Two Thoughts Enter, One Thought Leaves

So this is the blogosphere.

I’ve (rather poorly) maintained blogs in the past on behalf of the brewery, but the level of attention I’ve paid to our “Blogtail” has significantly diminished as Facebook and Twitter have grown and the need for detailed posts has dwindled.  Yet here I am, with a brand new blog representing myself, and not the company.  So what’s the point?

As Freetail Brewing Co. has grown from a fledgling brewpub on the outskirts of San Antonio to a respected Texas brewer, now evaluating expansion opportunities and fighting for legislative changes that would forever change the landscape of the state’s beer industry, I wanted a place to document those experiences separate from the company’s official messages.  And here we are.

I had a couple of thoughts of how to kick this blog off, but for now I’ll stick with the origin of this sites name: Brewed and Never Battered.  Those of you who have been to our original location may have noticed (and potentially even bemoaned) that we don’t have a single fried item on our menu.  Even when we use to have buffalo wings on the menu, they were un-breaded and baked.  This in turn made them the most divisive menu item we’ve had and was frequently comped as people sent them back.  Yes, a few (a very small few) people loved them and were sad to see them go, but I would estimate approximately a third of the orders that went out were eventually returned.

I like the chicken wing story because it helps illustrate one of my core principles as a business owner: that we will never sacrifice our values for the quick return.  I won’t sell deep-fried, super fatty foods because I don’t believe in them.  For the same reason, I will never sell a drop of Bud Light.  These may seem like petty lines in the sand to be drawing, but the authenticity of my philosophy comes from my unwillingness to relent from it, no matter how small such a deviation may seem. 

I can’t promise this will be a particularly entertaining or best-updated blog, but if you are interested in watching the progress of our expansion, the fight to change the law in Texas, and the occassional random out-of-context post, then I invite you check back from time to time.  Later this week I’ll kick things into second gear by talking in more detail about our expansion, and why we are targeting the cities we are. 

Cheers!