The Dodging Duck Brewhaus

The Dodging Duck BrewhausThe Dodging Duck Brewhaus
The Dodging Duck BrewhausThe Dodging Duck Brewhaus
Brewery, Bar, Eatery

402 River Road
Boerne, Texas, 78006
United States

(830) 248-3825 | map
dodgingduck.com
BEER STATS
Average:
3.63
Beers:
45
Ratings:
73
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.74
Reviews:
15
Ratings:
17
pDev:
10.96%
View: Beers | Place Reviews
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Ratings by HardTarget:
Photo of HardTarget
Reviewed by HardTarget from Texas

3.3/5  rDev -11.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | food: 2
A) Old house across the street from the river. Small rooms, brew shed out back. It's family friendly, but seemed to sport an older crowd.

Q) Beers were solid, the pumpkin was very good, if a bit heavy on the clove.

S) Bit slow, food took a long time, but the samplers were appreciated.

S) 4 beers on tap, an Alt, Pumpkin, Dunkleish, and an ESB. The pumpkin stood out, the Alt was more of a Blonde, the Dunkle was pleasant but mild, and the ESB was aggressively hopped, but Fuggle forward which isn't to my tastes.

F) Burger was overdone, fries were underdone, kind of disappointing.

Wish I had a place like this in my town, it's well worth a visit.
Nov 15, 2009
More User Ratings:
Photo of WillieThreebiers
Reviewed by WillieThreebiers from Connecticut

3.71/5  rDev -0.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.75 | service: 3.75 | selection: 3.5
Sprawling, mostly outdoor brewpub with multi-tiered patio. Small L-shaped bar to the right of entry seat 8 with plenty of tables in and out. Only 6 beers on tap, I had the Big Duck IPA, a bit astringent. Efficient service. I did not try the food.
Mar 02, 2020
Photo of ryan_sprayberry
Reviewed by ryan_sprayberry from Texas

3.13/5  rDev -16.3%
vibe: 2 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 2.5 | food: 3.5
So, a long-time resident of Boerne, I've had a love-hate with the Duck. First off, this is the first real brewery in town and they definitely deserve props for coming in so early. Second, the brewery is almost always doing interesting stuff and exploring new brews. Piggy-back to second, while they do interesting stuff, I really think they could push the number of taps they have out at once. Selection is pretty weak for such a well-established joint. They could push growth a little bit without sacrificing any quality. Third, service is usually a crapshoot. Fourth, food ranges from quite tasty to quite poor, but all is fairly pricey. Vibe is average to below-average. To sum it up, I would say big props to the brew team - great quality, trying new flavors/styles, but I'm not so wild about management, I wish they'd offer more taps/options, get better service and limit the food offerings (focus on doing things well, rather than offering, literally, a little bit of everything).
Dec 20, 2017
 
Rated: 4.58 by Sabre311 from Texas

Dec 08, 2015
 
Rated: 3.15 by srletend from Texas

Mar 29, 2015
Photo of Mora2000
Reviewed by Mora2000 from Texas

3.6/5  rDev -3.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 4
A very nice little brewpub in Boerne, about 20 minutes outside of NE San Antonio (Fiesta Texas, UTSA area). Located on River Road near Cibolo Creek, Dodging Duck has a nice outdoor patio as well as seating inside. There are typically four house beers available as well as a nice selection of wine. The beers are available in 4 ounce samplers, half pints and full pints, and can be filled in growlers for take home. The food is nothing too fancy but is pretty good. Definitely place worthy of stopping if you are driving down I-10 and are passing through Boerne.
Nov 17, 2011
Photo of champ103
Reviewed by champ103 from Texas

3.4/5  rDev -9.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5
Onslow and I stopped by before visiting Freetail in San Antonio. This is a very nice and friendly brewpub. A wood building that is made up of several little rooms with a large deck in front. A very small bar taken up by the regulars and tables scattered about. Homey and worn in. I like it.

They had four beers on tap. A wheat, coffee stout, Irish red, and a winter warmer on nitro. The winter warmer was the winner for me. The others were all kind of bland and watery. Still, all were enjoyable.

We just had some appetizers, which were good but nothing great. I will refrain from judging until I get a chance to have some of the other food items. All seemed simple though. Burgers, sandwiches, and some German sausages were on the menu.

Overall, this is a nice local spot. If I lived in the area, I could see being a regular. Nothing all that special, but solid, simple, and fun. You can't beat sitting out on the large deck right across from the river with a local beer.
Mar 21, 2010
Photo of tdawgydog
Reviewed by tdawgydog from New York

3.68/5  rDev -1.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5
Was on vacation in San Antonio and visiting a Dude ranch out in Boerne when we stumbled upon the Dodging Duck Brewhaus.

Wife had a Brewhaus Burger, I had the grilled chicken sandwich. Both sandwiches came on a homemade cheddar jalapeno bun which was superb and really makes the sandwich a step above the rest. We had some of the homemade chips and homemade fries as sides and they were both very good.

As for the beer, I started with the sampler, they were out of one type of beer so they subbed cider. The pumpkin ale was pretty good a little sweet, the dunkleweisen was meh, but the ESB with a west coast twist was pretty good and I settled on a pint of that with my lunch.

