Brewed to Perfection
Alumnus takes on brewing industry with new beer
TCU alumnus Steven Sandidge and long-time friend Gary Lopez have always
taken an active interest in beer brewing.
That interest became active involvement last October when they launched
the Texas Beer Company.
“Steven and I had worked together at Miller and sold a lot of people
a lot of beer for quite a few years,” Lopez said. “The opportunity
finally arose where we thought we’d try it ourselves.”
Sandidge has been on the brewing side of beer production for eight years.
He left Miller Distributing eight years ago and began building small breweries
for other people. He constructed breweries for Hoffbrau Steakhouse, Humperdinks
and USA Cafe before he decided that it was time to build one for himself.
“We’ve done this for a lot of other people and made them a lot
of money,” he said. “We figured if we didn’t try to do
it for ourselves, take a shot at least one time, we’d kick ourselves
in the butt for not taking a chance on it.”
In late March, brewing began at the brewery, located at 501 North Main
in Fort Worth. Six weeks later, after a tedious brewing process, Texas
Light was born.
Sandidge, the developer of the beer, said the beer goes through a detailed
refining procedure until the flavor is just right.
“It’s like when you cook a steak and you burn it or you have
too much garlic in it or something,” he said. “You just throw
another one on. It’s just a process of improvement.”
In the 90 days since the beer has been produced, Texas Beer Company has
established nearly 200 accounts, the first being Sammie’s Barbeque
in Haltom City. Over three months, their accounts have stretched to local
establishments like Billy Miner’s, Razzoos, The Pub, Jon’s Grille,
Scooners and others.
“Ninety percent of our accounts are downtown or in the Stockyards,”
Sandidge said. “We obviously target the downtown and Sundance Square
area. Most people will go there at some point in time.”
Getting a restaurant to sell Texas Light isn’t an easy task, Sandridge
said.
“A lot of it is perseverance and persistence,” he said. “We
don’t want to be a pain in the butt, but we hope we get enough word
out so people start asking for us.”
After the head bartenders at Fat Harry’s sampled Texas Light, manager
Chris Heim agreed to sell the product. He allowed Sandidge to set up table
tents and bring in banners to promote the beer.
“It’s pretty good,” Heim said. “I’d say it’s one step below the big boys — Miller, Bud and Coors. But we have a couple of guys that will drink only that.”
The lager-style Texas Light acts more as a refresher rather than an ale, which leaves a fruity, heavier aftertaste, Sandidge said.
“The lager style has become more popular because of the warmer climate,” he said. “People tend to want something cool and crisp. They do not want anything that lingers but something more thirst quenching.”
Since Sandidge and Lopez are the only two people running Texas Beer Company, they believe they have an advantage because it allows them to make every beer sale more personal.
“It is like Mrs. Baird’s bakery versus the corner bakery,”
Sandidge said. “If you go to the corner bakery, you know the baker.
I walk around, meet people and thank them for buying our product. Most
of them realize they will never meet Joseph Miller or Peter Coors.”
Although some might argue that Texas Light is the perfect thirst quencher
as is, Sandidge continues to make improvements.
“I’m constantly improving the product up until the point where
I think I’ve got it,” he said. “It is like a pendulum swinging
back and forth. I’m trying to get it to be steady and very consistent
like a metronome. That is my whole goal.”
Sandridge said at times he finds it inconceivable that he has gone full
speed ahead with a project that has no guarantees.
“It really is amazing,” he said. “People keep saying someday
we’ll be millionaires. I’ll be happy when I’m a thousandaire.
I’ll be happy when I get a paycheck. Right now, we just watch our
pennies and hopefully, quarters and dollars will follow.”
Kristin Delorantis
kdelo@hotmail.com