Kegs & Mugs Is in Castle Hills Because Suburbanites Also Need Good Beer

For every check in the "pros" column for living in the suburbs, it's just as easy to come up with something on the  "cons" side of the ledger. Is your bigger yard worth living in a neighborhood where everything looks the same? Do you want to leave your old neighborhood bar in the city for easier access to the freeways and better schools?

OK, so equating a bar to your child's education probably isn't the best comparison, but you didn't come here for parental advice, either. But it's possible to live in an upscale suburban neighborhood like Castle Hills, a master-planned community in eastern Lewisville, while still finding a local watering hole that serves up beer from the area's best local brewers. That's where Kegs & Mugs comes in.

This isn't the first craft beer spot to make Castle Hills its keep. TKO Libations spent two years in the Castle Hills Village Shops before closing in January 2020. But their location was buried deep within the winding neighborhoods of Castle Hills, and on our visit in 2019, we noted an "almost zero chance a beer-lover will just casually stumble upon this place" unless you knew someone who lived in the neighborhood.

Nestled at the end spot of a newly built strip mall on Old Denton Road, Kegs & Mugs location seems better primed to catch passers-by than TKO, given its location on a major thoroughfare and proximity to the Sam Rayburn Tollway. The location seems to work, as we first noticed it ourselves on one of our multiple trips through the area. Also, the end spot of the strip mall allows Kegs & Mugs to set up a small dog-friendly patio, adding to their appeal.

Inside, the main bar occupies the back wall, while a long bar-height table neatly bisects the rest of the dining room. Light fixtures over the center of the dining room are made from empty beer kegs, while walls of windows on two sides keep the space bright. A couple of large TVs will surely garner the attention of sports fans on game days. Kegs & Mugs isn't a dimly lit dive-bar bar, but a place where you can bring the family, which fits into the area's demographic.

We've no family in tow today, and we're here for a beer. Kegs & Mugs has almost three dozen offerings on tap, stocked heavily with local brewers like Hop & Sting, 3 Nations and Texas Ale Project. And in researching this story, we came upon a technological twist to the local brewpub: Kegs & Mugs publishes their tap list online and updates it in almost real-time. At a glance, you can see if your favorite pint of suds would be available, along with a visual representation of the keg's status. The digital tap list also powers the menu board over the bar, with the same color-coding status of the kegs, and it's so brilliant that we wish every restaurant that serves beer would use it.