Bold Republic Brewing Company
Adriane Hodges moved the whole brewery from downtown Belton to two acres in a Temple sports park and put in a 15-barrel steam brewhouse. Matt Benavidez brews it, after ten years at Austin Beerworks.
Why go
The old Belton kit was a 3.5-barrel electric brewhouse with 7-barrel fermenters, which Hodges describes as not at all automated and is more akin to a giant homebrew kettle.
1 The Temple build put in a 15-barrel steam-powered brewhouse, 30-barrel fermenters and a 30-barrel brite tank, which is what let them start self-distributing.1 They sold the old equipment to a customer who took over the Belton building and renamed it Nolan Creek Brewery.1
The new site runs 4,200 square feet of building, a 1,600-square-foot patio and a three-quarter-acre backyard, inside the Crossroads Park sports complex.1 The kitchen is a full commercial one, and what Hodges said she would cook in it is farm-to-table with a low-country coastal lean, because she grew up on Chesapeake Bay food and missed it.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: whatever is coming off the 15-barrel system. Eight of the thirty-two taps go to local wine and cider and the rest are house beer plus the odd guest.1
- Avoid: Monday, when the taproom is closed.3
- Avoid: the A+ Learning Academy lot next door. The brewery's own warning is that you will be towed; use its lot or the Vista Community Church lot.3
- Avoid: an old Belton address. That building is Nolan Creek Brewery now.1
Good to know
- Adriane Hodges on the new brewer:
we are so excited to have him and the experience he will bring to our new location.
1 - Good with children. There is a commercial playground on site, plus axe throwing for the adults.2
- Timing: closed Monday, 11am to 10pm Tuesday to Thursday, to 11pm Friday, to 11.30pm Saturday, and 11am to 8pm Sunday.3
- Parking takes more than fifty cars, which matters on a match day in Crossroads Park.1
Verdict
could-visit — Adriane Hodges traded a three-and-a-half-barrel electric kettle for a fifteen-barrel steam brewhouse and started self-distributing, which is the step most small Texas breweries never take. Matt Benavidez came over from ten years at Austin Beerworks to brew it. The room is built for a Saturday with children in tow, on two acres in a sports park with a playground and a patio. Pam Catoe's Craft Beer Austin piece is an interview rather than a verdict, so every word about the beer and the food is still Hodges describing her own plans, and that is where the rung sits.