When it comes to Texas Craft Beer in Fort Worth, Rahr & Sons Brewing Company is setting the pace. Brewing quality beer since 2004, Rahr has attracted a devoted following in Fort Worth, the Metroplex area and beyond.
I have been to the brewery at least 10 times. On Wednesdays, Rahr is a great place to meet coworkers and friends after work. Lazy Saturdays, friends in town, or a bachelor party have provided great reasons to visit on the weekend. Actually, Rebekah and I had a final celebratory drink with Matt and Rachel at the Rahr Brewery before they moved to Chicago for 2.5 years! Good times…
Let’s take a look at this Fort Worth standard based on our Brewery Grading Scale.
Logistics: 3 Rahr and Sons hosts public tours twice a week, Wednesdays from 5:00 to 7:30 PM and Saturdays from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. No tickets are required; just show up. Street parking is available around the brewery, but watch for “No Parking” signs. You may have to walk a bit, especially if you show up late. A long line may greet you at the door, but the line moves quickly. Show your ID at the door, pay with cash or credit card, pick up a glass and head to the taps, dispersed throughout multiple locations in the building (and outside on Saturday). Different stations offer different beers, so check all of the locations. Lines may be long, but if you find the taps away from the entrance, you can get a quick pour. If you have questions about the beers, there are large informational posters hung on the wall. If in doubt, ask the friendly and helpful volunteers tending the bar.
When to go: Saturdays are packed with people looking for a cheap place to drink some good beer. The Saturday tour includes a live band. Wednesdays are the preferred day for a visit, with smaller, more beer-educated crowds. As a bonus, Wednesday tours include an additional special beer tasting (half pint). The extra pour may be the current seasonal brew or a limited-release experimental beer that the brew masters are trying out on the public.
Atmosphere: 3 Just south of the “Near Southside” district and Magnolia Avenue, Rahr is located in an industrial area. The metal building conveys a warehouse feeling common among many craft breweries. There is a lot of space inside the brewery. Fans help move the air since there is no AC. If the weather is nice, you can hang out outside in an enclosed parking/loading dock area. Seating is limited, but you can bring your own chairs. Restrooms are limited and are not much cleaner than the port-a-johns located outside. Food trucks or vendors are set up to provide some food with your beer. You can also bring your own food. The atmosphere is not great, but the crowds come for the beer.
Fermentation Tanks
Value: 5 The entrance fee costs $10. In addition to the tour, you will receive a Rahr and Sons pint glass to use at the brewery, and then take home. If of legal drinking age, you will receive a wristband for 3 pints of beer. On Wednesdays, you actually get 3.5 pints for the same cost. I can’t think of anywhere else you can drink three pints of beer for $10. The tour is come and go, but if you arrive significantly late, you will not receive all 3 pints.
Rahr Ugly Pug and Summertime Wheat
Beer – Taste: 5 I think Rahr has great beers! Rahr and Sons, following their family history, has a distinctly German influence. I love Ugly Pug! It is delicious! The Schwarzbier, German for black lager, has strong notes of chocolate and lesser notes of coffee. Ugly Pug is full bodied, but not too heavy. You can keep drinking the other beers after a full pint of Pug. Actually, it is my favorite year-round craft beer from any brewery. And Ugly Pug is even better on tap, making a tour even more ideal. I also enjoy the Texas Red, Buffalo Butt and Rahr Blonde. Stormcloud is a German style IPA, so hop heads may not appreciate this brew as much as other IPAs with stronger hop taste. Rahr’s seasonals are stellar, especially the festive Summertime Wheat, Oktoberfest and Winter Warmer. Or better yet, the Bourbon Barrel Aged Winter Warmer, aka “whiskey warmer”.
Beer – Variety: 5 On Saturdays, Rahr offers at least 6 different beers: Rahr Blonde, Pride of Texas (pale ale), Texas Red, Buffalo Butt (amber), Stormcloud (IPA) and Ugly Pug (black lager). These 6 year-round offerings cover a wide spectrum of beer tastes, so you will likely find something you enjoy. On Wednesdays, they will offer the same six, plus serve a half pint of a specialty beer. If you are looking for even more variety, the bartenders will mix some of the beers, creating concoctions such as the Bloody Pug, a mixture of the Texas Red and Ugly Pug. One tasting note, the Texas Red and Buffalo Butt taste very similar.
Tour: 3 In reality, Rahr’s “tour” is really an open house. Come on in. Hang out. Drink our beer. Oh, yeah, and if you have a question, or want to know more about what you are drinking, feel free to take a short, informal tour. An announcement will be made for the one tour opportunity (around 2:30 on Saturday, and 7:00 on Wednesday), but is easy to miss if you are not paying attention. The tour is short, maybe 15 minutes, and is structure to be a question and answer time. If people ask good questions, you may learn something. The brewing equipment is all around you. The mash tanks, fermenters, bottling and canning lines are viewable, but the tour does not bring them to life. In Texas, this seems to be the standard tour. On the plus side, you can drink your beer on the tour.
Aging Winter Warmer in Bourbon Barrel
Other Noteworthy Items: Rahr and Sons does not have a tap room that sells their beers outside of tour hours. Beer cannot be purchased directly at the brewery.
To find a local Texas brewery around you or for your next trip, check our updated Texas Craft Brewery List.
The tour that Rahr has is in essence just a formality to get around the fact that you had to pay for something to get your beer as Texas law prohibited them from selling you their product on the property.
You will notice that lots of breweries in Texas are now opening Tap Rooms these days because the law has since been repealed.
Rahr is still catching up with this.
Taprooms are definitely the newest format for Texas breweries. I think the best part of the taproom format is more choices on when you can visit. While “tours” may be offered only on Saturdays still, you can grab a beer at many Texas breweries many days of the week. I think soon they will be open 6 or 7 days a week.