Audio By Carbonatix
The local beer scene needed a place like Craft and Growler. Until husband and wife owners Kevin Afghani and Catherine Kinslow opened up their beer filling station in Fair Park, the only place you could get many locally brewed beers was at a bar.
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Patent Pending at Craft and Growler
Craft and Growler is a bar, but it’s higher calling is making local beer accessible for those who would rather drink it at home. Sure, Rahr, Lakewood and Deep Ellum Brewing Co. now offer plenty of their beers for retail sale at grocery stores in and around Dallas. Whole Foods even has a small-scale growler filing service that offers a few more obscure brews and let you sample beers before you commit. Craft and Growler provides this service on a much larger scale however, and it’s become a gathering place for beer lovers and brewers alike.
The back wall of the main room is outfitted with 30 guns that will fill your container with carbon dioxide, displacing air before your chosen brew is added. Behind that wall is a massive walk in freezer stacked with more kegs than I could count. Afghani told me there were more than 80 crammed into the space while one of his employees climbed over the jungle gym of metal to change out another tap.
Back out front, more kegs were rolling through the door. Lakewood stopped in to drop off three kegs and a few cases of bottles. In the same hour Deep Ellum Brewing Co. showed up with six more kegs. The volume and scale helps Afghani and his team offer an impressive selection of constantly rotating beers. And because he’s often selling it 64 ounces at a time instead of by the pint, the kegs turn over faster and customers ultimately enjoy some really fresh beer.
My favorite way to enjoy the place? Sit at the bar and order a flight containing four candidates. At $10, for four generous pours, the flight is a fair deal. Sip your way through the flight until you find your favorite, and then take some home in a growler you can purchase along the side wall. Repeat as necessary.
