Oskar Blues setting up brewery in Austin?!

Wow, This is great news .! Love OB & Austin are a perfect fit . !
Ten-Fidy, fresh from the Tap room. W/ live music . YES....... !

 

Now the question becomes: What are they going to do when Austin runs out of water?

It's well known that lake travis can't support the explosive population growth that's been happening in Austin for the last few years... it got a slight reprieve this spring with the torrential rains that swept through texas in May, but that's not going to last...

Personally, if I'm going to open a brewery, I'm gonna pick a spot that isn't known to be running out of water... but that's just me.

Dear california....

 

Isn't Lake Travis at normal levels now?

And TX is always in 4 year droughts and 1 year of El Niño rains to replenish everything.

 

The population has been exploding since the 70s. I don't know where you're getting this "last few years" stuff. The drought the last few years is what was exceptional. And now the lake's full.

 

maybe i'm talking out of my ass...

I thought I had read a number of articles talking about the growth of Austin and the population that could be supported by the reservoir of Lake Travis.... but as I'm googling it looking for articles, nothing seems to pop up...

Guess I imagined it... sorry. I retract my previous statement...

Back to topic: YEAH FRESH OB!!

 

Growers of ba fiddy prease.

 

http://bitchbeer.org/2015/10/21/oskar-blues-marketing-director-chad-melis-talks-austin-brewery/

I found this excerpt a little disheartening:
BB: Texas laws currently pose some unfortunate challenges to being able to operate this taproom the same way you operate your Colorado and North Carolina taprooms since Texas doesn’t allow beer-to-go sales from production breweries (whether that’s cans, growlers, crowlers, etc.) Do you plan to join some of the legislative efforts in Texas to change this, or are you happy to just focus on draft beer in the taproom?

CM: As I said before, we keep doing things that we enjoy doing and are fun. Brewing beer is fun. Working with CAN’d Aid Foundation to support the community is fun. Legislation isn’t that fun for us. We’ll brew the beer, we’ll let the politicians make the legislative sausage.

 

It is disheartening, I agree. However, I also agree with CM; their job is to brew beer, not necessarily to fight to change our laws.

 

I find it kind of ironically funny, that O.B. is coming to Austin Tx. To start brewing some great beers & open a new tap-room.!
Oskar Blues debuted its first table-top seaming machine last November at its Tasty Weasel taproom in partnership with longtime can supplier Ball Packaging, which now makes a 32-ounce can called the Crowler. ! I'm hoping OB can help to
change some of the Texas Beer Law's, they are very out- dated.! Best of luck Cuvee .! I'm looking forward to O.B. coming to Austin, What a perfect fit . ! Now let's all help to change, Texas beer sales- law's . !

 

They definitely have no obligation to get involved. Though, it seems like they are missing a great PR opportunity by not doing so. Will they keep this stance? It's probably too early to say with certainty, and too reactionary to depend on this one quote.

 

I would have thought not being able to sell any beer to go would be a bigger deal to them. They created the crowler.

 

Doesn't Austin also get its water from the aquifer?

 

Don't listen to the PR spin that they have to say right now. There is no way they are coming into TX and just going to sit there and not be allowed to sell crowlers from their taproom. They cannot say anything yet - they do not have any of their licenses that they have to go through before they can even brew. The last thing they want to do is already start pissing people off before they even open - which will make it harder to open.

They are already "supporting" Cuvee in their fight (they would not specify how they were to me) and one of their head guys told me that they are "well aware" of the laws and hope to see that changed in the future. He could not comment on if they were going to get financially involved in a fight due to not even being licensed to be in Texas yet and not wanting to piss off the wrong people.

Expect them to be at the front of the line to be fighting/suing for change when the time comes. They have the backing to force change, and I do not see them making this investment in TX if they were not planning on being able to operate like a brewery should be able to.

 

30,000 barrels/yr = 930,000 gallons of water a year
Avg household in the US uses 300 Gallons of water a day = 109,500 gallons of water a year.

The first year, they will be using less than 9 households do in a year.

There are 100+ people moving to Austin a day. It isn't much water for a brewery to open up.

 

Multiply that number by 4-7 and you'll get an accurate number for brewery water usage. The biggest waste for breweries is cleaning and sanitizing.

 

I'd say the point stands. They'll be using as much water as 36-63 households.

 

I agree, just pointing out it's more water that one gallon/gallon for beer. Breweries use a lot less water that most agricultural fields and are a lot better at recuperating it.

 

I obviously don't know or can't be sure of the true motivation behind a (like you said) disheartening comment like this. But I'd point out that Oskar Blues' Texas distributor is Ben E. Keith, which is a member of the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas (WBDT). The WBDT has been highly influential in killing legislation supported by Texas craft brewers. -- Jeff

 

Saying you just brew the beer is pretty laissez-faire. You are leaving a lot of the decisions regarding your business in the hands of others.

 

This makes no sense at all. Why would a well known brewery come to a state that would tie their hands at selling their product. They are known for great beers and the start of the crowler craze. For them to idly stand by and fuck it, is asinine. Why come to open a brewery, just to distribute your wares when you can already find plenty of OB on the shelf.