.png)
Something new is on tap at local venue
It's been a year and a half since Beerburg Brewing tapped out, closing its doors on the fourth anniversary of its opening. But it turns out, the Nearburg family isn't quite ready for last call.
Siblings Ross, Trevor and Elizabeth Nearburg are working together to reimagine the brewery as a unique event venue that builds on their love of the land, the community, and the beer that started it all.
'From the start, Trevor developed the brewery to be a destination for wild crafting,' Ross said. 'It would be a tourist destination for Austin. It would be a local hub for Dripping and Belterra and Hamilton Pool. We thought there was just so much opportunity for that.'
Trevor Nearburg spent years coming up with wildcrafting recipes - which use foraged local ingredients such as juniper, agarita berries, bee balm and mugwort - and planning the building. Then the family purchased the land, and they started their custom construction. But trouble was already brewing.
'We opened the doors in February of 2020,' Ross said. 'And then we shut down two weeks after that. Six days we were open.'
Shuttered due to the pandemic, the brewery sat empty as the weeks stretched on. Gradually, new regulations were adopted that allowed them to resume business in a limited manner.
'There was a rule that if you had 51% sales in food, you could stay open,' Ross said. 'So the restaurant took kind of front and center stage.'
It was a tough period for businesses, and especially one so new as Beerburg. They persevered - but there were more challenges ahead.
'As time went on postpandemic, we've all seen that breweries are not quite holding the same weight that they did in the 2016 to 2020 time frame. But more than that, there's options and visitation behaviors that have changed,' Ross said. 'So, we would have weekends where we were super booked, and we would have weekends where we were very empty.'
That inconsistency created struggles with their operating costs. They were constantly either overstaffed or understaffed, with rarely a middle ground.
'It was just all or nothing,” Trevor said. “So it was very hard to try and figure out how to make that work.”
They had a lot of great days, some very memorable events, and a core group of dedicated patrons. But in the end, it wasn't enough. They decided it was time to close the doors.
'It was January 20th, the four-year anniversary of our opening day,' Trevor said.
There was an out- pouring of support, both online and in person during those final days.
'Trevor made it very clear. We're done, we're closed, we're over,' Ross said. 'Everybody came out and said, please no. Which is great to hear.'
Trevor said that the support was nice, but it didn't change his mind.
'We knew that the amount of restructuring we would have to do to get it to work - it just needed some kind of complete reevaluation,' Trevor said.
But the family wasn't at peace with the situation.
'There was in the back of our mind an itch that said, what if we can keep going? How can we serve the community, use what we've got, do what we can, to keep this thing alive somehow?' Ross said.
When they started thinking about the brewery as a venue, they realized that might be the solution to getting a handle on the operating costs.
'We know who's coming, we know how many, we know what they want, we know what we're on the hook for, they know what we're not on the hook for, and everybody wins,' Ross said.
And hopefully, it will help them to continue to share their passion for beer.
'We did so much work to develop the wildcraft program and the philosophy behind it, it'd be a shame to not have it,' Ross said.
Elizabeth agreed. 'We really want it in the world,' she said.
Trevor would also love for Beerburg to be able to host its own events at times, like the Beers Made By Walking festival they hosted in the fall of 2023, in cooperation with Eric Steiner, who originally came up with the concept in 2011. Steiner would take brewers out hiking to learn about native ingredients, forage them, and use them in beers.
'Then they'd all get together and have like a little beer release,' Trevor said.
So when Trevor started thinking of replicating the event with local Austin area brewers, he called Steiner and asked if he wanted to partner. Steiner was on board.
“So we took it and really ran with it,” Trevor said. “We were able to get 12 breweries to sign up and get involved and go on these hikes.”
The Beers Made by Walking Festival at Beerburg also focused on raising awareness about the areas in which they were harvesting and about efforts to conserve and protect those areas. They partnered with four local organizations - The Watershed Association, Colorado River Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy and The Shield Ranch - to provide educational seminars in conjunction with each of the four herb walks.
“What was really interesting was that the brewers that participated all came up and they were like, this is what brewing is all about,” Trevor said. “Everybody felt more connected to the beers and the community.”
For the siblings, that is a large part of what Beerburg is all about.
“We love this area. We love Texas, we love the Hill Country, we love the places that we're from,” Elizabeth said. “We want to honor that. We want to share this in as many ways as we can.”
