On Tap: Pouring Local Favorites
Whether you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras or St. Patrick’s Day, there are plenty of ways to pair party fare with beverages. These local adult-beverage purveyors share how they celebrate with drinks crafted Central Texas-style.
By Mandy Shelton | Photography by Michiah Posey
Bold Republic Brewery’s Luck of the Irish
On St. Patrick’s Day 2011, Patrick Hodges wandered into an Irish pub across the street from his hotel in Virginia Beach. Given the occasion, Murphy’s was packed to capacity, but Hodges found a seat next to a pretty local wearing a shamrock headband. He told her, “You look like fun, let me buy you a drink.”
Eight years, three kids and several moves between Texas and Virginia later, the St. Patrick’s Day couple now operates Belton’s first brewery, Bold Republic.
The brewery has been a dream for Adriane and Patrick since their days in Virginia’s fertile ground for breweries.
Patrick mainly handles the brewing and Adriane focuses on the front of house, including the decor. Even though she was busy with her own children and a full-time teaching gig, Adriane painted the boldly hued hops-and-grain murals that adorn the walls after school and on weekends. “I guess it was therapy,” she says.
Adriane taught Spanish until a health scare sidelined her at the start of the school year. “I had two little holes in my heart, and I had an aneurysm,” she says. “I’m really lucky. Very, very lucky. Patrick caught it.” After her stroke, Adriane had to leave her job in order to recuperate. The experience also changed her beer-tasting palate—she’s developed an appreciation for IPAs that she’d never had before.
Both Hodges enjoy crafting new brews, which Adriane says can get “funky and experimental,” and they have plans for a second alcohol-manufacturing business in Bell County. In the meantime, Bold Republic will host a first anniversary party on June 2, and another special holiday is right around the corner.
“We’ll have this place decked out for St. Patrick’s Day,” says Adriane, whose parents also met on March 17. In addition to enjoying live music and green beer, patrons can, perhaps—with the luck of the Irish—experience a chance meeting of their own.
Bold Republic Beer Cheese
“Hands down, our best-selling appetizer is the Jumbo Pretzel & Hot Beer Cheese Dip, which is infused with our beer,” says Adriane. Bold Republic’s recipe is customizable: “Pick your favorite beer, pick your favorite cheese. It’s like beer fondue!”
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
¾ cup milk
½ cup beer (“We use Jalapeño Cream Ale and a splash of Amber for a kick, but you can use your favorite beer—I’d recommend a lighter one.”)
¼ tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 cups shredded cheddar (or your favorite)
¼ cup diced jalapeños
In a medium saucepan, melt butter and whisk in flour to make a roux (medium heat works best). Remove pan from heat and whisk in 2 Tbsp. of milk until smooth. Then whisk in remaining milk slowly, 2 Tbsp. at a time. Add beer, garlic powder, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Place the pan back on the heat until it bubbles. Add the cheese, bit by bit, and mix it with the whisk. Add jalapeños. Serve warm with a pretzel, bread, broccoli … whatever makes you happy.
Taking a Lap Around Local Wineries
Laura and Alpheaus “Fitz” Campbell have been in business together for almost a year. To keep the wheels on the bus going ’round, they draw on lessons from their 34-year partnership of a different kind.
“He drives the bus; I do everything else,” Laura says on a recent trip with their company, All Around Wine Tours. “I usually stand up and talk while he drives,” she explains, though she also acknowledges that Fitz is a lifelong NASCAR fan. “When he’s going around corners, I sit down and hold on tight.”
The two met when they were stationed at the same company in Fort Dix, New Jersey. “I had just arrived from Hawaii, where I’d been stationed,” says Fitz, who grew up in Brooklyn after his parents emigrated from British Guyana. The globetrotting gearhead has since retired, but he works as a full-time contractor for the Army as a wheeled-vehicle mechanic. “I’m still supporting the warriors,” Fitz explains.
Laura finished her six years of active duty in 1988 and now works full time as a workforce management analyst for Blackboard. The idea for the business took hold when Laura planned a trip for friends on a 35-passenger bus to Messina Hof Winery & Resort in Bryan. The Campbells launched All Around Wine Tours in 2018 with an inaugural tour for friends. First, however, they had to find the right bus.
