Quick Hits...

Beer - Very Good

Food - N/A

Atmosphere- Garage Party

Last Visited - October 2011

New Republic puts the 'Micro' in Micro Brewery.  When it comes to production breweries, this is definitely the smallest one that I've ever been to.  That being said, I really enjoyed it.  But before I get into that, a note about where to find it; the Address and Google Map link will point to 11405 N. Dowling Rd. Unit H, College Station, TX 77845.  Which is indeed where it is located, but just to be clear, it's not actually on Dowling Rd, but down a short driveway off of Dowling Rd which leads to some Industrial buildings one of which is the current home of New Republic Brewing.  So, the building itself is not easily visible from Dowling Rd, however signage makes it pretty clear which drive to turn down to get there.

The tour has a cost of 6 bucks a person (5 if you already have a New Republic pint glass.  And if I remember right, Designated Drivers are free.)  That price includes two beers, and they don't skimp on the beer either, my pint glass was well filled up both times.  The facility, at least the part that is open for the tour, is roughly (and I'm guesstimating here) about 1.5 times as big as your average 2 car garage.  So it is indeed small, in fact I think it is literally only 2 or 3 yards from the brew kettle to the fermenters.  But its smallness has a huge upside in that everything was approachable and easy to see.  Plus, the tour guide was excellent, giving us what may have been actually the best 'tour' I've ever had in a brewery.   (Obviously, Anheuser-Busch has a great tour, but when the fermenters are literally bigger than my house and each step of the process in a different building, it's just not as easy to 'see' how it all works so to speak.)  The New Republic staff was friendly and approachable as well as knowledgeable.

Of course, Texas Law prohibits production breweries from serving food, which is why Food is listed as N/A.  So, really the only downside to our visit here was that New Republic was so popular, during our stay anyway, that it quickly filled up to the point that one almost felt like a sardine in a can.  But, ya can't really fault a place because it is popular, so just be aware, it can get plenty crowded real quick.  (They are looking at expansion, so this may just be a temporary issue)  And just in case someone is itching to get a look at a bottling or canning line, New Republic doesn't yet have one, but once again they hope to be expanding relatively soon.  I look forward to the day I can get a six pack of New Republic Bellows at Specs.

Their website is.... http://www.newrepublicbrewing.com/

Map.... http://maps.google.com/

New Republic Brewing Pint Glass
( And just to be clear, that's not New Republic Beer in the glass, as I didn't have any at home, dooh! )

 

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