A couple of weeks ago, good WacoFork friend Luke Murphy gave me a heads up that there's a new brewery in town — Bare Arms Brewing on LaSalle.
So yesterday I was telling photographer Chelsea Santos (who shot the photo with this blog) about it and she talked me into a Tuesday afternoon visit. Santos, who also serves drinks at True Love, knows her beer, so she helped me look like I knew what I was doing.
Here's what we learned:
Bare Arms, operated by Keith Collier and Justin Veach, is open weekdays from 3-5 p.m. and 1-8 p.m. on Saturdays. They have tasting hours instead of prime socializing hours because they don't want to interfere with local pub and tavern traffic. That's because they're close to having their labels approved, which would allow them to distribute their beers.
They've been open since June, when they were finally ready to put their product on display after working on their brews for years. I was impressed by their beer knowledge and the trial-and-error process they used to develop the four beers that we tasted. (You can get a flight of tasters at Bare Arms for $6). They have a clear idea of what they want to do with each beer and as far as I can tell, they're doing it.
Here's the lineup and their description of each brew:
Lux: A light-bodied American style lager brewed with rye for a unique, sweet, crisp finish.
Nebulous Tart: A Berliner Weisse with a refreshingly tart cranapple taste.
Turbulence: A maelstrom of hops and malt combine for a well balanced sweet IPA.
Java Joule: A rich, complex chocolate coffee stout with local coffee that is loaded with flavor.
They're preparing to have the Lux, Nebulous Tart and Turbulence ready for distribution soon. Although they're still working on the recipe for the Java Joule, you can buy it at their store. The beer is available for take home in 2-pint crowlers.
On Saturday, Bare Arms is unveling a cucumber saison and they'll unveil the name at the same time. That would be a good day to check them out.