Overall we really enjoyed this place, I wish we had somewhere like this in our neck of the woods.
Nov 07, 2009
Photo of hiikeeba
Reviewed by hiikeeba from Texas

4/5  rDev +7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 3 | food: 4.5
My cousin and I stopped in on Sunday for lunch and a beer. We had been talking about stopping for a year or so and finally managed to think about it as we were driving. We arrived as the place opened and ordered a sampler. Once of the wait staff brought us a bowl of tortilla chips and salsa, explaining that on a Texas Sunday before noon, they could only give us beer with food. The place has a casual atmosphere outside, a bit more formal inside. I had fish and chips, which were excellent. My cousin had pork tenderloin with chimichurri sauce and looked really good, too.

There are only four beers on tap: a honey wheat, Biergesfest Ale (named after the local beer fest coming up), an English bitter (That was excellent. If I could remember the name, I would recommend it hartily! It was perfect with the fish and chips.), and a vanilla porter that was a little short on vanilla and should have been named a coffee porter (It was good, though! Just a let down).
May 27, 2008
Photo of Atlas1
Reviewed by Atlas1 from Texas

3.35/5  rDev -10.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 3
On a whim I stopped in at the Dodging Duck for a quick pint and a bite to eat after a morning class at the Cibolo Nature Center just down the road. I'd never heard of the place before, but I noticed it as I was driving to the Center earlier this morning. Figured I owed myself a pint after attending a morning work-related seminar on a saturday.

The Duck is kind of a cool bar/brew pub. It's in an old house, and has a funky feel to it. I sat out on the patio and enjoyed a mild May hill country day. Inside, it had an eclectic, slightly stuffy feel to it, but the patio was quite sociable and commodious. There were about 12-15 tables outside, and the patio was about half full.

The brew pub is situated on River Road, and is right across the street from the Cibolo Creek and River Road Park. It was relatively peaceful, despite the busy street.

The staff was nice and relatively helpful. But they were really young and I'm not sure how knowledgeable they were about beers. There were two snotty homebrew jerks sitting at the table next to me, constantly criticizing every beer they tasted and beckoning to the poor young waitress who was assigned to them that she should go back and tell the brewer that he was doing certain things the wrong way. They weren't just jerks, they were idiots. I wish I could have ignored them, but no such luck. That said, I don't hold their behavior against the brew pub.

I had the Hidden Passage IPA, but they also had a hefeweizen, a wheat, and a vanilla porter on tap. You can get a pint ($4.50) or opt for a sampler flight ($5). I had some mediocre fried green tomatoes (although the cilantro sauce they came with was great), but the menu there is fairly extensive. Lots of sandwiches and pub grub and burgers, but a large salad selection as well.

On the whole, it's not a bad place. I'm eager to give the porter a try on my next visit. A good place to visit if you're in Boerne for the day or just passing through. Good, but not great craft beer.
May 04, 2008
Photo of SkeeterHawk
Reviewed by SkeeterHawk from Texas

3.98/5  rDev +6.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5
Patronized 6-2-06

We made a detour here that was quite out of the way, but I was happy to learn that we could bring our 12# dog with us on the porch, so we stopped here for lunch.

The beers were all quality and well presented. I liked that you could order half-pints so that I could try all four that were on tap without having to wonder if I could continue driving. The beers were all led by the malt in the finish and this was something I really enjoyed as I am a malt-head, not a hop-head.

The food was pretty tasty. The menu wasn't huge, but what they had was pretty good. The price was pretty high for what you got, but I guess the fact that they make their own potato chips gives an excuse to crank the price up a bit...or not. Anyway, it was decent for the price.

The inside is pretty dark and quaint, and looked like a nice place to take your significant other. We stuck to the porch, which gave a nice view of the river going by. I would eat here again if I was a little closer, but I doubt I will drive an hour each way again to go here.
Jun 11, 2006
Photo of briman
Reviewed by briman from Texas

3.6/5  rDev -3.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 4
Vistited the Dodging Duck during a short trip a couple of summers back. Nice little place right alongside the river. Only real downer is that parking is a bit of a challenge. Had the sampler, and would say that they produce 4 very good, but not extraordinary beers. Of the four beers offered, my favorite was the Starducks Espresso Stout. A bowl of tortilla soup was the only food we had time to try, but this was good as well. The people and service were nice & friendly and made us feel very welcome.
Mar 06, 2006
Photo of Mitchel
Reviewed by Mitchel from Texas

4.33/5  rDev +15.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5
The Dodging Duck Brewhaus is much of what has been stated before. Having that said…read the other reviews. They are all perfectly lucid reviews, so, on to my opinion. It is a very charming place. Brewpub, no; a place where you can get good micro beers at a reasonable price, yes! I think that some of the other reviewers have given this place sub par reviews in the food area and I feel that this is not true. But then again, what do I know?

I went there today with a few friends and had an excellent time. The food was great and the beer was good. They were having trouble with one of the beers carbonating (Old Speckled Duck), so they gave us Woodchuck Cider (obviously not their own brew) in its place.I was really disappointed….seeing as how the beer that was out was the one that I was the most interested in trying. Oh well!

