nothing special here. Check it out. If you live in the area and are looking for something different then catch a glimpse. You might be one for the under the radar vibe. Not bad overall, but somewhat dirty (the bottles in the windows are covered with heaps of dust and the floor of the whole establishment were filthy, just to give you and example). Oh yeah, parking sucks! But oh well, beer is worth it.
Nov 09, 2005
Photo of mgdeth
Reviewed by mgdeth from Montana

3.35/5  rDev -6.9%
With all due respect to TPoling's eloquently written review of this establishment, I am not really impressed with San Antonio Homebrew Supply.

AS TPoling points out, the draw here is not really the fact that this place is a homebrew store. The place actually looks and feels more like a bar to me. It is pretty dark inside, and a lot of commercial floor space is wasted. In the main room, they have wooden lounging-type furniture and a few tables rather than shelves stocked with homebrew goodies. Kegs and bargs of grain are sort of strewn haphazardly about, and I get the feeling the place is way past its heyday.

That being said, one wall if stocked full of homebrew equipment, and the selection is all right. Hop selection is okay, but the liquid yeast selection seems small (White Labs only) and incomplete. They did not have mead yeast when I tried to purchase it.

That brings me to the next point, service. The service is just okay. The proprietor and his wife are friendly, and I get the feeling that they want to be helpful (and generally they are). Nevertheless, the store has a run-down-mining-town feel to it. As far as I can tell, this largely mirrors the beer scene in San Antonio. My earnest hope is that they will sink some serious money and effort into cleaning the place up and promoting it more agressively. This store could provide the impetus for kicking the San Antonio beer scene into high gear, but sadly this seems unlikely.

The store has potential, but until more focus and energy is brought to bear on making it a kick-ass establishment, they are likely to lose a fair amount of business to their competition.
Oct 24, 2004
Photo of TPoling
Reviewed by TPoling from Texas

4.35/5  rDev +20.8%
San Antonio Homebrew Supply & Bar isn't a place where huge selection is the attraction. There are only about six to eight taps going at any given time, but they are always fresh and a tribute to the best of the best in several styles.

The real draw is that as the only homebrew supply shop in town, this is where people go to talk about beer. This is a melting pot of clientele brought together by love of great beer.

Proprieter Todd Huntress added the bar to the shop, where there thankfully is no smoking, when he moved to the location closer to downtown. The location is in a part of town once a hotspot known as the St. Mary's Strip. It has made a comeback, but with fewer clubs than the 1980s heyday.

Another plus is that the distributors also drink here and the bar often gets the first kegs of special beers to hit town, such as Bigfoot and Celebration from Sierra Nevada and other micros with "big" beers.
May 02, 2003
San Antonio Homebrew Supply in San Antonio, TX
Place rating: 3.6 out of 5 with 7 ratings