Shannon Brewing Company

What should I do with a free Saturday?  Rebekah was volunteering, and I was looking for something to do.  I know…check out a new local brewery or two!  I called my good friend John, and we planned on doing just that.  We started with Shannon Brewing Company, and then closed out the day at Bearded Eel Brewing Company (now closed permanently).  First, Shannon Brewing Company…

Shannon Brewing Company proudly brews wholesome Irish-influenced Texas craft beers with old world techniques.  Proud of their old world style, Shannon Brewing markets their brews as “Fire Brewed Beer”.  Instead of using steam jackets for heating like conventional breweries, Shannon Brewing uses fire, via liquid propane, for all heating required in the brewing process.  Fire brewing caramelizes the sugars, which in turn influences the beer’s texture.  This statement made more sense when comparing fire brewing to cooking on a gas cooktop instead of an electric cooktop.  Sure, both cooktops heat things up, but the end result is very different.  In addition, all of their beers are unfiltered and unpasteurized, but are transparent as a result of Shannon’s old word brewing process.

Fire Brewing Equipment

In an effort to produce a wholesome brew, Shannon puts a strong emphasis on sustainability.  All water associated with the brewing process is piped directly from near-by Samantha Springs.   Currently, Shannon Brewing uses only 1.5 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of beer, which is significantly less water than other breweries with an average rate of 4 gallons to produce 1 gallon of beer.  Once used in the brewing process, local ranchers repurpose spent grains for livestock feed.  Shannon Brewing’s goal is to produce zero landfill waste by their second year in business.  This is quite impressive, as Shannon Brewing only recently celebrated their grand opening in September 2014.

With all these fun facts in mind, let’s take a look at Shannon Brewing based on our Brewery Grading Scale.

Logistics:  4  Shannon Brewing Company invites the public for an open house of their facilities on Saturdays from noon to 3:00 PM.  No tickets are required; just show up.  Shannon Brewing is located in downtown Keller, 25 minutes north of Fort Worth.  From US-377, an easily-missable sign points guests down a side street.  However, you can see the large metal building from the main road, so you shouldn’t miss it.  A parking lot is a nice convenience.  At the door, show your ID, get a wristband, pay with cash or credit card and pick up a glass.  Inside the Taproom, volunteers serve the beers at the bar.  If you have questions about the beers, there are small signs on the bar with information about the year-round brews.  If in doubt, ask the friendly and helpful bartenders.

Exterior of Shannon Brewing Company

When to go:  Saturdays will yield the full experience.  In addition to the Saturday open house, Shannon Brewing’s taproom and beer garden are open on Thursdays and Fridays from 4:00 to 8:00 PM.  However tours and access to the production area and equipment are not available on these days.

Atmosphere: 4 By driving down a dirt lane and parking in a dirt lot, John and I felt like we were in the country.  The metal building is magically transformed from a warehouse to a barn.  Welcome to Keller!  Once you have a beer, enjoy the outdoor beer garden and live band (on Saturdays).  Or grab a stool inside the taproom, with two TVs showing the day’s sporting events.  There are also picnic tables and a foosball table in the production area.  Shannon Brewing was busy the Saturday we visited, but not packed, leaving sufficient room to breathe and have a good conversation.  Clean restrooms are available in the taproom, which is a huge plus.  If you need a break from the beer, a water cooler is located in the production area.  Food is available for purchase from a vendor inside the production area.  The beer garden is dog-friendly.

Value: 5 For $10, you will receive a Shannon Brewing Company commemorative pint glass and three tokens, each good for a pint of beer or you can trade two tokens for a flight of beer.  I loved the option.  This way I tried more beer, while drinking less beer that I may not enjoy.  Order a flight first, and see what beer you really enjoy, and then order your full pint.  On Thursdays and Fridays, pints cost $4.50, or order a flight of four beers for $6.50.  Craft beer at these costs is a great value!

Beer – Taste: 4 This brewery tour was the first time I sampled Shannon Brewing’s beers.  A flight was a great way to try all of the offerings.  I am not an Irish ale connoisseur, but I found the beers pretty good, but not great.  However, one stood out in my mind.  My favorite beer was the Shannon Chocolate Stout:  it smelled delicious, tasted great and was not too heavy!  In general, I absolutely love chocolate.  However in beer, the chocolate flavor tends to overpower the brew, like I find in Young’s Double Chocolate.  But not in Shannon’s Chocolate Stout.  It tasted just right!  I tried the Chocolate Stout in the flight, and then ordered it on nitro with my last token.  The nitro version was even smoother, everything that you would expect out of a nitrogen tap.  In the future, I will definitely order the Shannon Chocolate Stout if I see it on tap at a pub.  John’s favorite brews were the IPA and the seasonal, Saint Patrick’s Irish Red, which had more malt taste than the regular Irish Red.

Flight of Beers

Beer – Variety: 3 Shannon Brewing had 6 different beers on tap during my visit:  Shannon All American Blonde, Shannon Irish Red, Shannon IPA, Shannon Chocolate Stout, Shannon Irish Cream Ale (spring seasonal) and Saint Patrick’s Irish Red (Saint Patrick’s day special release).  We thoroughly enjoyed sampling two of their specialty brews.  As an added bonus, the Chocolate Stout and one of the special beers was on nitro (nitrogen instead of carbon dioxide), as well as the regular tap versions.  A few tasting notes, the high amounts of hops in the All American Blonde made the Blonde taste like the IPA.  Also, the Irish Red and its variation, the Saint Patrick’s Irish Red, tasted very similar.  Overall, you expect Irish beers, so the variety of beers is limited.

Tour: 4 This experience is more of an open house than a traditional brewery tour.  Shannon Brewing is a great place to grab a drink, hang out with friends and listen to some music.  On Saturdays, a tour of the production area is an added feature.  There did not appear to be a set number or time for the tours.  After asking, they started a tour around 1:45 PM.  There may have been an earlier tour as well.  Shannon, the owner and head brew master normally directs the tour.  On the Saturday we visited, Shannon was unavailable.  Jacob, the other brew master, stepped in and did a good job.  The tour met at the mash tanks and gave a good understanding of Shannon Brewing’s guiding principles.  While the tour was informative, it did not bring the brewing process to life by walking you through each step.  In fact, the bottling line was outside, providing additional room for their guests in the production area.  However, I give bonus points they clearly answered a question I always ask at a new brewery, “What sets this brewery apart from other craft breweries?”  Jacob’s willingness to answer questions led to a clear understanding of the old world techniques used in their beers.  His descriptions helped me make that distinction:  Shannon Brewing brews their beers with fire, the way all beer were once made.  Somehow, the beers tasted even better afterwards!

Other Noteworthy Items:  Kegs and bombers of Shannon Brewing Company’s beer can be purchased directly from the brewery for private consumption.  Cans of their year-round beers started rolling out in Mid-May of 2015.

To find a local Texas brewery around you or for your next trip, check our updated Texas Craft Brewery List.