Revolver Opens a Taproom Closer to Dallas

Beer lovers poured into BLDG 5 taproom when Revolver Brewing opened its doors last Thursday, bringing a taste of Granbury to Arlington.

“We will be brewing here and bringing you the Granbury experience-plus,” says brewmaster Grant Wood. “As a brewery, it’s pretty exciting. We’re psyched about it.”

Although it’s a stretch from the windmills and pastures of Granbury, Wood points out they’ve brought along some old elements to the new locale, such as picnic tables, old tools, live music and secret recipes.

Along with father and son Ron and Rhett Keisler, Wood founded Revolver’s Granbury operation in 2012. He credits an “amazing series of events” to everything that’s happened since.

“Revolver Brewing is one of the fastest-growing craft breweries in Texas,” reads the event’s press release. “Led by their iconic flagship, Blood and Honey, Revolver’s portfolio includes a diverse lineup of year-round, limited-release bombers and specialty rarewood beers aged on wood.”

The mastermind behind Revolver’s popular Blood and Honey recipe, Wood says the new, fully functional and operational brewery’s first brew will be Five Flags, which he describes as sort of a pale ale made with five hops from five nations.

“That will be our kind of lead-off beer,” he says of the old recipe he’ll be dusting off and updating. “If everything goes correctly, that will be happening next Tuesday, [Feb. 25].”

Wood also points out that while Revolver’s Granbury brewery is only open from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturdays, the new Arlington brewery located at Texas Live! will be open for business seven days a week.

“It’ll be interesting because I don’t think we’re going to brew anything twice for the first few months,” he says of the venue he calls “a real laboratory for us to try different beers, try some different recipes.”

Wood believes “every beer tells a story.” He’s been crafting beer since he was 22 years old and working graveyard shifts for Pearl Brewery in San Antonio. He says he likes making new beers from different ingredients and expects to churn out several thousand barrels a year from BLDG 5.

The brewmeister elaborated about a beer named Blood Relative that he says is akin to Blood and Honey but that’s not yet been approved by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

“They are cousins, so to speak,” he says of the beer, which has a blood orange flavor that has been boosted by puree and has an alcohol content driven down from 7.0 to 4.5, resulting in a similar but lighter brew with fewer calories.

Still, it’s not all about the booze. There’s a founder’s room for private events and spectacular sunset views of AT&T Stadium as well as Doris’ Revolver Trunk menu, which pairs the beer with specialty menu items.

“It’s kind of our spin on a barbecue sandwich,” says a member of the wait staff about the Smoked Tower, which has Lockhart Smokehouse brisket, Kreuz sausage, coleslaw, marbled rye and house-made barbecue chips.

As a band began to set up outside the open bay doors of the brewery, we savored the Revolver Chili, a secret family recipe dressed up for the occasion along with some Kreuz classic and jalapeño sausage bites, whose feistiness was sweetened with a bit of maple-pineapple barbecue sauce.

It was worth it.

“I think we’re going to have to be aware of what the public is saying,” says Wood of the brew. “Maybe one will take off.”

Revolver Brewing BLDG 5, Texas Live!, 1650 E. Randol Mill Road, Arlington