This weekend, the folks at Tupps Brewery in McKinney opened their doors for the first time. For those who live in the northern suburbs, Tupps provides a family-friendly place to drink craft beer while you teach your 8-year-old the bimini ring toss game.
Tupps is located next to the historic Cotton Mill in McKinney. Though the brewery is a new building, everything looks made with rusty steel and reclaimed wood, which helps give Tupps a very "Rural Texas" feel to go with the cool metal sculptures and art around the brewery.
After paying $15 and receiving my keg-shaped glass, I made my way to the large bar inside the brewery building. Rather than using wooden tokens like so many local breweries, Tupps provided attendees with plastic wristbands with tear-off pieces that are exchanged for beer.
Currently, Tupps is distributing three of their planned five beers: an IPA, Texas Shade Wheat, and a black ale. What's notable about the beers offered by Tupps is that they are all under 6.5% ABV. Starting with the heaviest of their three, the Tupps IPA is brewed entirely with centennial hops, which should make for bitter beer; however, the flavor was mildly hoppy. With a medium body and little aftertaste, this is easily Tupps' best.
Texas Shade is Tupps' seasonal wheat, brewed with either oranges, cherries or raspberries, depending on the season. When I had my first taste of this during the Big Texas Beer Fest, there was a distinct banana flavor that's common for wheat beers. On Saturday, the banana flavor was still present, but much less so. Instead, the beer had a much more fruity taste, with citrusy hints. While certainly not a bad beer, the current version of Texas Shade is a decent wheat, but the changing flavors for the different seasons is a nice way to keep interest in this beer.
The black ale that Tupps is offering is a very dark beer with a medium body and a hoppy, coffee flavor with slight chocolatey hints. The aftertaste was a light coffee flavor, too, so if you are fan of coffee beers, you will love this one. And, at 5.6% ABV, this will make for an awesome winter session beer.
Between the rustic decor and country bands playing, Tupps has that perfect rural Texas feel. For those who live in McKinney, this is a great place to take the family and drink beer while your kids play bimini ring toss or cornhole while you put back a few beers. Otherwise, look for Tupps on taps in Dallas and be sure to order their IPA.
