Beer for the Greater Good

There’s nothing better than playing host for out-of-town friends on a gorgeous 60-degree weekend in January – unless, of course, a much-anticipated local brewery just so happens to be opening that same weekend. Dallas’s trendy Design District, which contains an inspiring mix of local artisans and manufacturers, is now home to another fantastic brewery – Community Beer Company. Having initially delayed their public opening, the polished, 21,000-square-foot warehouse brewery was full of guests eager to sample a few of the long-awaited brews.

, Beer for the Greater Good

As I grabbed my Belgian tasting glass and surveyed the food truck offerings, it was wonderful to see how far the space had come since my earlier visit with owner Kevin Carr and head brewer Jamie Fulton before they even had their brewing equipment in place. Both are Dallas natives and both have honed their brewing chops over the years – Kevin as an avid homebrewer for 15 years, and Jamie as the award-winning brewmaster at The Covey Restaurant & Brewery in Fort Worth until it closed in 2010. Jamie’s also got mad technical skills to boot – he spent the last two years working with a brewing equipment manufacturer, setting up sophisticated brew systems both domestically and internationally. So not only was he able to ensure that Community’s 30-barrel system was top-of-the-line, but he has also helped set-up several local brewhouses.

, Beer for the Greater Good

Jamie’s skills as both an accomplished and technical brewer shine in the quality of the beers I tasted at the grand opening and at the recent Dallas Winter Warmer Festival. Although he’s got a few bigger brews up his sleeves, for the most part, the three beers available at the opening were extremely balanced and purposefully sessionable. I sampled all three – an English-style ESB called Public Ale, a classic Vienna Lager called Community Lager, and the hop-assertive Community Pale Ale – none of which had an ABV greater than 6%.

“We’ll certainly have some of the high-end, bigger beers that will satisfy beer nerds, but we also want to make sessionable brews that are approachable to entry-level drinkers,” explained Kevin. “No matter what, the focus will always be to produce the highest-quality brews possible.”

The brewery plans to do more than just serve up a good pint – they want to do some good for the community in the process. For Kevin, helping the local community was so important that he literally made it the brewery’s name. They even welcomed guests to sign their “Community Wall” during the opening. 

, Beer for the Greater Good

“For us, we always wanted a visible and accessible space, because our model is to be a centric focus of the community and to do things for the community,” said Kevin. “We’re named community on purpose because first and foremost, beer is communal – people gather around beer and build communities around it. But we are also very philanthropic – we are big supporters of the arts. That’s why we wanted to get this kind of space – so that we can become a central hub in Dallas to organize events and provide the space to charities that want to raise money and awareness so we can give back as much as we can.”

Even though the grand opening fanfare is over, the brewery is set to undergo more changes to its open-concept design, including the future addition of a taproom. And, if all goes well, we might be able to bring a little Community into our own homes this spring as the brewery sets it sights on a bottling line. Now that’s what I call giving back.

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