Franconia

I had to get out of the house fairly early today and took the opportunity to go tour the Franconia Brewery in McKinney. It starts at 11 on Saturdays, and McKinney's almost an hour away so it would've normally cut into my sleeping in, but today was a good day for it.

And I'm glad I did- it was the best brewery tour I've ever taken. The tour lasted about an hour after which everyone hung out and sampled some of their fine product including the second batch of their . The brewer/owner Dennis Wehrmann (only one other employee) led the tour and struck a great balance between technical speak and humor. Some key points for me:
-All their beer is brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot, which means only grain, hops, yeast, and water (so sadly no pumpkin beer from them)
-Their annual production was about 1,500 barrels (that's 3,000 kegs) last year and Dennis expects to double that this year (how's that for growth)
-They self distribute their beer (there's a pickup covered in Franconia decals). I'm not sure how they get around all the three tier laws but it's pretty cool and I'm sure it allows their beer to sell cheaper for it.
-They exercise a lot of quality control measures
-They don't bottle their beer (which I knew) but not due to the economics, but rather the environmental issues relating to the US not reusing their bottles. Dennis claimed that in Germany they reuse their glass bottles many many times over before even recycling them, and also reuse their plastic bottles (suprising. Can the Germany trip guys confirm or refute this?)
-The brewery is brand new and very environmentally friendly (no trash can).

All in all a great tour with a great drink local message and delicious beer.