Best New Texas Brewery: Roughhouse Brewing in San Marcos
Roughhouse Brewing in San Marcos recently celebrated its 1-year anniversary, and was deservedly listed as one of the top new breweries in Texas in the Texas Craft Beer Report.
The Roughhouse Brewing Team
“Roughhouse is very much a family business” says owner Alex Pasternak. It was founded by Alex and her husband Davy as a project to create a Texas-centric and family-centric space. Situated on Davy’s parents’ land a few miles from San Marcos, the brewery celebrates the couples’ love of craft beer and the local community. The couple are joined by Davy’s brother Andy and have quickly established a space that consumers love to visit.
“The name Roughhouse represents the familial and playful memories of growing up in Texas, coupled with an image in the logo that more literally depicts the rustic and welcoming qualities of our brewery and beer.”
Roughhouse named one of the best new breweries in Texas
San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson presented the “Best New Brewery” award to Roughhouse Brewing’s owners. “This award means a lot to our small team” explains Pasternak. “with only three full-time owner/employees (and the help of five part-time staff members), we cover a lot of ground each week. We do it because we believe in our product and in the general objective of providing good, honest customer service and relationships to our patrons and our industry peers”.
Roughhouse Brewing’s success is the latest in a growing San Marcos beer scene that includes Roughhouse’s neighbors Middleton Brewing, AquaBrew (identified in the Texas Craft Beer Report as a great place to eat) and top ranked brewery Hops & Grain who have expanded from their Austin location.
Roughhouse launch cave-aged beer program
Despite only selling beer in San Marcos for a little over 12 months, Roughhouse are already heavily innovating within the Texas craft beer community utilizing their unique property.
Pasternak explains “In February 2020 we started a cave-aged beer program at Roughhouse! Using a natural, underground cave on the property, we excavated for nearly a year to prepare the space to house what will start as a small cellar with eight barrels. To kickoff the new series of funkier, wild beer, we collaborated with Jester King Brewery to create a spontaneously fermented ale using Texas ingredients and aged hops. It will be at least a year before we taste the results of this first beer, but we’re excited to see what the future holds!”
Roughhouse is also working to ensure the food they serve on site at their brewery is as ingrained in their Texas roots as their beer.
“We are transitioning our on-site kitchen to fully promote and source from local or Texas farms, with a lineup of scratch-made sandwiches, soups, salads and snacks.”
“We’re excited to marry our vision for our beer (and wine) program, which is heavily focused on local providers, to the food side of operations! We are overdue to showcase Texas food makers, and we’re excited to bring that to our community.”