Trevor said that the sense of community and connection that he found in his early days of visiting breweries was one of the reasons he wanted to open his own place, and it’s still a driving force behind their current efforts.
“Everything is always community focused and community oriented. How are we bringing people together and promoting relationships and positive interactions?” Trevor said. “It’s not just, ‘How are we getting people to consume alcohol?’ That's almost an unfortunate side effect of what we're doing.”
Ross said that they are already attracting a wide variety of different customers, from nonprofit events to business meetings to public information sessions. They’ve hosted celebrations of life and rehearsal dinners.
'What we have is rustic, modern, grounded. You walk in, you feel like you're in a nice place, you wanna do something fun there,' Ross said. 'The types of events we're trying to foster are versatile.'
Elizabeth noted that for people who are planning an outside event, sometimes the 'move inside' option is terrible, and that's not the case at Beerburg.
'If I were looking at this facility for anything that was an outdoor event first, and something happened with weather, would I be sad about coming in here? No. Not one bit,' Elizabeth said. 'It is an incredibly customizable space that you can move through in the way that you want, structured or not.'
Ross said the real standouts that they offer are the personalization options when it comes to the beer, the herb walks, the brew with us, the custom labeled cans, and the tasting experience with the cellar and the barrel aged projects.
'There's so much opportunity to create a connected experience, and it's not just the venue, the space, the versatility,' Ross said. 'It's the experience of saying, I love this, I want to participate in it, and I made this for you.'
Ross said it's important to note that alcohol doesn't have to be part of the experience.
'We make kombucha in house, we make house made sodas, we make the soda water, the hop water, we have iced tea and lemonade, we can do frozen drinks that are non alcoholic, we can do lemonade drinks that are non alcoholic,' Ross said. 'We can do custom mocktails.'
He's working with a sobriety group, for example, to create an event that is grounded in nature.
'That group is going to be a 40 to 50 person event where we do an herb walk and a custom mocktail, and we're not drinking beer,' Ross said. 'So, yeah, let's go, let's get creative.'
The venue is climate controlled and can hold up to 300 people indoors, and up to 300 people in the outdoor beer garden. Even larger events can be held in the field, and there’s a 100-car parking lot.
Ross said his ideal event would have the leadership team coming in for a brew day in advance of their event, and brewing up a special wildcraft beer just for their organization.
'During the brew day, we're doing a wild crafting walk, an herb walk, we taste some beers out of the cellar, and we generally give them a VIP experience,' Ross said. 'And then they come back in six weeks with their larger team, and they're like, hey, everybody, here's the beer we brewed for you.'
The team can choose a name for the beer and even have custom can labels. Ross views it as a way to both build community within the leadership and also create a shared experience with members and staff.
'We'd love to take everybody on the whole journey with us,' Elizabeth said.
That model also works for couples, who could come in to brew together in the months leading up to their wedding, either alone or with members of their wedding party.
'And if people value that kind of experience, great,' Ross said. 'If they just wanna come in, have a climate controlled time, perfect.'
On July 20, the siblings will be putting on a summer expo to showcase the space at Beerburg.
“We are going to have 20 to 30 vendors - florists, DJs, planners,” Ross said. “If anybody is looking to create an event, this is the time to come in, see who we work with, see what we're about.”
They are also opening Beerburg to the general public on the second and fourth Sundays of each month for Community Days.
“Because the community outreach was so profound, we knew that we needed to show up for the community,” Ross said. “We cannot open all the time or in near the frequency that we want to, but the second and fourth Sundays allow us to be there for the community, to pour the beer, to serve the food, to let people come in and enjoy the space like they want to. It is the most fun we have, because it's kind of our day to be us.”
Though Beerburg has been a familysupported venture from the beginning, including the siblings’ parents, this is actually the first time that Trevor, Ross and Elizabeth have all been working together at the brewery.
“My dad is overwhelmed constantly with the fact that it's happening,” Ross said. “It's hard, it's a little scary, because it seems so good.”
“It's his dream,” Elizabeth said. “And we're having a blast working together. It's so much fun.”
Trevor said they’ve spent nearly a decade talking about it.
“It was weird,” Trevor said. “All of a sudden, it was like oh here it is, this is the moment. This is when it happens.”
The next Community Day at Beerburg is this Sunday, July 13 from noon to 7 p.m. Wildcraft beers and small bites are on the menu. The venue is located at 13476 Fitzhugh Rd, Austin, TX.
