Drinking local

This week I received an email from Chad Montgomery, organizer of the Big Texas Beer Fest, inviting me to purchase tickets to this year's festival. In the interest of full disclosure, I am friends with Chad. However, this column was not written to attract attention for his festival.

Instead, I am writing because of something in the email that really struck me. He wrote, "When the festival kicked off, we only had a handful of local breweries. Fast forward one year, and we've got almost a dozen in the immediate area with lots more coming."

For fans of craft beer, the Dallas area is a great place to be right now. Instead of just the two local breweries we had in the fall of 2011, Franconia in McKinney and Rahr and Sons in Fort Worth, we now have a multitude of choices when it comes to drinking locally produced beer.

While all the local breweries are small -- most with between one to five employees -- they produce a wide range of beer styles, from hoppy IPAs and strong ales to heavily roasted stouts and porters. Some, such as Deep Ellum and Lakewood, are even experimenting with aging beers in bourbon and wine barrels to impart unique flavor characteristics.

Yes, now is a good time to live in the Metroplex.

As the number of breweries has expanded, so has the number of beer bars focusing on craft beer. In Collin County alone we have some excellent choices, including The Fillmore, Vickery Park and The Holy Grail Pub in Plano, as well as The Pub and Square Burger in McKinney. Each features several dozen -- if not more -- taps as well as knowledgeable bartenders who can help people who are new to craft beer find out what they like (hint -- ask for samples).

So next time you go out to have a drink, look for a local tap and support small brewers. You can drink a Budweiser or Miller Lite anytime, but if the small guys are not supported, they will not make it.

Also, if you want to meet the brewmasters behind the local beers, go visit the brewery. Almost every brewery offers tours, usually on Saturdays, where a small entrance fee will get you a glass and several samples. You can also have the chance to pick the brain of the brewer and offer suggestions for future beers.

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