So, we did have the ‘Quacker in the Rye Ale’. It was a little yeasty and skunky for my tastes and for the tastes of my friends as well. We also had the ‘Dodging Duck Double Chocolate Stout’ which was delightful. It was very smoky. It seems like it had almost too much of a roasted character to it. I was looking for more of a malty taste to it, but it was still a good beer and everybody else in the group liked it just fine. The ‘Kill your Bill India Pale Lager’ was my favorite (I had more than my fair share of this one). This beer tasted like an IPA with some Lager yeast (would that be it what makes an IPL?), delicious!

The service was pretty good. The server seemed to be the only one working the whole place, and if that was the case, she did a great job! The food was excellent and there were lots of choices. We had a huge spread of artichoke dip, chorizo nachos, and entrees including bratwurst, knockwurst, and burgers. We ended it all with a delicious brownie and some ice cream. All of the portions of food were more than adequate; everything was great with the foodstuff. Watch out for that tasty mustard…..damn it’s hot!
Feb 21, 2006
Photo of Gagnonsux
Reviewed by Gagnonsux from Texas

3.88/5  rDev +3.7%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5
Atmosphere- The Dodging Duck is located in a converted house with brewing equipment located in the back. From the outside this place looked too cute and purposely quaint. A nice patio with a view of the river is located out front, but today was way too cold for outside dining. The inside looked more like a tearoom than a brewpub, I didn't feel this place was decorated with the average brewpub fan in mind. I could be wrong since the other beerfly reviewers enjoyed Dodging's atmosphere.

Quality- All of the four beers I got to taste were very good to great. The dopplebock was very malty and hid the 8% ABV nicely. The ESB was balanced, the porter very fresh with roasted flavor, and the barleywine was very complex.

Service- Very attentive service, plus I heard our waitress talking about taking a growler home for herself so I figure she knows the beer well.

Selection- Only five beers, the 4 I listed earlier and an APA. Since the quality was great this wasn't a problem.

Food- Average tasting and not big enough. Plus their menu didn't have as many choices as most places do.

I totally recommend the beer here, and the food isn't bad. Too bad this place looks like a tearoom.
Dec 17, 2004
Photo of mgdeth
Reviewed by mgdeth from Montana

3.7/5  rDev -1.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5
The Dodging Duck is a small brewhaus located in Boerne, Texas, not too far from the downtown area. They have a deck where you can sit outside overlooking the park and small creek across the street. The establishment is small, but clean and neat, and the service was good.

I was impressed with the quality of the beer. I highly recommend the espresso stout - it conjured up images of Redhook's Double Black Stout. The beer selection is reasonable - 5 or 6 different styles (I have not yet tried them all), which seems reasonable for a small place. The service can be slow and mediocre.

The food was pretty good, too. The meals come dressed up a little bit, i.e. it is more then just a burger and fries. Prices are almost reasonable.

Drawbacks - the waitresses were not super-knowledgeable about the beer. However, the owner came out and introduced himself and answered my questions.

I recommend the Dodging Duck. It is well worth the short trek up I-10 from San Antonio to the Duck.
Oct 24, 2004
Photo of BeerZack
Reviewed by BeerZack from North Carolina

3.7/5  rDev -1.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 4.5
Very unique place, a converted old house with a cool patio in front where you can see the ducks in the river across the street. Even people who don't like beer will like this place with its extensive wine selections and really good food.
The Starducks Espresso Stout will impress dry stout lovers that crave coffee flavors. Its on nitro, so its creamy, but not overdone like some.
The european Pilsner was also a good choice. It smells as good as it tastes!
One of the only reasons I can see for going to Boerne.
Jun 27, 2004
Photo of charlesw
Reviewed by charlesw from New York

4.43/5  rDev +18.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 5
Cute little brewpub across the road from the river in beautiful downtown Boerne, Texas.

Greeted and seated by a nice woman who noticed my White Labs tshirt, asked if I was a brewer and if I wanted to meet their brewer. So, what the heck, I did. Nice guy. Good philosophy, methinks. He had experience brewing in big "industrial" brewpubs where you brew the same recipes all of the time and then a couple of years ago the Dodging Duck started up and he was lucky to get the job of brewer. He's got 4 serving tanks and had brewed up almost as many different beers as months that the place has been open. Nice!

I had an India Pale LAGER (115 IBUs!) with my veggie wrap. The lager was pretty good - tasted like a "light" barleywine, to me. The veggie wrap was, by far, the best I've ever eaten.

Also on tap that day - a golden ale, an esb (gold medal winner at the wbc), an espresso stout (also a gold medal winner) and a barleywine. They offer growlers and sampler platters.

Full menu with good (inexpensive) lunch specials, wine, meat and sausage, seafood and shelled critter and veggie apps, soups, salads, sammies and plates.

Hey, if you're ever in San Antonio or Austin it's worth the trip out!
Apr 30, 2004
The Dodging Duck Brewhaus in Boerne, TX
Brewery rating: 3.63 out of 5 with 73 ratings