Craft beer fans — and there are millions today — have their favorite haunts for a variety of reasons. Some visit a brewery for the specialty beers. Others may be part of a beer-loving group that meets at a particular pub. Still, others might go for the food or the entertainment. In this Golden Age of craft beer, some lucky patrons may stumble across a brewery that offers all of the above, a total experience that celebrates the passion, authenticity, creativity and camaraderie of American craft beer. St. Elmo Brewing Company in Austin, Texas is one of these breweries.
St. Elmo is a 15-barrel brewhouse founded in 2016 by Bryan Winslow and Tim Bullock. It has it all: a small neighborhood brewery named for the Austin area’s long ago St. Elmo Township where “everybody knows your name,” a rotating mix of unique, in-house brews, a bar, beer hall, and dog and kid-friendly beer garden where friends and family can gather to connect with neighbors. They also have a resident food truck, Soursop, that serves Southeast Asian food, such as sticky ribs, a Japanese Fried Chicken (JFC) sandwich and truffle tater tots. Throw in Trivia Tuesday and Grassy Thursday, and a host of special events and you have something for everybody.
“Tim and I met working at Austin Beer Works,” Winslow told Beverage Master Magazine. “I was the lead brewer, and he was the tasting room manager. I approached him because I saw the beer market going to smaller neighborhood breweries, where people go and drink beer at the source. The St. Elmo neighborhood didn’t have that. We loved the name, we loved the neighborhood, and we found a warehouse space that used to be a junkyard and we decided to go for it.”
That was just one year ago, and in that short time, word has gotten around. St. Elmo is now a favorite watering hole, not only for locals in South Austin but for others in the city and tourists who have heard about the total experience that makes the brewery so unique.
“Typically, people think of breweries as factories,” Winslow said. “Ford makes cars, and Budweiser makes beer. But traditionally, breweries were like restaurants, and that’s what we’re trying to get back to. We treat beer more like food and not like a commodity or product. It’s fresh, you drink it at the source from people that made it, you get to see their faces, and you can enjoy fresh specials that change regularly with the season. We’re just like a restaurant; only we make beer.”
St. Elmo’s menu features three year-round staples: Carl, an easy-drinking Kölsch-style ale; Chico, a hoppy American pale ale, and Angus, an Irish style dry stout. Beyond that, the sky’s the limit.
“We love all different types of beer, so we try to keep that variety on our menu,” Winslow said. “I’ll make a beer based on what I like to drink or an idea that excites me, whether it’s aging an Oktoberfest lager beer in French oak to add a vanilla oak character, or pouring coffee into cream ale and making a creamy beer that’s blonde in color and tastes like coffee.”
Obviously, Winslow is an adventurous sort. He once collaborated with Richard’s Rainwater in Dripping Springs to create St. Elmo’s Rain Pale Ale, a beer brewed with 100 percent fresh and filtered rainwater, free of minerals and only available on tap at St. Elmo. He’s also introduced a beer crafted from a puree of the soursop fruit, Soursop Sour, to complement the food from the St. Elmo food truck.
Whatever the beer — whether it’s the three staple beers or the 12 to 15 rotating brews on the menu — the St. Elmo philosophy is the same: to make good beer.
“Many breweries have specialties,” Winslow said. “Our specialty is variety. We give each beer all of the time and attention it needs to be as drinkable and approachable as we can.” (St. Elmo’s beers have an alcohol by volume of four to six percent.)
To Winslow, the key to a quality beer is freshness.
“We have a small distribution, and that’s only in draft, so ninety-three percent of our beer is sold onsite at the brewery,” Winslow said. “When it’s served, we know exactly the temperature and carbonation levels. Every glass is served in branded glassware that is style-appropriate for the beer and presented with the proper head with delicious foam.”
St. Elmo is truly a neighborhood brewery. Relaxed and intimate, there is a real sense of community among the patrons, with a crowd of regulars, and many who frequently host birthday and office parties at the brewery.
“When we opened, I was looking forward to making beer, but I didn’t realize how many friends we would make,” Winslow said. “For the locals, it is a home away from home, and that is really special to us.”
The St. Elmo bar can hold 70 people, while the beer garden can accommodate 100.
According to Winslow, the clientele is “all over the place,” with a mix of young and old, professionals and college students. On the weekends, families flock to St. Elmo, where the adults can share a brew, and the kids can play with on-site toys and run around the beer garden.
“We have kids who went to St. Elmo Elementary School who now come back as adults and drink beer,” said Winslow. “We love it.”
The local community regularly turns out for fundraisers sponsored by St. Elmo, including events supporting Habitat for Humanity, Loaves and Fishes, the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund Drive and Art of the Brew, a crossroads of contemporary art, craft beer, music and food that promotes local artists and arts non-profits.
It’s not just the beer and the special events that draw patrons to St. Elmo: It’s also the food truck, Soursop, which is on location whenever the brewery is open. Helmed by Teddy Bricker, recently recognized in Zagat’s annual 30 Under 30 awards as one of the top young hospitality professionals in the U.S., Soursop was named by CultureMap Austin as one of six hot new food trucks for summer.
“Most people haven’t heard of the soursop fruit, and they’ve never had food like they’ve had here,” Winslow said. “It’s unbelievable, and I can’t compliment it enough.”
Winslow and Bricker often team up to offer beer tasting dinners at St. Elmo, where Soursop’s fresh and spicy cuisine is perfectly paired with St. Elmo’s select styles of beer.
As the new kid on the block in beer-centric Austin (Winslow estimates that there are 40-50 craft breweries in the Austin area), the owners of St. Elmo are looking forward to celebrating their first anniversary in December with a day of music, specialty food and a celebratory beer release created especially for the occasion. Going forward, Winslow told Beverage Master Magazine that as long as their business model is to focus on the St. Elmo neighborhood, there’s no need for them to stand out from the competition.
“We’re not competing for shelf space with Budweiser or Karbach,” he said. “We’re not even competing with Austin Beer Works in North Austin. We just want to be one of the highlights of South Austin.”
To achieve that goal, St. Elmo will continue to be a brewery where customers can always discover a unique experience, an experience that’s enhanced by the bar décor, the menu, the quirky descriptors, the glassware and the music.
“When the bartender hands you your beer — and he does it with a smile — and you take your first sip, you are enjoying an experience that we’ve created for you,” he told Beverage Master Magazine. Trivia Night on Tuesday and Grassy Thursday (bluegrass music) contribute to that experience. Also, we try to have a different beer every week. That’s fun for us as brewers and fun for regulars because they come in here every Friday and there is a good chance we will have a new beer they haven’t seen before. We’re really proud of that.”
There will always be something different at St. Elmo. Whether it’s a new and unusual beer, the latest bluegrass musicians “pickin’ and grinnin’,” a sausage cook-off, an art fair or an innovative dish added to Soursop’s ever-changing menu, the brewery in the heart of South Austin is a happening place, and the neighborhood loves it.
St. Elmo is open Tuesday through Thursday from 4 to 11 p.m.; Friday from noon to midnight; Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight; Sunday from noon to 10 p.m.; and stays closed on Monday.
For more information on St. Elmo, visit
www.stelmobrewing.com
For more information on Soursop, visit
www.soursopaustin.com