“We wanted something that was small and intimate,” Laura says. She found the bus during a girls’ trip to Las Vegas, so Fitz and Laura flew there to drive it home. The 13-passenger bus infuses each trip with a bit of the Vegas spirit.
“What happens on the bus stays on the bus,” Laura jokes with passengers.
The Campbells’ motto, “We do the tour, they do the pour,” leaves the formal wine education in the hands of the professionals, but Laura is more than happy to help out with tips and tricks of the trade, especially for novice oenophiles. “Typically, it’s the third taste that gives you the true taste of the wine,” she told a recent tour to The Vineyard at Florence.
“I just like to drink,” a passenger jokes during the wine and cheese tasting. “And we like to drive!” Laura says. “I think that’s a good pairing.”
How to Book a Tour
Watch the All Around Wine tours website and Facebook page for opportunities to join organized tours to local wineries, breweries and distilleries. Public tours last about six hours, with three or four stops. The Campbells provide snacks and water. “We want you to stay hydrated,” Laura says. Drinking is permitted on the bus, but smoking is not. While children are not allowed on group tours, they may attend private tours. To arrange a private tour, call 254-368-7311 or visit AllAroundWineTours.com.
Behind Closed Doors: Alexander’s Distillery
For those in the know, drinks are pouring behind a bookcase passageway in a Salado Creek speakeasy.
Though the name should be a giveaway, Alexander’s Distillery, the restaurant on the property of Salado’s Inn on the Creek, does not manufacture alcohol. The name comes from the distillery that occupied the grounds until 1865, when it washed away in a flood. The site is designated by a Texas Historical Commission marker.
Nowadays, Alexander’s Bar and Cocktail Lounge manager, Trey Golden, pairs the third-floor veranda view and gourmet appetizers with beer, wine and carefully crafted cocktails. Or not.
“I get a mocktail request maybe once a month,” Trey says. “Enough to keep me on my toes.” The usual teetotalers? Expectant mothers.
Whether due to pregnancy or Prohibition, creating mock cocktails is not as simple as swapping a soft drink for a hard drink. The trick is replacing the alcohol without losing the complexity of the flavor. Though Trey says a substitute for alcohol can be as simple as water, questions of consistency, sweetness and flavor determine whether an ingredient like coconut rum is replaced by coconut milk, coconut water, cream of coconut or even fresh coconut.
Trey can put the non-alcoholic spin on any of Alexander’s signature drinks, such as the Pre-Prohibition Ol’ Fashioned, which can be infused with smoke. Another popular choice for a mocktail is their Black Rose, garnished with rosemary grown on the property. Stopping to smell the rosemary can enhance the sensory experience of the cocktail or mocktail, Trey explains.
“I purposely don’t put straws in the drink. Then you have to put your nose to the glass and smell the rosemary as you’re imbibing. It’s a really nice experience.”
Alexander’s Bar & Mocktail Lounge
Alexander’s strawberry “No-jito” jettisons the rum from the traditional Cuban highball, bringing forward the natural flavor of the strawberry—with a hyperlocal twist.
“The mint grows right on the property, so I just went outside and picked some fresh,” says bar manager Trey Golden.
He suggests playing around with the strawberry ingredient in this drink, using puree or even jelly. “That gives it an additional sweetness and an interesting spin on the flavor,” he says. At-home mixologists can also go out on a limb and replace the mint, Trey notes. “We’ve made strawberry basil mojitos here before, which were phenomenal.”
As for the rum? This “faux-jito” recipe uses water, extra simple syrup and maybe a bit more Sprite, but other mojito mocktails might include cane sugar or club soda. “It’s really crisp, very much a spring-type of cocktail,” Trey says.
Virgin Strawberry Mojito
1 sprig (4 or 5 leaves) fresh mint, plus some for garnish
1 fresh strawberry, sliced, plus some for garnish
1¼ ounces water
¾ ounce simple syrup
Sprite
Muddle strawberry slices and mint leaves in water and simple syrup in a tall shaker, then add ice. Shake vigorously for 10-15 seconds. Strain mixture into a short tumbler, then fill with Sprite. Garnish with strawberry and a mint sprig.
