BUSINESS FEATURE
BY BRIAN RASH
WILLARD’S FARE Willard’s Brewery o ers a number of house-made beers and food items. Among the most popular sellers are:
Auzzy’s Famous Smash Burger ($10) Two 4-ounce patties with American cheese, special sauce and a side of fries. Bacon and jalapenos cost extra.
Three Willard’s Brewery sta members, Head Chef Austin Crouch, Director of Brewing Operations Ryan Shramek and Taproom Manager George Garcia stand in front of the fermenter at the brewery. (Photos by Brian Rash/Community Impact)
Willard’s Brewery South P ugerville taproom building a local and regional fanbase F or the team at Willard’s Brewery, maintain- ing a unique presence in an unassuming business district in south P ugerville is just as important as building brand awareness and sales distribution throughout the country.
Willard’s Original Amber ($7 pint) , 4.7% ABV
Fistful of Fury Hazy IPA ($6.50, 10 ounces) , 7.1% ABV
has seasonal options. Brews have whimsical names such as Fistful of Fury Hazy IPA, Letter Jacket All-American Wheat Ale, French K.I.S.S. Saison Du Pont and Good Vibrations Session Pale Ale. The company will also unveil a rebrand in November that will see new designs for its beer cans but still keeping the Willard’s Brewery name, Shramek said. In addition to the line of beers, Willard’s o ers Big Country hard seltzers and house-made cocktails and operates an in-house food trailer. The menu includes grilled cheese; beer brats; pu y tacos and smash burgers, which are the most popular menu item, Head Chef Austin Crouch said. “The rst menu was a little bit Cubano— Cuban-inspired—and then we just kind of changed it this last year,” Crouch said. “We wanted to be a little bit more beer-friendly.” Crouch said Willard’s initially o ered Auzzy’s Famous Smash Burger on Thursday nights only; however, the burger became popular they eventu- ally added it as a daily menu item. Garcia said the main company goal is to main- tain the brewery as a neighborhood taproom and simultaneously expand the hard seltzer and beer distribution nationwide. For the team at Willard’s, the two goals are not mutually exclusive. “What we’re going to see here is continued innovation in the taproom and then expanded distribution on premises and o premises with our ve core beers,” Shramek said.
The facility on Patterson Industrial Drive origi- nated in late 2019 as a place to make the company’s line of hard seltzer products. But by October 2020, owner Bill Gillies and his team began operating a taproom to brew and sell their own beers. “You’ve got to understand, there’s two sides of the business,” said Ryan Shramek, director of brew- ing operations. “There’s Willard’s Brewery, and then Big Country Hard Seltzer. We kind of operate two separate brands.” Shramek said the Willard’s line of beers is dis- tributed locally to stores and restaurants including Anchor Bar and Slapbox Pizza in Round Rock and The Brewtique in Cedar Park. “When we started out, the beer was mainly for the taproom, but we’ve got so many people that like it that we started self-distributing our beer,” Taproom Manager George Garcia said. Shramek said there are several popular beers created at the brewery, but the top seller remains the agship product, Willard’s Original Amber. “We tend to stay true to historic styles rather than go with experimental styles,” Shramek said. “Not to say we do that 100%, but you’re not going to nd [something like] a blueberry cupcake sour here on our beer list.” Willard’s o ers traditional staple beers, but also
Big Country Hard Seltzer ($6), 4.5% ABV Watermelon Pineapple
Willard’s Brewery 2400 Patterson Industrial Drive, P ugerville 512-910-4099 www.willardsbrewery.com Hours: Wed.-Thu. 4-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. noon-10 p.m., Sun. noon-8 p.m., closed Mon.-Tue.
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ROUND ROCK EDITION • OCTOBER 2022
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